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was thirteen years completing the construction of his palace. 2 He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits in length, fifty cubits in width, and thirty cubits in height, with four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams on top of the pillars. 3 It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on forty-five pillars, fifteen to a row. 4 There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers. 5 All the doorways and door posts had rectangular frames, and each faced opposite the other in three tiers.
6 He built a colannade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. At the front was a portico, and in front of that there were pillars with an overhead roof.
7 He built a hall for the throne—the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge. It was panelled with cedar from floor to ceiling.
8 Solomon’s own palace where he was to reside was set further back, and it was of the same design and construction. Solomon also built a similar palace for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.
9 All these buildings were constructed using blocks of high-grade stone, cut to size and trimmed with a saw on their inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the large courtyard. 10 The foundations were laid using large high-grade stones of ten cubit and eight cubit lengths. 11 Above were high-quality stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. 12 The large surrounding courtyard had a wall of three courses of cut stones and one course of smoothed cedar beams, the same as for the inner courtyard of the House of the Lord, and for the portico of that same temple.
13 Now King Solomon sent for Huram to come from Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, and a craftsman in bronze. Huram was endowed with great skill, understanding, and knowledge to do any type of work with bronze. He came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.
15 Huram cast two bronze pillars, each pillar was eighteen cubits high, and twelve cubits circumference, when measured by a cord. The second pillar was the same. 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the top of the pillars; the height of the first capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 17 A network of latticework with wreaths of chainwork decorated the capitals incorporated into the top of each pillar; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.
18 Huram made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates encircling each network that decorated the top of the capital; and he did the same for the second capital. 19 The capitals which were on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. 20 On the capitals of the two pillars, above the rounded surface beside the network, were two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital. 21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. He set up the pillar on the right and named it Jachin; then he set up the pillar on the left and named it Boaz. 22 The tops of the pillars were shaped with a design of lilies. With that, the work on the pillars was completed.
23 Then Huram made the Sea of cast metal. It was completely circular in shape, and measured ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits in height. With a cord it measured thirty cubits in circumference. 24 Below the brim gourds completely encircled it, ten each cubit. The gourds were in two rows, cast as one piece with the Sea.
25 The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea was set on top of them, and all their hindquarters were toward the centre. 26 It was a handbreadth in thickness, and its rim was shaped like that of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.
27 Huram also made ten movable stands out of bronze for the water basins. Each stand was four cubits in length, four cubits in width, and three cubits in height. 28 This was the design of the stands: They had panels, and the panels were attached to uprights. 29 On the panels between the uprights were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the uprights there was a pedestal above, and below the lions and the oxen were wreaths of hammered metalwork.
30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths at each side. 31 On the inside of the basin was an opening a cubit in diameter. The opening was round, made as a pedestal a cubit and a half wide. Around its opening were engravings, but the panels were square, not round. 32 Beneath the panels were four wheels, and the wheel axles were attached to the stands. The height of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast metal.
34 Each basin stand had a handle at each of the four corners that were cast as one piece with the stand itself. 35 At the top of the stand was a circular band half a cubit high; the top of the stand its braces and its borders were one piece with it. 36 Huram engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of its supports and panels wherever there was sufficient space, with wreaths all around. 37 In this way he made the ten stands. They were all cast using the same moulds, and they were of the same dimensions and shape.
38 Huram then made ten bronze basins, one for each of the ten stands. Each basin had a volume of forty baths and measured four cubits across. 39 He set up five stands on the right side of the temple and five on the left side. He set up the Sea near the right side of the temple toward the south-east corner. 40 He also made the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished all the work that he had undertaken to do for King Solomon on the Lord’s temple:
41 the two pillars;
the two bowls for the capitals on top of the two pillars;
the two sets of network decorating the two bowls of the capitals on top of the pillars;
42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network—
two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the two bowls of the capitals on top of the pillars;
43 the ten stands and ten basins on the stands;
44 the Sea and the twelve oxen under it;
45 the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls.
All these utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon for the House of the Lord were of burnished bronze. 46 The king had the cast in clay moulds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all the utensils unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not determined.
48 Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the House of the Lord:
the gold altar;
the gold table on which was the bread of the Presence;
49 the lampstands of pure gold—
five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary;
the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;
50 the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and firepans;
and the gold hinges for the doors of the innermost part of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
51 So all the work that King Solomon had done for the House of the Lord was finished. Then he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the utensils—and he put them in the treasuries of the House of the Lord.