1   Solomon had been engaged on his building for thirteen years by the time he had finished it. 2   He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon, a hundred cubits long, fifty broad, and thirty high, constructed of four rows of cedar columns, over which were laid lengths of cedar. 3   It had a cedar roof, extending over the beams, which rested on the columns, fifteen in each row; and the number of the beams was forty-five. 4   There were three rows of window-frames, and the windows corresponded to each other at three levels. 5   All the doorways and the windows ^note had square frames, and window corresponded to window at three levels.

6   He made also the colonnade, fifty cubits long and thirty broad, ^note with a cornice above.

7   He built the Hall of Judgement, the hall containing the throne where he was to give judgement; this was panelled in cedar from floor to rafters. ^note

8   His own house where he was to reside, in ^note a court set back from the colonnade, and the house he made for Pharaoh's daughter whom he had married, were constructed like the hall.

The reign of Solomon

9   All these were made of heavy blocks of stone, hewn to measure and trimmed with the saw on the inner and outer sides, from foundation to coping and from the court of the house ^note as far as the great court. 10   At the base were heavy stones, massive blocks, some ten and some eight cubits in size, 11   and above were heavy stones dressed to measure, and cedar. 12   The great court had three courses of dressed stone all around and a course of lengths of cedar; so had the inner court of the house of the Lord, and so had the vestibule of the house.

13    14   King Solomon fetched from Tyre Hiram, the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali. His father, a native of Tyre, had been a worker in bronze, and he himself was a man of great skill and ingenuity, versed in every kind of craftsmanship in bronze. Hiram came to King Solomon and executed all his works.

15    ^noteHe cast in a mould the two bronze pillars. One stood eighteen cubits high and it took a cord twelve cubits long to go round it; it was hollow, and the metal was four fingers thick. ^noteThe second pillar was the same. ^note 16   He made two capitals of solid copper to set on the tops of the pillars, each capital five cubits high. 17   He made two ^note bands of ornamental network, in festoons of chain-work, for the capitals on the tops of the pillars, a band of network ^note for each capital. 18   Then he made pomegranates ^note in two rows all round on top of the ornamental network of the one pillar; ^note he did the same with the other capital. 19   (The capitals at the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were shaped like lilies and were four cubits high.) 20   Upon the capitals at the tops of the two pillars, immediately above the cushion, which was beyond the network upwards, were two hundred pomegranates in rows all round on the two capitals. ^note 21   Then he erected the pillars at the vestibule of the sanctuary. When he had erected the pillar on the right side, he named it Jachin; ^note and when he had erected the one on the left side, he named it Boaz. ^note 22   On the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.

23    ^noteHe then made the Sea of cast metal; it was round in shape, the diameter from rim to rim being ten cubits; it stood five cubits high, and it took a line thirty cubits long to go round it. 24   All round the Sea on the outside under its rim, completely surrounding the thirty ^note cubits of its circumference, were two rows of gourds, cast in one piece with the Sea itself. 25   It was mounted on twelve oxen, three facing north, three west,

The reign of Solomon three south, and three east, their hind quarters turned inwards; the Sea rested on top of them. 26   Its thickness was a hand-breadth; its rim was made like that of a cup, shaped like the calyx of a lily; it held two thousand bath of water.

27   He also made the ten trolleys of bronze; each trolley was four cubits long, four wide, and three high. 28   This was the construction of the trolleys. 29   They had panels set in frames; on these panels were portrayed lions, oxen, and cherubim, and similarly on the frames. Above and below the lions, oxen, and cherubim ^note were fillets of hammered work of spiral design. 30   Each trolley had four bronze wheels with axles of bronze; it also had four flanges and handles beneath the laver, and these handles were of cast metal with a spiral design on their sides. 31   The opening for the basin was set within a crown which projected one cubit; the opening was round with a level edge, ^note and it had decorations in relief. 32   (The panels of the trolleys were square, not round.) The four wheels were beneath the panels, and the wheel-forks were made in one piece with the trolleys; the height of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33   The wheels were constructed like those of a chariot, their axles, hubs, spokes, and felloes being all of cast metal. 34   The four handles were at the four corners of each trolley, of one piece with the trolley. 35   At the top of the trolley there was a circular band half a cubit high; the struts and panels on ^note the trolley were of one piece with it. 36   On the plates, that is on the panels, ^note he carved cherubim, lions, and palm-trees, wherever there was a blank space, with spiral work all round it. 37   This is how the ten trolleys were made; all of them were cast alike, having the same size and the same shape.

38   He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty bath and measuring four cubits; there was a basin for each of the ten trolleys. 39   He put five trolleys on the right side of the house and five on the left side; and he put the Sea in the south-east corner of it.

40    ^noteHiram made also the pots, ^note the shovels, and the tossing-bowls. So he finished all the work which he had undertaken for King Solomon on the house of the Lord: 41   the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on the tops of the pillars; the two ornamental networks to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals on the tops of the pillars; 42   the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the bowl-shaped capitals on the two ^note pillars; 43   the ten trolleys and the ten basins on the trolleys; 44   the one Sea and the twelve oxen which supported it; 45   the pots, the shovels, and the tossing-bowls—all these

The reign of Solomon objects in the house of the Lord which Hiram made for King Solomon being of bronze, burnished work. 46   In the Plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the foundry between Succoth and Zarethan.

47   Solomon put all these objects in their places; so great was the quantity of bronze used in their making that the weight of it was beyond all reckoning. 48   He made also all the furnishings for the house of the Lord: the golden altar and the golden table upon which was set the Bread of the Presence; 49   the lamp-stands of red gold, five on the right side and five on the left side of the inner shrine; the flowers, lamps, and tongs, of gold; 50   the cups, snuffers, tossing-bowls, saucers, and firepans, of red gold; and the panels for the doors of the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the house, ^note of gold.

51   When all the work which King Solomon did for the house of the Lord was completed, he brought in the sacred treasures of his father David, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and deposited them in the storehouses of the house of the Lord.

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