2 Chronicles 3–5

Solomon Builds the Temple

3Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had established, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ²And he began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.

³Now these were the measurements of Solomon for building the house of God: the length in cubits by the former measurement was sixty cubits, and the width was twenty cubits. ⁴The length of the portico that was in front was the same as the front of the width of the house:^a twenty cubits. And its height was one hundred and twenty cubits. And he overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. ⁵And the great house itself he covered with cypress wood, then he overlaid it with pure gold. And he put on it palm tree images and ornate chains. ⁶Then he overlaid the house with precious stone as decoration. (Now the gold was the gold of Parvaim.) ⁷And he overlaid the house with gold—the beams, the thresholds, the walls, and the doors. And he carved cherubim upon the walls. ⁸Then he made the most holy place.^b Its length was equal to^c the width of the house: twenty cubits. And its breadth was twenty cubits. And he overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold. ⁹And the weight for the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid its upper rooms with gold. ¹⁰And he made two sculpted wood cherubim in the most holy place,^d and he overlaid them with gold. ¹¹The length of the outstretched wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits; one wing of five cubits touched the wall of the house, and the other wing of five cubits was touching the outstretched wing of the other cherub. ¹²And the wing of five cubits of the other cherub was touching the wall of the house, and its other wing five cubits long touching the wing of the first^e cherub. ¹³The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits, and they were standing on their feet, their faces toward the house. ¹⁴And he made the curtain of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen, and put cherubim on it. ¹⁵And at the front of the house he made two columns, thirty-five cubits high, and the capital on their top was five cubits. ¹⁶And he made decorative chains in the inner sanctuary and put them on top of the columns. And he made one hundred pomegranate ornaments, and put them on the chains. ¹⁷And he erected the columns in front of the temple, one on the south and one on the north. He called the name of the southern one Jakin, and the name of the northern one Boaz.

The Furnishings of Solomon’s Temple

4And he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits was its length, and twenty cubits was its width, and ten cubits was its height. ²Then he made the sea of molten metal, from brim to brim it was ten cubits, completely round. And it was five cubits in height, and its circumference measured^a thirty cubits. ³Under it were figures of oxen all around it, ten cubits high, encircling the sea all around. The oxen were in two rows cast as one piece with it.^{b 4}It was standing upon twelve oxen, three facing north, and three facing west, and three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set upon them from above, and all their hindquarters faced inward.^{c 5}And its thickness was a handbreadth, and its brim was like the working of the lip of a cup, the blossom of a lily. And it held three thousand baths. ⁶And he made ten basins. And he set five on the south and five on the north in which to wash; they washed off the work of the burnt offering in them, but the sea was for the priests to wash therein. ⁷And he made ten golden lampstands according to their custom, and he set them in the temple, five on the south and five on the north. ⁸And he made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south and five on the north. And he made a hundred drinking bowls of gold. ⁹And he made the courtyard of the priests and the great outer courtyard and the doors for the outer court. And he overlaid their doors with bronze. ¹⁰And he set the sea at the southeast corner of the temple. ¹¹And Huram^d made the pots, the shovels, and the drinking bowls. So Hiram^e finished making the work that he made on the house of God for King Solomon: ¹²the two columns, the bowls, and the two capitals on top of the columns, and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on top of the columns, ¹³and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for the latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were before the columns. ¹⁴And he made the water carts, and he made the basins on the water carts, ¹⁵and the one sea and the twelve oxen underneath it.

¹⁶And Huram-abi made for King Solomon the pots, the shovels, the three-pronged meat forks, and all the utensils of polished bronze for the house of Yahweh. ¹⁷The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay soil between Succoth and Zeredah. ¹⁸Solomon made all these utensils in great abundance, for the weight of the bronze could not be determined. ¹⁹So Solomon made all the objects that were in the house of God: the altar of gold; the tables upon which was the bread of the presence; ²⁰the lampstands, and the lamps for burning according to the custom before the inner sanctuary, of solid gold; ²¹and the blossoms, the lamps, and the tongs that were of solid gold; ²²and the snuffers, the drinking bowls, the dishes, and the firepans, of solid gold; and the entrance to the house, the inner doors to the most holy place, and the doors to the house of the temple were of gold.

The Ark Installed in the Temple

5When all the work that Solomon did for the house of Yahweh was finished, Solomon brought the holy objects of David his father: the silver, the gold, and all the objects he had put into the storehouses of the house of God. ²Then Solomon assembled all the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the families^a for the Israelites,^b to Jerusalem in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the 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, and the Levites took up the ark. ⁵And they brought up the ark, the tent of assembly,^c and all the holy objects that were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. ⁶And King Solomon and the whole community of Israel that was assembled before him were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted nor numbered for abundance. ⁷Then the priests brought up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, into the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸The cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim were covering the ark and over its poles from above. ⁹But the poles were so long that the ends of the poles from the ark were seen from before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside. And they are there until this day. ¹⁰There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets that Moses had put inside at Horeb on which Yahweh had made^d a covenant with the Israelites^e when they went out from Egypt. ¹¹And when the priests came out of the sanctuary (for all the priests who were present^f sanctified themselves without keeping their divisions) ¹²and all the Levitical singers—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, their sons, their brothers, dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and stringed instruments—they were standing to the east of the altar. And with them outside were one hundred and twenty priests who were trumpet blowers. ¹³And it was the primary duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard with one voice, to praise and give thanks to Yahweh. And when a sound from the trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments of song was raised to Yahweh—for he is good, because his loyal love is everlasting—then the house, the house of Yahweh, was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴And the priests were not able to stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of God.