2 Chronicles 2:1–18:34

Preparing to Build the Temple

2^{1 x}Now Solomon purposed to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a royal palace for himself. ^{22 y}And Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens and 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and ^z3,600 to oversee them. ^3aAnd Solomon sent word to Hiram the king of Tyre: ^b“As you dealt with David my father and sent him cedar to build himself a house to dwell in, so deal with me. ⁴Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of ^cincense of sweet spices before him, and for ^dthe regular arrangement of the showbread, and for ^eburnt offerings morning and evening, ^fon the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed feasts of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel. ⁵The house that I am to build will be great, ^gfor our God is greater than all gods. ^6hBut who is able to build him a house, since ^hheaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him? ⁷So now ⁱsend me a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to be with the skilled workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, ^jwhom David my father provided. ⁸Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that ^kyour servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. And my servants will be with your servants, ⁹to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the house I am to build will be great and wonderful. ^10lI will give for your servants, the woodsmen who cut timber, 20,000 cors³ of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths⁴ of wine, and 20,000 baths of oil.”

¹¹Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon, ^m“Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them.” ¹²Hiram also said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, ⁿwho made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, ^owho will build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.

¹³“Now I have sent a skilled man, who has understanding, Huram-abi, ^14pthe son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is ^qtrained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father. ¹⁵Now therefore the wheat and barley, oil and wine, ^rof which my lord has spoken, let him send to his servants. ^16sAnd we will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you in rafts by sea to ^tJoppa, so that you may take it up to Jerusalem.”

¹⁷Then Solomon counted all the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, ^uafter the census of them that David his father had taken, and there were found 153,600. ^18vSeventy thousand of them he assigned to bear burdens, 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 as overseers to make the people work.

Solomon Builds the Temple

3^wThen Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem ^xon Mount Moriah, where the Lord¹ had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, ^yon the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ²He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. ³These are Solomon’s ^zmeasurements² for building the house of God: ^athe length, in cubits³ of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. ⁴The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house,⁴ and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. ^5bThe nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold ^cand made palms and chains on it. ⁶He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim. ⁷So he lined the house with gold—its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors—^cand he carved cherubim on the walls.

^8dAnd he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents⁵ of fine gold. ⁹The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels.⁶ And he overlaid ^ethe upper chambers with gold.

^10fIn the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood⁷ and overlaid⁸ them with gold. ¹¹The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub; ¹²and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. ¹³The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. The cherubim⁹ stood on their feet, ^gfacing the nave. ^14hAnd he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.

¹⁵ⁱIn front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each. ¹⁶He made chains like a necklace¹⁰ and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. ^17jHe set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; that on the south he called Jachin, and that on the north Boaz.

The Temple’s Furnishings

4He made ^kan altar of bronze, twenty cubits¹ long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high. ^2lThen he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. ³Under it were figures of gourds,² for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast. ⁴It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward. ⁵Its thickness was a handbreadth.³ And its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. ^mIt held 3,000 baths.^{4 6n}He also made ten basins in which to wash, and set five on the south side, and five on the north side. In these they were to rinse off what was used for the burnt offering, and the sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷And he made ten golden lampstands ^oas prescribed, and set them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. ^8pHe also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. And he made a hundred basins of gold. ⁹He made ^qthe court of the priests ^rand the great court and doors for the court and overlaid their doors with bronze. ^10sAnd he set the sea at the southeast corner of the house.

^11tuHiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. ^uSo Hiram finished the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of God: ¹²the two pillars, ^vthe bowls, and the two capitals on the top of the pillars; and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; ^13wand the 400 pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars. ¹⁴ⁿHe made the stands also, and the basins on the stands, ¹⁵and the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath it. ¹⁶The pots, the shovels, ^xthe forks, and all the equipment for these ^tyHuram-abi made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the Lord. ¹⁷In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.^{5 18z}Solomon made all these things in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze was not sought.

¹⁹So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God: the golden altar, ^athe tables for the bread of the Presence, ²⁰the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold ^bto burn before the inner sanctuary, as prescribed; ²¹the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of purest gold; ²²the snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold, and the sockets⁶ of the temple, for the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and for the doors of the nave of the temple were of gold.

5^cThus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God.

The Ark Brought to the Temple

²Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of ^dthe city of David, which is Zion. ³And all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast that is in the seventh month. ⁴And all the elders of Israel came, ^eand the Levites took up the ark. ⁵And they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; ^fthe Levitical priests brought them up. ⁶And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. ⁷Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸The cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. ⁹And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen ^gfrom the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. And they are¹ there to this day. ¹⁰There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets ^hthat Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. ¹¹And when the priests came…