^3:15In front of the temple he made two pillars which had a combined length²² of 52½ feet,²³ with each having a plated capital seven and one-half feet high.²⁴^3:16He made ornamental chains²⁵ and put them on top of the pillars. He also made one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments and arranged them within the chains. ^3:17He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right side and the other on the left.²⁶ He named the one on the right Jachin,²⁷ and the one on the left Boaz.²⁸

^4:1He made a bronze altar, 30 feet¹ long, 30 feet² wide, and 15 feet³ high. ^4:2He also made the big bronze basin called “The Sea.”⁴ It measured 15 feet⁵ from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven and one-half feet⁶ high. Its circumference was 45 feet.⁷^4:3Images of bulls were under it all the way around, ten every eighteen inches⁸ all the way around. The bulls were in two rows and had been cast with “The Sea.” ^4:4“The Sea” stood on top of twelve bulls. Three faced northward, three westward, three southward, and three eastward. “The Sea” was placed on top of them, and they all faced outward.⁹^4:5It was four fingers thick and its rim was like that of a cup shaped like a lily blossom. It could hold 18,000 gallons.¹⁰^4:6He made ten washing basins; he put five on the south side and five on the north side. In them they rinsed the items used for burnt sacrifices; the priests washed in “The Sea.”

^4:7He made ten gold lampstands according to specifications and put them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. ^4:8He made ten tables and set them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. He also made one hundred gold bowls. ^4:9He made the courtyard of the priests and the large enclosure and its doors;¹¹ he plated their doors with bronze. ^4:10He put “The Sea” on the south side, in the southeast corner.

^4:11Huram Abi¹² made the pots, shovels, and bowls. He finished all the work on God’s temple he had been assigned by King Solomon.¹³^4:12He made¹⁴ the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped tops of the pillars, the latticework for the bowl-shaped tops of the two pillars, ^4:13the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the latticework of the two pillars (each latticework had two rows of these ornaments at the bowl-shaped top of the pillar), ^4:14the ten¹⁵ movable stands with their ten¹⁶ basins, ^4:15the big bronze basin called “The Sea” with its twelve bulls underneath, ^4:16and the pots, shovels, and meat forks.¹⁷ All the items King Solomon assigned Huram Abi to make for the Lord’s temple¹⁸ were made from polished bronze. ^4:17The king had them cast in earthen foundries¹⁹ in the region of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. ^4:18Solomon made so many of these items they did not weigh the bronze.²⁰

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Footnotes

22 The figure given here appears to refer to the combined length of both pillars (perhaps when laid end-to-end on the ground prior to being set up; cf. v. 17); the figure given for the height of the pillars in 1 Kgs 7:15, 2 Kgs 25:17, and Jer 52:21 is half this (i.e., eighteen cubits).
23 The reads “eighteen cubits” (twenty-seven feet). This apparently reflects an attempt at harmonization with 1 Kgs 7:15, 2 Kgs 25:17, and Jer 52:21.
24 Heb “and he made before the house two pillars, thirty-five cubits [in] length, and the plated capital which was on its top [was] five cubits.” The significance of the measure “thirty-five cubits” (52.5 feet or 15.75 m, assuming a cubit of 18 inches) for the “length” of the pillars is uncertain. According to 1 Kgs 7:15, each pillar was eighteen cubits (27 feet or 8.1 m) high. Perhaps the measurement given here was taken with the pillars lying end-to-end on the ground before they were set up.
25 The Hebrew text adds here, “in the inner sanctuary,” but the description at this point is of the pillars, not the inner sanctuary.
26 Or “one on the south and the other on the north.”
27 The name “Jachin” appears to be a verbal form and probably means, “he establishes.”
28 The meaning of the name “Boaz” is uncertain. For various proposals, see 126–27 בֹּעַז. One attractive option is to revocalize the name as בְּעֹז (bé’oz, “in strength”) and to understand it as completing the verbal form on the first pillar. Taking the words together and reading from right to left, one can translate the sentence, “he establishes [it] in strength.”
1 Heb “twenty cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the length would have been 30 feet (9 m).
2 Heb “twenty cubits.”
3 Heb “ten cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the height would have been 15 feet (4.5 m).
4 Heb “He made the sea, cast.” The large bronze basin known as “The Sea” was mounted on twelve bronze bulls and contained water for the priests to bathe themselves (see v. 6; cf. Exod 30:17–21).
5 Heb “ten cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the diameter would have been 15 feet (4.5 m).
6 Heb “five cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the height would have been 7.5 feet (2.25 m).
7 Heb “and a measuring line went around it thirty cubits all around.”
8 Heb “ten every cubit.”
9 Heb “all their hindquarters were toward the inside.”
10 Heb “3,000 baths” (note that the capacity is given in 1 Kings 7:26 as “2,000 baths”). A bath was a liquid measure roughly equivalent to six gallons (about 22 liters), so 3,000 baths was a quantity of about 18,000 gallons (66,000 liters).
11 Heb “and the doors for the enclosure.”
12 Heb “Huram,” but here this refers to Huram Abi (2 Chr 2:13). The complete name has been used in the translation to avoid possible confusion with King Huram of Tyre.
13 Heb “Huram finished doing all the work which he did for King Solomon [on] the house of God.”
14 The words “he made” are added for stylistic reasons.
15 The Hebrew text has עָשָׂה (’asah, “he made”), which is probably a corruption of עֶשֶׂר (’eser, “ten”; see 1 Kgs 7:43).
16 The Hebrew text has עָשָׂה (’asah, “he made”), which is probably a corruption of עֲשָׂרָה (’asarah, “ten”; see 1 Kgs 7:43).
17 Some prefer to read here “bowls,” see v. 11 and 1 Kgs 7:45.
18 Heb “Huram Abi made for King Solomon [for] the house of the Lord.”
19 Or perhaps, “molds.”
20 Heb “Solomon made all these items in great abundance; the weight of the bronze was not sought.”