1 Kings 7

But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

1Solomon also built a palace for himself. The work took thirteen years. He finished every part of it.

2He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.

2He built a hall called the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was a hundred cubits long, fifty wide, and thirty high. Four rows of cedar pillars held up cedar beams.

NoteA cubit was about 18 inches. It was the length of a man's arm, from his elbow to his fingertips.

3And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.

3A cedar roof lay on top of the beams. The beams rested on the pillars. There were forty-five beams, fifteen in each row.

4And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks.

4There were three rows of windows. The windows faced each other, row across from row.

5And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks.

5All the doors and door frames had square corners. The window openings faced each other in three rows.

6And he made a porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits: and the porch was before them: and the other pillars and the thick beam were before them.

6He made a porch held up by pillars. It was fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. In front of it stood another covered porch with pillars and a heavy beam.

7Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other.

7He also built a hall for his throne. There he sat as judge and decided what was right. Cedar covered it from the floor across to the other side.

8And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.

8The house where Solomon lived stood behind this hall. It was built the same way. He built a house like it for his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

9All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.

9All these buildings used costly stone. Workers cut the stones to size and smoothed them with saws. This was done inside and outside, from the bottom up to the top edge, and out toward the great yard.

10And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.

10The stones at the bottom were huge and costly. Some were ten cubits long. Others were eight cubits long.

11And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars.

11Above these were more costly stones, cut to size, and cedar beams.

12And the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the LORD, and for the porch of the house.

12A wall went all around the great yard. It had three rows of cut stone and one row of cedar beams. The inner yard of the LORD's house and its porch were built the same way.

13And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.

13King Solomon sent for a man named Hiram. Hiram lived in the city of Tyre.

14He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.

14His mother was a widow from the family group of Naphtali. His father came from Tyre and worked with metal. Hiram was very wise and skilled at every kind of metal work. He came to King Solomon and did all his work.

NoteThe KJV says "brass." The metal was really bronze, which is copper mixed with tin.

15For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.

15He poured two pillars out of melted metal. Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall. A string wrapped around one measured twelve cubits.

16And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits:

16He also made two top pieces of melted metal to sit on the pillars. Each top piece was five cubits high.

17And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.

17He made woven nets and chains for the top pieces on the pillars. There were seven of them for each top piece.

18And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter.

18He made the pillars. Around each net he put two rows of pomegranates, a round red fruit. These covered the top pieces of the pillars.

19And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.

19The top pieces on the pillars by the porch were shaped like lilies. They stood four cubits high.

20And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.

20Each top piece also had pomegranates above the rounded part near the net. Two hundred pomegranates stood in rows all around each top piece.

21And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.

21He set the pillars up at the porch of the temple, the LORD's house. The pillar on the right he named Jachin. The pillar on the left he named Boaz.

22And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

22The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work on the pillars was done.

23And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

23He made a huge round tank of melted metal, called the Sea. It measured ten cubits across the top. It was five cubits deep and thirty cubits around.

24And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.

24Under its rim ran rows of round buds. There were ten buds in every cubit, all the way around. They were poured as part of the tank.

25It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

25The tank rested on twelve metal oxen. Three faced north, three west, three south, and three east. Their back ends all pointed inward.

26And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

26The metal was as thick as a hand is wide. The rim curved out like the edge of a cup, like a lily flower. The tank held two thousand baths.

NoteA bath was a way to measure liquid. Two thousand baths is about 11,000 gallons.

27And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.

27He also made ten metal stands. Each one was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

28And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges:

28The stands were built like this. They had flat side panels set between upright bars.

29And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work.

29On the panels were lions, oxen, and cherubim, which are heavenly creatures with wings. Above the bars was a small stand. Below the lions and oxen hung thin, carved wreaths.

30And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of every addition.

30Each stand had four metal wheels with metal axles. Supports stood at the four corners. These poured supports held up a washing bowl, with wreaths beside them.

31And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: but the mouth thereof was round after the work of the base, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round.

31The opening at the top of each stand was one cubit deep. The opening was round, a cubit and a half across. Carvings and borders ran around it. The panels were square, not round.

32And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.

32Four wheels sat under the panels. The axles of the wheels were joined to the stand. Each wheel was a cubit and a half tall.

33And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.

33The wheels were made like chariot wheels. Their axles, hubs, rims, and spokes were all poured metal.

34And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the very base itself.

34Each stand had four supports, one at every corner. They were made as part of the stand itself.

35And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.

35On top of each stand was a round band half a cubit high. The bars and panels on top were part of the stand too.

36For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about.

36He carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the bars and panels. He fit them wherever there was room. Carved wreaths went all around.

37After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.

37He made all ten stands this way. They were poured the same, and all were the same size and shape.

38Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.

38He also made ten metal bowls for washing. Each bowl held forty baths and was four cubits across. One bowl sat on each of the ten stands.

39And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south.

39He put five stands on the right side of the house and five on the left. He set the big tank on the right side, at the southeast corner.

40And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD:

40Hiram made the washing bowls, the shovels, and the sprinkling bowls. So Hiram finished all the work he did for King Solomon on the LORD's house.

41The two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars;

41He made the two pillars. He made the two bowl-shaped top pieces for them. He made the two nets that covered those bowl-shaped tops.

42And four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars;

42He made four hundred pomegranates for the two nets. Two rows went on each net, covering the bowl-shaped tops on the pillars.

43And the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases;

43He made the ten stands and the ten bowls that sat on them.

44And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;

44He made the one big tank and the twelve oxen that held it up.

45And the pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright brass.

45He made the pots, the shovels, and the sprinkling bowls. Everything Hiram made for King Solomon for the LORD's house was shiny bronze.

46In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.

46The king had them poured in the flat land near the Jordan River. The molds were made in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.

47And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out.

47Solomon never weighed any of these things. There were far too many of them. So no one knew how much the metal weighed.

48And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was,

48Solomon made all the things used in the LORD's house. He made the gold altar. He made the gold table that held the special bread set before God.

NoteThe KJV calls this "shewbread." It was bread that was set out in God's house, in front of God.

49And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,

49He made lampstands of pure gold, five on the right and five on the left. They stood in front of the inner room. He also made gold flowers, lamps, and tongs.

50And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.

50He made bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and pans for burning incense. All of them were pure gold. The hinges were gold too, for the doors of the inner room, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the main hall.

51So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.

51So all the work King Solomon did for the LORD's house was finished. Then Solomon brought in the gifts his father David had given to God. He put the silver, the gold, and the objects in the treasure rooms of the LORD's house.