2 Chronicles 3–5

Solomon Builds the Temple

3Then Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. This was where the Lord had appeared to David, Solomon’s father. Solomon built the Temple on the place David had prepared on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ²Solomon began building in the second month of the fourth year he ruled Israel.

³Solomon used these measurements for building the Temple of God. It was ninety feet long and thirty feet wide, using the old measurement. ⁴The porch in front of the main room of the Temple was thirty feet long and thirty feet high.

He covered the inside of the porch with pure gold. ⁵He put panels of pine on the walls of the main room and covered them with pure gold. Then he put designs of palm trees and chains in the gold. ⁶He decorated the Temple with gems and gold from Parvaim. ^{n 7}He put gold on the Temple’s ceiling beams, doorposts, walls, and doors, and he carved creatures with wings on the walls.

⁸Then he made the Most Holy Place. It was thirty feet long and thirty feet wide, as wide as the Temple. He covered its walls with about forty-six thousand pounds of pure gold. ⁹The gold nails weighed over a pound. He also covered the upper rooms with gold.

¹⁰He made two creatures with wings for the Most Holy Place and covered them with gold. ¹¹The wings of the gold creatures were thirty feet across. One wing of one creature was seven and one-half feet long and touched the Temple wall. The creature’s other wing was also seven and one-half feet long, and it touched a wing of the second creature. ¹²One wing of the second creature touched the other side of the room and was also seven and one-half feet long. The second creature’s other wing touched the first creature’s wing, and it was also seven and one-half feet long. ¹³Together, the creatures’ wings were thirty feet across. The creatures stood on their feet, facing the main room.

¹⁴He made the curtain of blue, purple, and red thread, and expensive linen, and he put designs of creatures with wings in it.

¹⁵He made two pillars to stand in front of the Temple. They were about fifty-two feet tall, and the capital of each pillar was over seven feet tall. ¹⁶He made a net of chains and put them on the tops of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. ¹⁷Then he put the pillars up in front of the Temple. One pillar stood on the south side, the other on the north. He named the south pillar He Establishes and the north pillar In Him Is Strength.

Things for the Temple

4He made a bronze altar thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet tall. ²Then he made from bronze a large round bowl, which was called the Sea. It was forty-five feet around, fifteen feet across, and seven and one-half feet deep. ³There were carvings of bulls under the rim of the bowl—ten bulls every eighteen inches. They were in two rows and were made in one piece with the bowl.

⁴The bowl rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced outward from the center of the bowl. Three bulls faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. ⁵The sides of the bowl were four inches thick, and it held about seventeen thousand five hundred gallons. The rim of the bowl was like the rim of a cup or like a lily blossom.

⁶He made ten smaller bowls and put five on the south side and five on the north. They were for washing the animals for the burnt offerings, but the large bowl was for the priests to wash in.

⁷He made ten lampstands of gold, following the plans. He put them in the Temple, five on the south side and five on the north.

⁸He made ten tables and put them in the Temple, five on the south side and five on the north. And he used gold to make a hundred other bowls.

⁹He also made the priests’ courtyard and the large courtyard. He made the doors that opened to the courtyard and covered them with bronze. ¹⁰Then he put the large bowl in the southeast corner of the Temple.

¹¹Huram also made bowls, shovels, and small bowls. So he finished his work for King Solomon on the Temple of God:

¹²two pillars;

two large bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars;

two nets to cover the two large bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars;

¹³four hundred pomegranates for the two nets (there were two rows of pomegranates for each net covering the bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars);

¹⁴the stands with a bowl on each stand;

¹⁵the large bowl with twelve bulls under it;

¹⁶the pots, shovels, forks, and all the things to go with them.

All the things that Huram-Abi made for King Solomon for the Temple of the Lord were made of polished bronze. ¹⁷The king had these things poured into clay molds that were made in the plain of the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan. ¹⁸Solomon had so many things made that the total weight of all the bronze was never known.

¹⁹Solomon also made all the things for God’s Temple: the golden altar; tables which held the bread that shows God’s people are in his presence; ²⁰the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold, to burn in front of the Most Holy Place as planned; ²¹the flowers, lamps, and tongs of pure gold; ²²the pure gold wick trimmers, small bowls, pans, and dishes used to carry coals, the gold doors for the Temple, and the inside doors of the Most Holy Place and of the main room.

5Finally all the work Solomon did for the Temple of the Lord was finished. He brought in everything his father David had set apart for the Temple—all the silver and gold and other articles. And he put everything in the treasuries of God’s Temple.

The Ark Is Brought into the Temple

²Solomon called for the elders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the families to come to him in Jerusalem. He wanted them to bring the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord from the older part of the city. ³So all the Israelites came together with the king during the festival in the seventh month.

⁴When all the elders of Israel arrived, the Levites lifted up the Ark. ⁵They carried the Ark of the Agreement, the Meeting Tent, and the holy utensils in it; the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁶King Solomon and all the Israelites gathered before the Ark of the Agreement and sacrificed so many sheep and bulls no one could count them.

⁷Then the priests put the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord in its place inside the Most Holy Place in the Temple, under the wings of the golden creatures. ⁸The wings of these creatures were spread out over the place for the Ark, covering it and its carrying poles. ⁹The carrying poles were so long that anyone standing in the Holy Place in front of the Most Holy Place could see the ends of the poles. But no one could see them from outside the Holy Place. The poles are still there today. ¹⁰The only things inside the Ark were two stone tablets ⁿ that Moses had put in the Ark at Mount Sinai. That was where the Lord made his agreement with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

¹¹Then all the priests left the Holy Place. (All the priests from each group had made themselves ready to serve the Lord.) ¹²All the Levite musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and all their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar. They were dressed in white linen and played cymbals, harps, and lyres. With them were one hundred twenty priests who blew trumpets. ¹³Those who blew the trumpets and those who sang together sounded like one person as they praised and thanked the Lord. They sang as others played their trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments. They praised the Lord with this song:

“He is good;

his love continues forever.”

Then the Temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴The priests could not continue their work because of the cloud, because the Lord’s glory filled the Temple of God.