2 Chronicles 4–5

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 out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to ⁱtheir divisions, ¹²and all the Levitical ^jsingers, ^kAsaph, ^lHeman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with ^mcymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 ⁿpriests who were trumpeters; ¹³and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, ^owith trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord,

^p“For he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever,”

the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, ¹⁴so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, ^qfor the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.