1 Kings 7:5-44

⁵All the doorways and door casings had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in sets of three.

⁶He also had the Hall of Columns made—forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. It had a porch in front, its canopy also supported by columns.

⁷The throne room where he sat as judge was called the Hall of Justice, lined with cedar panels from floor to ceiling.

⁸Solomon's own palace where he lived was in a courtyard behind the porch, made in a similar way to the Temple. He also had a palace made for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he'd married.

⁹All these buildings were built using stone blocks that were expensive to produce. They were cut to size and trimmed with saws on the inside and outside. These stones were used from the foundation to the eaves, from the outside of the building all the way to the great courtyard.

¹⁰The foundations were laid with very large top-quality stones, between eight and ten cubits long.

¹¹On these were placed top-quality stones, cut to size, along with cedar timber.

¹²Around the great courtyard, the inner courtyard, and the porch of the Lord's Temple were three courses of dressed stone and a course of cedar beams.

¹³King Solomon sent for Hiram from Tyre.

¹⁴He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was from Tyre, a craftsman who worked in bronze. Hiram had great expertise, understanding and being familiar with all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and carried out all that the king required.

¹⁵He cast two columns in bronze. They were both eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.

¹⁶He also cast two capitals in bronze to place on top of the columns. Each capital was five cubits high.

¹⁷He made a network of lattice of interlinked chains for both capitals, seven for each one.

¹⁸Around the lattice network he made two rows of ornamental pomegranates to cover the capitals on the top of both the columns.

¹⁹The capitals placed on top of columns in the porch were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high.

²⁰On the capitals of both columns were the two hundred pomegranates in rows that encircled them, just above the rounded part that was next to the chain network.

²¹He erected the columns at the entrance porch of the Temple. The southern column he named Jachin, and the northern column he named Boaz.

²²The capitals on the columns were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the columns was finished.

²³Then he made the Sea of cast metal. Its shape was circular, and measured ten cubits from edge to edge, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.

²⁴Below the edge it was decorated with ornamental gourds that encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around. They were in two rows cast as one piece with the Sea.

²⁵The Sea stood on twelve metal bulls. Three faced to the north, three to the west, three to the south, and three to the east. The Sea was placed on them, with their rears toward the center.

²⁶It was as thick as the width of a hand, and its edge was like the flared edge of a cup or a lily flower. It held two thousand baths.

²⁷He also made ten carts to carry basins. The carts measured four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

²⁸This is how they were put together: side panels were attached to uprights.

²⁹Both the side panels and the uprights were decorated with lions, bulls, and cherubim. Above and below the lions and the bulls were decorative wreaths.

³⁰Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. A basin rested on four supports that had decorative wreaths on each side.

³¹At the top of each cart was a round opening like a pedestal to hold the basin. The opening was one cubit deep, and one and a half cubits wide. The opening had carvings around it. The panels of the cart were square, not round.

³²The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the cart. Each wheel measured one and a half cubits in diameter.

³³The wheels were made in the same way as chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all made by casting.

³⁴Each cart had four handles, one on each corner, made as part of the stand.

³⁵There was a ring on the top of the cart a half cubit wide. The supports and panels were cast as one piece with the top of the cart.

³⁶He had designs of cherubim, lions, and palm trees engraved on the panels, supports, and frame, wherever there was space, with decorative wreaths all around.

³⁷This is how he made the ten carts, with the same casts, size, and shape.

³⁸Then he made ten bronze basins. Each one held forty baths and measured four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten carts.

³⁹He placed five carts on the south side of the Temple and five on the north side. He placed the Sea on the south side, by the southeast corner of the Temple.

⁴⁰He also made the pots, shovels, and bowls. So Hiram finished making everything required by King Solomon for the Temple of the Lord:

⁴¹the two columns; the two capitals shaped like bowls on top the columns; the two chain networks that covered the bowls of the capitals on top of the columns;

⁴²the four hundred ornamental pomegranates for the chain networks (in two rows for the chain networks that covered the capitals on top of the columns);

⁴³the ten carts; the ten basins on the carts;

⁴⁴the Sea; the twelve bulls under the Sea;