1 Solomon was thirteen years building a house for himself till it was complete.
2 And he made the house of the Woods of Lebanon, which was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, resting on four lines of cedar-wood pillars with cedar-wood supports on the pillars.
3 And it was covered with cedar over the forty-five supports which were on the pillars, fifteen in a line.
4 There were three lines of window-frames, window facing window in every line.
5 And all the doors and windows had square frames, with the windows facing one another in three lines.
6 And he made a covered room of pillars, fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, and ... with steps before it.
7 Then he made a covered room for his high seat when he gave decisions; this was the covered room of judging; it was covered with cedar-wood from floor to roof.
8 And the house for his living-place, the other open square in the covered room, was made in the same way. And then he made a house like it for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had taken as his wife.
9 All these buildings were made, inside and out, from base to crowning stone, and outside to the great walled square, of highly priced stone, cut to different sizes with cutting-instruments.
10 And the base was of great masses of highly priced stone, some ten cubits and some eight cubits square.
11 Overhead were highly priced stones cut to measure, and cedar-wood.
12 The great outer square all round was walled with three lines of squared stones and a line of cedar-wood boards, round about the open square inside the house of the Lord and the covered room of the king's house.
13 Then King Solomon sent and got Hiram from Tyre.
14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; he was full of wisdom and knowledge and an expert worker in brass. He came to King Solomon and did all his work for him.
15 He it was who made the two brass pillars; the first pillar was eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits went round it; and the second was the same.
16 And he made the two crowns to be put on the tops of the pillars, of brass made soft in the fire; the crowns were five cubits high.
17 There were nets of open-work for the crowns on the tops of the pillars, a net of open-work for one and a net of open-work for the other.
18 And he made ornaments of apples; and two lines of apples all round over the network, covering the crowns of the pillars, the two crowns in the same way.
19 The crowns on the tops of the pillars were ornamented with a design of flowers, and were four cubits across.
20 And there were crowns on the two pillars near the round part by the network, and there were two hundred apples in lines round every crown.
21 He put up the pillars at the doorway of the Temple, naming the one on the right Jachin, and that on the left Boaz.
22 The tops of the pillars had a design of flowers; and the work of making the pillars was complete.
23 And he made a great metal water-vessel ten cubits across from edge to edge, five cubits high and thirty cubits round.
24 And under the edge of it, circling it all round for ten cubits, were two lines of flower buds, made together with it from liquid metal.
25 It was supported on twelve oxen, with their back parts turned to the middle of it, three of them facing to the north, three to the west, three to the south, and three to the east; the vessel was resting on top of them.
26 It was as thick as a man's open hand, and was curved like the edge of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it would take two thousand baths.
27 And he made ten wheeled bases of brass; every one four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
28 And the bases were made in this way; their sides were square, fixed in a framework;
29 And on the square sides between the frames were lions, oxen, and winged ones; and the same on the frame; and over and under the lions and the oxen and the winged ones were steps.
30 Every base had four wheels of brass, turning on brass rods, and their four angles had angle-plates under them; the angle-plates under the base were of metal, and there were ornaments at the side of every one.
31 The mouth of it inside the angle-plate was one cubit across; it was round like a pillar, a cubit and a half across; it had designs cut on it; the sides were square, not round.
32 The four wheels were under the frames, and the rods on which the wheels were fixed were in the base; the wheels were a cubit and a half high.
33 The wheels were made like carriage-wheels, the rods on which they were fixed, the parts forming their edges, their rods and the middle points of them, were all formed out of liquid metal.
34 And there were four angle-plates at the four angles of every base, forming part of the structure of the base.
35 And at the top of the base there was a round vessel, half a cubit high;
36 In the spaces of the flat sides and on the frames of them, he made designs of winged ones, lions, and palm-trees, with ornamented edges all round.
37 All the ten bases were made in this way, after the same design, of the same size and form.
38 And he made ten brass washing-vessels, everyone taking forty baths, and measuring four cubits; one vessel was placed on every one of the ten bases.
39 And he put the bases by the house, five on the right side and five on the left; and he put the great water-vessel on the right side of the house, to the east, facing south.
40 And Hiram made the pots and spades and the basins. So Hiram came to the end of all the work he did for King Solomon in the house of the Lord:
41 The two pillars and the two cups of the crowns which were on the tops of the two pillars; and the network covering the two cups of the crowns on the tops of the pillars,
42 And the four hundred apples for the network, two lines of apples for every network, covering the two cups of the crowns on the pillars;
43 And the ten bases, with the ten washing-vessels on them;
44 And the great water-vessel, with the twelve oxen under it;
45 And the pots and the spades and the basins; all the vessels which Hiram made for King Solomon, for the house of the Lord, were of polished brass.
46 He made them of liquid metal in the lowland of Jordan, at the way across the river, at Adama, between Succoth and Zarethan.
47 The weight of all these vessels was not measured, because there was such a number of them; it was not possible to get the weight of the brass.
48 And Solomon had all the vessels made for use in the house of the Lord: the altar of gold and the gold table on which the holy bread was placed;
49 And the supports for the lights, five on the right side and five on the left before the inmost room, of clear gold; and the flowers and the lights and all the instruments of gold;
50 And the cups and the scissors and the basins and the spoons and the fire-trays, all of gold; and the pins on which the doors were turned, the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and the doors of the Temple, all of gold.
51 So all the work King Solomon had done in the house of the Lord was complete. Then Solomon took the holy things which David his father had given, the silver and the gold and all the vessels, and put them in the store-houses of the house of the Lord.
1 Depois, Salomão mandou edificar o seu próprio palácio, que levou treze anos a construir.
2 Uma das salas do palácio chamava-se Salão da Floresta do Líbano. Era uma sala enorme, medindo 50 metros de comprimento por 25 de largo e 15 de altura. Enormes vigas de cedro do tecto repousavam sobre quatro filas de colunas também de cedro. Tinha três ordens de janelas - quarenta e cinco ao todo - em três das paredes; cinco janelas em cada fila. As janelas e as portas da sala tinham o mesmo tipo de ombreiras.
6 Outro era o Salão dos Pilares. Media 25 metros de comprimento e 15 de largo, com um pórtico à entrada e uma abóbada suportada por pilares.
7 Havia também a Sala do Trono ou Sala de Julgamento, onde o monarca se sentava para ouvir os processos jurídicos: era revestida com cedro do chão até ao vigamento do tecto.
8 Os seus aposentos pessoais - tudo em cedro, igualmente - dispunham-se à volta de um pátio, na retaguarda desta última sala. (Alías reservou apartamentos idênticos, com as mesmas medidas, no palácio que mandou construir para a filha de Faraó, uma das suas mulheres.)
9 Todas estas construções foram feitas inteiramente com enormes blocos de pedra, cortados à medida necessária. O custo de cada um desses blocos ficou assim muito elevado. As pedras para os alicerces tinham quatro e cinco metros de largura. Os grandes blocos das paredes, cortados à medida exacta de largura, juntavam-se no alto com as vigas de cedro. O Grande Pátio tinha três correntezas de pedras lavradas nas paredes, que se acoplavam com o travejamento de cedro, tal como acontecia no templo e com o pórtico do palácio.
13 O rei Salomão pediu a um homem de Tiro, chamado Hurão, que viesse trabalhar naquelas obras, porque era um hábil artista em bronze. Ele era meio judeu, sendo filho de uma viúva de Naftali; seu pai fora operário de fundição em Tiro. Esse homem veio trabalhar para o rei Salomão.
15 Fez então duas grandes colunas de bronze, cada uma com nove metros de altura e seis de circunferência, espessas de dez centímetros. No topo desses pilares fez dois capitéis em forma de lírios, com bronze fundido, cada um com dois metros e meio de altura de dois metros de largura. Cada capitel era decorado com sete conjuntos de rosáceas; e quatrocentas romãs, em duas filas, desenhadas, em cadeia, no bronze. Hurão mandou pôr esses pilares à entrada do templo. A um deles, no lado do sul, deram o nome de Pilar Jaquim; ao outro Pilar Boaz .
23 Hurão preparou também um tanque redondo em bronze com dois metros e meio de altura, cinco de diâmetro e quinze de circunferência. Por baixo da borda, por fora, havia duas filas de ornamentos, separadas de alguns centímetros e fundidos juntamente com o tanque.
25 Ficava apoiado sobre doze bois, de pé, juntos pelas caudas, três deles virados para o norte, outros três para o sul, três para leste e três para oeste. Os lados do tanque mediam dez centímetros de espessura. O seu rebordo era como o de uma taça. Tinha capacidade para 54.000 litros.
27 Depois fez dez bases movíveis, com quatro rodas; cada base era quadrada, de dois metros de lado e metro e meio de altura. Estavam montadas sobre um trem rodado feito de peças cruzadas, decoradas com leões incrustados, bois e anjos; acima e abaixo dos leões e dos bois havia decorações de figuras em espiral. Cada uma destas bases movíveis tinha quatro rodas de bronze e eixos de bronze também; em cada canto das bases havia uns postes de bronze, decorados com figuras em espiral, de cada lado. O alto destas bases consistia numa peça redonda de cinquenta centímetros de altura. O seu centro era côncavo, com setenta e cinco centímetros de fundo, decorado no exterior com espirais. As suas paredes de revestimento eram quadradas, não redondas.
32 Estas bases andavam sobre quatro rodas ligadas a eixos que estavam fundidos com as próprias bases. As rodas tinham setenta e cinco centímetros de altura; eram semelhantes às rodas de um carro. Todas as partes das bases tinham sido feitas com bronze fundido, incluindo os eixos, os raios, os arcos e o centro. Havia suportes em cada um dos quatro cantos das bases, os quais também tinham sido fundidos com as bases. Estas tinham também uma bordadura de vinte e três centímetros na parte superior, a que se ligavam umas pegas, tudo fundido de uma só peça com a base. Aos lados, nos espaços onde podia haver decoração, viam-se querubins, leões e palmeiras rodeadas por figuras em espiral. Todas as dez bases eram do mesmo tamanho e feitas da mesma forma, visto que cada uma delas tinha tido o mesmo molde para a sua feitura.
38 Depois mandou fazer dez tinas de cobre e colocou-as sobre as bases. Cada uma delas era quadrada, de dois metros de lado, com capacidade para 1.080 litros de água. Cinco destas tinas foram postas dum lado e cinco do outro, do compartimento. O tanque ficava no canto sul, do lado direito da sala. Hurão fez também o resto dos instrumentos necessários: bacias, pás, tinas. Por fim, a obra para o templo do Senhor, que Salomão lhe encomendara, terminou.
41 Tudo isto foi feito em bronze fundido e preparado nas planícies do rio Jordão, num sítio entre Sucote e Zaretã. O peso total destas peças não se sabe, pois que não havia possibilidade de as pesar!
48 Todos os utensílios e mobiliários do templo foram feitos de ouro puro. Isto incluía o altar, a mesa onde se encontrava exposto o pão da presença de Deus, o candelabro (com cinco luzes à direita e cinco à esquerda, em frente do lugar santíssimo), as flores, as lâmpadas, os espevitadores, as taças, os apagadores, as bacias, os perfumadores, os braseiros, as dobradiças das portas do lugar santíssimo e as da entrada principal do templo. Todos estes objectos eram feitos de ouro puro.
51 Quando o templo se acabou de construir, Salomão pôs no tesouro do templo a prata, o ouro e todos os recipientes consagrados por seu pai David.