2 Chronicles 2–4

Chapter 2

Solomon Will Build a Temple and Palace

1 1aNow Solomon 2decided to build a house for the name of the Lord and a 3royal palace for himself.

2 1So aSolomon 2assigned 70,000 men to carry loads and 80,000 men to quarry stone in the mountains and 3,600 to supervise them.

3 aThen Solomon sent word to 1Huram the king of Tyre, saying, “bAs you dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build him a house to dwell in, so do for me.

4 “Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, dedicating it to Him, ato burn fragrant incense before Him and to set out bthe showbread continually, and to offer cburnt offerings morning and evening, don sabbaths and on new moons and on the appointed feasts of the Lord our God, this being required forever in Israel.

5 “The house which I am about to build will be great, for agreater is our God than all the gods.

6 “But awho is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to 1burn incense before Him?

7 “Now asend me a skilled man to work in gold, silver, brass and iron, and in purple, crimson and violet fabrics, and who knows how to make engravings, to work with the skilled men 1bwhom I have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

8 “aSend me also cedar, cypress and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber of Lebanon; and indeed bmy servants will work with your servants,

9 to prepare timber in abundance for me, for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.

10 “Now behold, aI will give to your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, 20,000 1kors of crushed wheat and 20,000 1kors of barley, and 20,000 baths of wine and 20,000 baths of oil.”

Huram to Assist

11 Then Huram, king of Tyre, 1answered in a letter sent to Solomon: “aBecause the Lord loves His people, He has made you king over them.”

12 Then Huram 1continued, “Blessed be athe Lord, the God of Israel, who has made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, 2endowed with discretion and understanding, bwho will build a house for the Lord and a 3royal palace for himself.

13 “Now I am sending Huram-abi, a skilled man, 1endowed with understanding,

14 athe son of a 1Danite woman and 2a Tyrian father, who knows how to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone and wood, and in purple, violet, linen and crimson fabrics, and who knows how to make all kinds of engravings and to 3execute any design which may be assigned to him, to work with your skilled men and with 4those of my lord David your father.

15 “Now then, let my lord send to his servants wheat and barley, oil and wine, of awhich he has spoken.

16 “aWe will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you on rafts by sea to Joppa, so that you may carry it up to Jerusalem.”

17 Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel, afollowing the 1census which his father David had 2taken; and 153,600 were found.

18 aHe appointed 70,000 of them to carry loads and 80,000 to quarry stones in the mountains and 3,600 supervisors to make the people work.

Chapter 3

The Temple Construction in Jerusalem

1 aThen Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared bon the threshing floor of 1Ornan the Jebusite.

2 He began to build on the second day in the second month 1of the fourth year of his reign.

Dimensions and Materials of the Temple

3 Now these are the 1foundations which aSolomon laid for building the house of God. The length in 2cubits, according to the old standard was sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits.

4 The porch which was in front of the house awas as long as the width of the house, twenty cubits, and the height 120; and inside he overlaid it with pure gold.

5 He overlaid athe 1main room with cypress wood and overlaid it with fine gold, and 2ornamented it with palm trees and chains.

6 Further, he 1adorned the house with precious stones; and the gold was gold from 2Parvaim.

7 aHe also overlaid the house with gold—the beams, the thresholds and its walls and its doors; and he bcarved cherubim on the walls.

8 Now he made athe 1room of the holy of holies: its length across the width of the house was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to 600 talents.

9 The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid athe upper rooms with gold.

10 aThen he made two 1sculptured cherubim in the room of the holy of holies and overlaid them with gold.

11 The wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits; the wing of one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub.

12 The wing of the other cherub, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house; and its other wing of five cubits was attached to the wing of the 1first cherub.

13 The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits, and they stood on their feet 1facing the main room.

14 aHe made the veil of violet, purple, crimson and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.

15 aHe also made two pillars for the front of the house, thirty-five cubits 1high, and the capital on the top of each was five cubits.

16 He made chains in the inner sanctuary and placed them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates and placed them on the chains.

17 aHe erected the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left, and named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.

Chapter 4

Furnishings of the Temple

1 Then ahe made a bronze altar, twenty cubits in length and twenty cubits in width and ten cubits in height.

2 aAlso he made the cast metal sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits and 1its circumference thirty cubits.

3 Now figures like oxen were under it and all around it, ten cubits, entirely encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast 1in one piece.

4 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing the north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them and all their hindquarters turned inwards.

5 It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; it acould hold 3,000 baths.

6 aHe also made ten basins in which to wash, and he set five on the right side and five on the left 1to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

7 Then ahe made the ten golden lampstands in the way prescribed for them and he set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.

8 He also made aten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made one hundred golden bowls.

9 Then he made athe court of the priests and bthe great court and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

10 aHe set the sea on the right 1side of the house toward the southeast.

11 aHuram also made the pails, the shovels and the bowls. So Huram finished doing the work which he performed for King Solomon in the house of God:

12 the two pillars, the bowls and the two capitals on top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on top of the pillars,

13 and athe four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the pillars.

14 aHe also made the stands and he made the basins on the stands,

15 and the one sea with the twelve oxen under it.

16 The pails, the shovels, the forks and all its utensils, aHuram-abi made of polished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the Lord.

17 On the plain of the Jordan the king cast them in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

18 aThus Solomon made all these utensils in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze could not be found out.

19 Solomon also made all the things that were in the house of God: even the golden altar, athe tables with the bread of the Presence on them,

20 the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, ato burn in front of the inner sanctuary in the way prescribed;

21 the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold, of purest gold;

22 and the snuffers, the bowls, the spoons and the firepans of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, its inner doors for the holy of holies and the doors of the house, that is, of the nave, of gold.