1 Kings Chapter 7 of 22 about 6 min read

1 Kings 7

What happens in this chapter

Chapter summary coming soon.

Verse 1. Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.

Verse 2. He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, with four rows of cedar pillars supporting the cedar beams.

Verse 3. The house was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen per row.

Verse 4. There were three rows of high windows facing one another in three tiers.

Verse 5. All the doorways had rectangular frames, with the openings facing one another in three tiers.

Verse 6. Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico.

Verse 7. In addition, he built a hall for the throne, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.

Verse 8. And the palace where Solomon would live, set further back, was of similar construction. He also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

Verse 9. All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the great courtyard.

Verse 10. The foundations were laid with large, costly stones, some ten cubits long and some eight cubits long.

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

Verse 12. The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the LORD.

Verse 13. Now King Solomon sent to bring Huram from Tyre.

Verse 14. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Huram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.

Verse 15. He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.

Verse 16. He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars, each capital five cubits high.

Verse 17. For the capitals on top of the pillars he made a network of lattice, with wreaths of chainwork, seven for each capital.

Verse 18. Likewise, he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates around each grating to cover each capital atop the pillars.

Verse 19. And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high.

Verse 20. On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital.

Verse 21. Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.

Verse 22. And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.

Verse 23. He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.

Verse 24. Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.

Verse 25. The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.

Verse 26. It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.

Verse 27. In addition, he made ten movable stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

Verse 28. This was the design of the stands: They had side panels attached to uprights,

Verse 29. and on the panels between the uprights were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the uprights was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of beveled work.

Verse 30. Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles and a basin resting on four supports, with wreaths at each side.

Verse 31. The opening to each stand inside the crown at the top was one cubit deep, with a round opening like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half wide. And around its opening were engravings, but the panels of the stands were square, not round.

Verse 32. There were four wheels under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand; each wheel was a cubit and a half in diameter.

Verse 33. The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.

Verse 34. Each stand had four handles, one for each corner, projecting from the stand.

Verse 35. At the top of each stand was a circular band half a cubit high. The supports and panels were cast as a unit with the top of the stand.

Verse 36. He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and panels, wherever each had space, with wreaths all around.

Verse 37. In this way he made the ten stands, each with the same casting, dimensions, and shape.

Verse 38. He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.

Verse 39. He set five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north, and he put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple.

Verse 40. Additionally, Huram made the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished all the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of the LORD:

Verse 41. the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars; the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars;

Verse 42. the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network covering both the bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars);

Verse 43. the ten stands; the ten basins on the stands;

Verse 44. the Sea; the twelve oxen underneath the Sea;

Verse 45. and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. All the articles that Huram made for King Solomon in the house of the LORD were made of burnished bronze.

Verse 46. The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.

Verse 47. Solomon left all these articles unweighed, because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Verse 48. Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar; the golden table on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;

Verse 49. the lampstands of pure gold in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right side and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;

Verse 50. the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the Most Holy Place) as well as for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

Verse 51. So all the work that King Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed. Then Solomon brought in the items his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.