1 Kings 7:23–51

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.