1 Kings 7–8

Solomon’s Palace

7Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him thirteen years. ^2–3The Hall of the Forest of Lebanon^o was 44 metres long, 22 metres wide, and 13.5 metres high. It had three^p rows of cedar pillars, fifteen in each row, with cedar beams resting on them. The ceiling was of cedar, extending over store-rooms, which were supported by the pillars. ⁴In each of the two side walls there were three rows of windows. ⁵The doorways and the windows^q had rectangular frames, and the three rows of windows in each wall faced the opposite rows.

⁶The Hall of Columns was 22 metres long and 13.5 metres wide. It had a covered porch, supported by columns.

⁷The Throne Room, also called the Hall of Judgement, where Solomon decided cases, had cedar panels from the floor to the rafters.^r

^8*Solomon’s own quarters, in another court behind the Hall of Judgement, were made like the other buildings. He also built the same kind of house for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt.

⁹All these buildings and the great court were made of fine stones from the foundations to the eaves. The stones were prepared at the quarry and cut to measure, with their inner and outer sides trimmed with saws. ¹⁰The foundations were made of large stones prepared at the quarry, some of them 3.5 metres long and others 4 metres long. ¹¹On top of them were other stones, cut to measure, and cedar beams. ¹²The palace court, the inner court of the Temple, and the entrance room of the Temple had walls with one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of cut stones.

Huram’s Task

¹³King Solomon sent for a man named Huram, a craftsman living in the city of Tyre, who was skilled in bronze work. ¹⁴His father, who was no longer living, was from Tyre, and had also been a skilled bronze craftsman; his mother was from the tribe of Naphtali. Huram was an intelligent and experienced craftsman. He accepted King Solomon’s invitation to be in charge of all the bronze work.

The Two Bronze Columns

¹⁵Huram cast two bronze columns, each one 8 metres tall and 5.3 metres in circumference,^s and placed them at the entrance of the Temple. ¹⁶He also made two bronze capitals, each one 2.2 metres tall, to be placed on top of the columns. ¹⁷The top of each column was decorated with a design of interwoven chains,^{t 18}and two rows of bronze pomegranates.

¹⁹The capitals were shaped like lilies, 1.8 metres tall, ²⁰and were placed on a rounded section which was above the chain design. There were 200 pomegranates in two rows round each^u capital.

²¹Huram placed these two bronze columns in front of the entrance of the Temple: the one on the south side was named Jachin,^v and the one on the north was named Boaz.^{w 22}The lily-shaped bronze capitals were on top of the columns.

And so the work on the columns was completed.

The Bronze Tank

²³Huram made a round tank of bronze, 2.2 metres deep, 4.4 metres in diameter, and 13.2 metres in circumference. ²⁴All round the outer edge of the rim of the tank^x were two rows of bronze gourds, which had been cast all in one piece with the rest of the tank. ²⁵The tank rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced outwards, three facing in each direction. ²⁶The sides of the tank were 75 millimetres thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, curving outwards like the petals of a lily. The tank held about 40,000 litres.

The Bronze Carts

²⁷Huram also made ten bronze carts; each was 1.8 metres long, 1.8 metres wide, and 1.3 metres high. ²⁸They were made of square panels which were set in frames, ²⁹with the figures of lions, bulls, and winged creatures on the panels; and on the frames, above and underneath the lions and bulls, there were spiral figures in relief. ³⁰Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. At the four corners were bronze supports for a basin; the supports were decorated with spiral figures in relief. ³¹There was a circular frame on top for the basin. It projected upwards 45 centimetres from the top of the cart and 18 centimetres down into it. It had carvings round it. ³²The wheels were 66 centimetres high; they were under the panels, and the axles were of one piece with the carts. ³³The wheels were like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of bronze. ³⁴There were four supports at the bottom corners of each cart, which were of one piece with the cart. ³⁵There was a 22 centimetre band round the top of each cart; its supports and the panels were of one piece with the cart. ³⁶The supports and panels were decorated with figures of winged creatures, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was space for them, with spiral figures all round. ³⁷This, then, is how the carts were made; they were all alike, having the same size and shape.

^38*Huram also made ten basins, one for each cart. Each basin was 1.8 metres in diameter, and held about 800 litres. ³⁹He placed five of the carts on the south side of the Temple, and the other five on the north side; the tank he placed at the south-east corner.

Summary List of Temple Furnishings

⁴⁰Huram also made pots, shovels, and bowls. He completed all his work for King Solomon for the Lord’s Temple. This is what he made:

⁴¹The two columns;

The two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the columns;

The design of interwoven chains on each capital;

⁴²The 400 bronze pomegranates, in two rows of a hundred each round the design on each capital;

⁴³The ten carts;

The ten basins;

⁴⁴The tank;

The twelve bulls supporting the tank;

⁴⁵The pots, shovels, and bowls.

All this equipment for the Temple, which Huram made for King Solomon, was of polished bronze. ⁴⁶The king had it all made in the foundry between Sukkoth and Zarethan, in the Jordan Valley. ⁴⁷Solomon did not have these bronze objects weighed, because there were too many of them, and so their weight was never determined.

^48*Solomon also had gold furnishings made for the Temple: the altar, the table for the bread offered to God, ^49*the ten lamp-stands that stood in front of the Most Holy Place, five on the south side and five on the north; the flowers, lamps, and tongs; ⁵⁰the cups, lamp snuffers, bowls, dishes for incense, and the pans used for carrying live coals; and the hinges for the doors of the Most Holy Place and of the outer doors of the Temple. All these furnishings were made of gold.

^51*When King Solomon finished all the work on the Temple, he placed in the temple storerooms all the things that his father David had dedicated to the Lord—the silver, gold, and other articles.

The Covenant Box Is Brought to the Temple

8^*Then King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem in order to take the Lord’s Covenant Box from Zion, David’s City, to the Temple. ^2*They all assembled during the Festival of Shelters in the seventh month, in the month of Ethanim. ³When all the leaders had gathered, the priests lifted the Covenant Box ⁴and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of the Lord’s presence and all its equipment to the Temple. ⁵King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Covenant Box and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle—too many to count. ⁶Then the priests carried the Covenant Box into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures. ⁷Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. ⁸The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. (The poles are still there today.) ^9*There was nothing inside the Covenant Box except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt.

^10*As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud ^11*shining with the dazzling light of the Lord’s presence, and they could not go back in to perform their duties. ^12*Then Solomon prayed:

“You, Lord, have placed the sun in the sky,^y

yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness.

¹³Now I have built a majestic temple for you,

a place for you to live in for ever.”

Solomon’s Address to the People

¹⁴As the people stood there, King Solomon turned to face them, and he asked God’s blessing on them. ¹⁵He said, “Praise the Lord God of Israel! He has kept the promise he made to my father David, when he said, ^16*‘From the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshipped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.’ ”

^17*And Solomon continued, “My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel, ^18*but the Lord said to him, ‘You were right in wanting to build a temple for me, ^19*but you will never build it. It is your son, your own son, who will build my temple.’

²⁰“And now the Lord has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built the Temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel. ²¹I have also provided a place in the Temple for the Covenant Box containing the stone tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer

²²Then in the presence of the people Solomon went and stood in front of the altar, where he raised his arms ²³and prayed, “Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you. ²⁴You have kept the promise you made to my father David; today every word has been fulfilled. ^25*And now, Lord God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him that there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did. ²⁶So now, O God of Israel, let everything come true that you promised to my father David, your…