1 Kings 7

Solomon’s Palace Complex

1 Solomon completed his entire palace complex after thirteen years of construction.  * 7:1 1Kg 9:10; 2Ch 8:12 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon.  * 7:2 1Kg 10:21; 2Ch 9:16 It was one hundred fifty feet  * 7:2 Lit 100 cubits long, seventy-five feet  * 7:2 Lit 50 cubits, also in v. 6 wide, and forty-five feet  * 7:2 Lit 30 cubits, also in vv. 6,23 high on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars. 3 It was paneled above with cedar at the top of the chambers that rested on forty-five pillars, fifteen per row. 4 There were three rows of window frames, facing each other  * 7:4 Lit frames, window to window in three tiers.  * 7:4 Lit three times; = at 3 different places, also in v. 5,* 7:3–4 1Kg 10:16–175 All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other  * 7:5 Lit frames, opposing window to window in three tiers. 6 He made the hall of pillars seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars  * 7:6 Hb obscure was in front of them. 7 He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge  * 7:7 1Kg 3:16–28  — the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.  * 7:7 Syr, Vg; MT reads floor8 Solomon’s own palace where he would live, in the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar construction. And he made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, his wife.  * 7:8 Lit daughter he had taken,* 7:8 1Kg 3:1; 9:24; 2Ch 8:11

9 All of these buildings were of costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard. 10 The foundation was made of large, costly stones twelve and fifteen feet  * 7:10 Lit ten cubits and eight cubits long. 11 Above were also costly stones, cut to size, as well as cedar wood. 12 Around the great courtyard, as well as the inner courtyard of the Lord’s temple and the portico of the temple, were three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams.  * 7:12 1Kg 6:36

13 King Solomon had Hiram  * 7:13 = Huram in 2Ch 4:11,* 7:13 1Kg 5:1–11; 2Ch 2:13–14 brought from Tyre. 14 He was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze craftsman. Hiram had great skill,  * 7:14 Ex 31:2–5 understanding, and knowledge to do every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.  * 7:14 2Ch 4:11

The Bronze Pillars

15 He cast two bronze pillars,  * 7:15 2Kg 25:16–17; 2Ch 3:15 each 27 feet  * 7:15 Lit 18 cubits high and 18 feet  * 7:15 Lit 12 cubits in circumference.  * 7:15 LXX adds and the thickness of the pillar was four fingers hollowed and similarly the second pillar,* 7:15 1Kg 7:4116 He also made two capitals  * 7:16 1Kg 7:42; 2Kg 25:17 of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars; 7 1/2 feet  * 7:16 Lit five cubits, also in v. 23 was the height of the first capital, and 7 1/2 feet was also the height of the second capital. 17 The capitals on top of the pillars had gratings of latticework, wreaths  * 7:17 Lit tassels made of chainwork — seven for the first capital and seven for the second.

18 He made the pillars with two encircling rows of pomegranates on the one grating to cover the capital on top; he did the same for the second capital. 19 And the capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, six feet  * 7:19 Lit four cubits, also in vv. 27,38 high. 20 The capitals on the two pillars were also immediately above the rounded surface next to the grating, and two hundred pomegranates  * 7:20 2Ch 3:16; 4:13 were in rows encircling each  * 7:20 Litencircling the second capital. 21 He set up the pillars at the portico  * 7:21 1Kg 6:3 of the sanctuary: he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin;  * 7:21 = He Will Establish then he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz.  * 7:21 = In Him Is Strength,* 7:21 2Ch 3:1722 The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. Then the work of the pillars was completed.  * 7:22 2Kg 25:17

The Basin

23 He made the cast metal basin,  * 7:23 Lit sea,* 7:23 2Kg 25:13; 1Ch 18:8; 2Ch 4:6 15 feet  * 7:23 Lit 10 cubits from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was 7 1/2 feet high and 45 feet in circumference. 24 Ornamental gourds  * 7:24 1Kg 6:18 encircled it below the brim, ten every half yard,  * 7:24 Lit 10 per cubit completely encircling the basin.  * 7:24 2Ch 4:3 The gourds were cast in two rows when the basin was cast. 25 It stood on twelve oxen,  * 7:25 2Kg 16:17; 2Ch 4:4–5; Jr 52:20 three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The basin was on top of them and all their hindquarters were toward the center. 26 The basin was three inches  * 7:26 Lit a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held eleven thousand gallons.  * 7:26 Lit 2,000 baths

The Bronze Water Carts

27 Then he made ten bronze water carts.  * 7:27 Lit bronze stands,* 7:27 2Kg 25:13; 2Ch 4:14 Each water cart was 6 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 4 1/2 feet  * 7:27 Lit three cubits high. 28 This was the design of the carts: They had frames; the frames were between the cross-pieces, 29 and on the frames between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim.  * 7:29 1Kg 6:29,32 On the cross-pieces there was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging  * 7:29 Or hammered-down work. 30 Each cart  * 7:30 2Kg 16:17 had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Underneath the four corners of the basin were cast supports, each next to a wreath. 31 And the water cart’s opening inside the crown on top was eighteen inches  * 7:31 Lit a cubit wide. The opening was round, made as a pedestal twenty-seven inches  * 7:31 Lit one and a half cubits wide. On it were carvings, but their frames were square, not round. 32 There were four wheels under the frames, and the wheel axles were part of the water cart; each wheel was twenty-seven inches  * 7:32 Lit was one and a half cubits tall. 33 The wheels’ design was similar to that of chariot wheels: their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal. 34 Four supports were at the four corners of each water cart; each support was one piece with the water cart. 35 At the top of the cart was a band nine inches  * 7:35 Lit half a cubit high encircling it; also, at the top of the cart, its braces and its frames were one piece with it. 36 He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees  * 7:36 1Kg 6:29 on the plates of its braces and on its frames, wherever each had space, with encircling wreaths. 37 In this way he made the ten water carts using the same casting, dimensions, and shape for all of them.

Bronze Basins and Other Utensils

38 Then he made ten bronze basins  * 7:38 Ex 30:18; 2Ch 4:6  — each basin held 220 gallons  * 7:38 Lit 40 baths and each was six feet wide — one basin for each of the ten water carts. 39 He set five water carts on the right side of the temple and five on the left side. He put the basin near the right side of the temple toward the southeast.  * 7:39 2Ch 4:1040 Then Hiram made  * 7:40–51 2Ch 4:11–5:1 the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling basins.

Completion of the Bronze Works

So Hiram finished all the work that he was doing for King Solomon on the Lord’s temple: 41 two pillars;  * 7:41 1Kg 7:15 bowls for the capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two gratings for covering both bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars;  * 7:41 1Kg 7:1742 the four hundred pomegranates for the two gratings (two rows of pomegranates for each grating covering both capitals’ bowls on top of the pillars  * 7:42 1Kg 7:20); 43 the ten water carts;  * 7:43 1Kg 7:27 the ten basins on the water carts;  * 7:43 1Kg 7:3844 the basin;  * 7:44 1Kg 7:23 the twelve oxen underneath the basin;  * 7:44 1Kg 7:2545 and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling basins.  * 7:45 Ex 27:3 All the utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon at the Lord’s temple were made of burnished bronze. 46 The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth  * 7:46 Gn 33:17 and Zarethan.  * 7:46 Jos 3:16; 1Kg 4:1247 Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.  * 7:47 1Ch 22:3,14

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

48 Solomon also made all the equipment in the Lord’s temple: the gold altar; the gold table that the Bread of the Presence was placed on;  * 7:48 Ex 25:30; 30:1–3; 2Ch 29:1849 the pure gold lampstands in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left;  * 7:49 Ex 25:31–36 the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs; 50 the pure gold ceremonial bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, ladles,  * 7:50 Or dishes, or spoons; lit palms and firepans;  * 7:50 2Kg 25:15 and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the most holy place) and for the doors of the temple sanctuary.

51 So all the work King Solomon did in the Lord’s temple was completed.  * 7:51 1Kg 6:37–38 Then Solomon brought in the consecrated things of his father David  * 7:51 2Sm 8:9–12; 2Ch 5:1  — the silver, the gold, and the utensils — and put them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.  * 7:51 2Ch 36:18