April 18

1 Kings 7:1 — 8:30

7 And his own house Solomon built in thirteen years, so that he finished all his own house.

2 And he proceeded to build the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits in its length, and fifty cubits in its width, and thirty cubits in its height, upon four rows of pillars of cedarwood; and there were beams of cedarwood upon the pillars. 3 And it was paneled in with cedarwood above upon the girders that were upon the forty-five pillars. There were fifteen to a row. 4 As for framed windows, there were three rows, and there was an illumination opening opposite an illumination opening in three tiers. 5 And all the entrances and the doorposts were squared [with the] frame, and also the forefront of the illumination opening opposite an illumination opening in three tiers.

6 And the Porch of Pillars he made fifty cubits in its length, and thirty cubits in its width; and another porch was in front of them with pillars and a canopy in front of them.

7 As for the Porch of the Throne where he would do judging, he made the porch of judgment; and they covered it in with cedarwood from the floor to the rafters.

8 As regards the house of his where he was to dwell, at the other courtyard, it was away from the house belonging to the Porch. It proved to be like this in workmanship. And there was a house like this Porch that he proceeded to build for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had taken.

9 All these were [of] expensive stones according to measures, hewn, sawed with stone-saws, inside and outside, and from the foundation up to the coping, and outside as far as the great courtyard. 10 And the expensive stones laid as a foundation were great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. 11 And up above there were expensive stones according to measures, hewn, and also cedarwood. 12 As for the great courtyard, round about were three rows of hewn stone and a row of beams of cedarwood; and [this] also for the inner courtyard of the house of Jehovah, and for the porch of the house.

13 And King Solomon proceeded to send and fetch Hiram out of Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widowed woman from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a Tyrian man, a worker in copper; and he was full of the wisdom and the understanding and the knowledge for doing every sort of work in copper. Accordingly he came to King Solomon and began to do all his work.

15 Then he cast the two pillars of copper, eighteen cubits being the height of each pillar, and a string of twelve cubits would measure around each of the two pillars. 16 And two capitals he made to put upon the tops of the pillars, cast in copper. Five cubits was the height of the one capital, and five cubits was the height of the other capital. 17 There were nets in network, twisted ornaments in chainwork, for the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. 18 And he went on to make the pomegranates and two rows round about upon the one network to cover the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars; and that was what he did for the other capital. 19 And the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars at the porch were of lily work, of four cubits. 20 And the capitals were upon the two pillars, also up close beside the belly that was adjoining the network; and there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around upon each capital.

21 And he proceeded to set up the pillars belonging to the porch of the temple. So he set up the right-hand pillar and called its name Jachin, and then set up the left-hand pillar and called its name Boaz. 22 And upon the top of the pillars there was lily work. And the work of the pillars was gradually completed.

23 And he proceeded to make the molten sea ten cubits from its one brim to its other brim, circular all around; and its height was five cubits, and it took a line of thirty cubits to circle all around it. 24 And there were gourd-shaped ornaments down below its brim all around, encircling it, ten in a cubit, enclosing the sea all around, with two rows of the gourd-shaped ornaments cast in its casting. 25 It was standing upon twelve bulls, three facing north, and three facing west, and three facing south, and three facing east; and the sea was above upon them, and all their hind parts were toward the center. 26 And its thickness was a handbreadth; and its brim was like the workmanship of the brim of a cup, a lily blossom. Two thousand bath measures were what it would contain.

27 And he went on to make the ten carriages of copper, four cubits being the length of each carriage, and four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. 28 And this was the workmanship of the carriages: they had sidewalls, and the sidewalls were between the crossbars. 29 And upon the sidewalls that were between the crossbars there were lions, bulls and cherubs, and over the crossbars it was like that. Up above and beneath the lions and the bulls there were wreaths in hanging work. 30 And there were four wheels of copper to each carriage, with axles of copper; and its four cornerpieces were supports for them. Beneath the basin were the supports, cast with wreaths across from each. 31 And its mouth from inside to the supports and upward was [?] cubits; and its mouth was round, the workmanship of a stand of one and a half cubits, and also upon its mouth there were carvings. And their sidewalls were squared, not round. 32 And the four wheels were down below the sidewalls, and the supports of the wheels were by the carriage; and the height of each wheel was one and a half cubits. 33 And the workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel. Their supports and their felloes and their spokes and their hubs, they were all cast. 34 And there were four supports upon the four corners of each carriage; its supports were of one piece with the carriage. 35 And on top of the carriage there was [a stand] a half a cubit in height, circular all around; and upon the top of the carriage its sides and its sidewalls were of one piece with it. 36 Further, he engraved upon the plates of its sides and upon its sidewalls cherubs, lions and palm-tree figures according to the clear space of each, and wreaths all around. 37 It was like this that he made the ten carriages; they all had one cast, one measure, one shape.

38 And he proceeded to make ten basins of copper. Forty bath measures were what each basin would contain. Each basin was four cubits. There was one basin upon each carriage for the ten carriages. 39 Then he put five carriages on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house; and the sea itself he put to the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.

40 And Hiram gradually made the basins and the shovels and the bowls. At length Hiram finished doing all the work that he did for King Solomon as respects the house of Jehovah: 41 The two pillars and the bowl-shaped capitals that were upon the top of the two pillars, and the two networks to cover the two round capitals that were upon the top of the pillars, 42 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates to each network, to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals that were upon the two pillars; 43 and the ten carriages and the ten basins upon the carriages, 44 and the one sea and the twelve bulls beneath the sea; 45 and the cans and the shovels and the bowls and all these utensils, which Hiram made of polished copper for King Solomon for the house of Jehovah. 46 In the District of the Jordan it was that the king cast them in the clay mold, between Succoth and Zarethan.

47 And Solomon left all the utensils [unweighed] because of so extraordinarily great a quantity. The weight of the copper was not ascertained. 48 And Solomon gradually made all the utensils that pertained to the house of Jehovah, the altar of gold and the table on which was the showbread, of gold, 49 and the lampstands, five to the right and five to the left before the innermost room, of pure gold, and the blossoms and the lamps and the snuffers, of gold, 50 and the basins and the extinguishers and the bowls and the cups and the fire holders, of pure gold, and the sockets for the doors of the inner house, that is, the Most Holy, and for the doors of the house of the temple, of gold.

51 Finally all the work that King Solomon had to do as regards the house of Jehovah was at its completion; and Solomon began to bring in the things made holy by David his father; the silver and the gold and the articles he put in the treasures of the house of Jehovah.

8 At that time Solomon proceeded to congregate the older men of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, the chieftains of the fathers, of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the City of David, that is to say, Zion. 2 So all the men of Israel congregated themselves to King Solomon in the lunar month of Ethanim in the festival, that is, the seventh month. 3 So all the older men of Israel came, and the priests began to carry the Ark. 4 And they came bringing up the ark of Jehovah and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils that were in the tent; and the priests and the Levites came bringing them up. 5 And King Solomon and with him all the assembly of Israel, those keeping their appointment with him, were before the Ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

6 Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, to the innermost room of the house, the Most Holy, to underneath the wings of the cherubs.

7 For the cherubs were spreading out their wings over the place of the Ark, so that the cherubs kept the Ark and its poles screened over from above. 8 But the poles proved to be long, so that the tips of the poles were visible from the Holy in front of the innermost room, but they were not visible outside. And there they continue down to this day. 9 There was nothing in the Ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had deposited there in Horeb, when Jehovah had covenanted with the sons of Israel while they were coming out from the land of Egypt.

10 And it came about that when the priests came out from the holy place, the cloud itself filled the house of Jehovah. 11 And the priests were unable to stand to do their ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah. 12 At that time Solomon said: “Jehovah himself said he was to reside in the thick gloom. 13 I have successfully built a house of lofty abode for you, an established place for you to dwell in to time indefinite.”

14 Then the king turned his face and began to bless all the congregation of Israel, while all the congregation of Israel were standing up. 15 And he went on to say: “Blessed is Jehovah the God of Israel, who spoke by his own mouth with David my father, and by his own hand has given fulfillment, saying, 16 ‘From the day that I brought my people Israel out from Egypt I have not chosen a city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name to continue there; but I shall choose David to come to be over my people Israel.’ 17 And it came to be close to the heart of David my father to build a house to the name of Jehovah the God of Israel. 18 But Jehovah said to David my father, ‘For the reason that it proved to be close to your heart to build a house to my name, you did well, because it proved to be close to your heart. 19 Only you yourself will not build the house, but your son who is coming forth from your loins is the one that will build the house to my name.’ 20 And Jehovah proceeded to carry out his word that he had spoken, that I might rise up in the place of David my father and sit upon the throne of Israel, just as Jehovah had spoken, and that I might build the house to the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, 21 and that I might locate a place there for the Ark where the covenant of Jehovah is that he concluded with our forefathers when he was bringing them out from the land of Egypt.”

22 And Solomon began standing before the altar of Jehovah in front of all the congregation of Israel, and he now spread his palms out to the heavens; 23 and he went on to say: “O Jehovah the God of Israel, there is no God like you in the heavens above or on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant and the loving-kindness toward your servants who are walking before you with all their heart, 24 you who have kept toward your servant David my father that which you promised him, so that you made the promise with your own mouth, and with your own hand you have made the fulfillment, as at this day. 25 And now, O Jehovah the God of Israel, keep toward your servant David my father that which you promised him, saying, ‘There will not be cut off a man of yours from before me to sit upon the throne of Israel, if only your sons will take care of their way by walking before me just as you have walked before me.’ 26 And now, O God of Israel, let your promise that you have promised to your servant David my father prove trustworthy, please.

27 “But will God truly dwell upon the earth? Look! The heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens, themselves cannot contain you; how much less, then, this house that I have built! 28 And you must turn toward the prayer of your servant and to his request for favor, O Jehovah my God, to listen to the entreating cry and to the prayer with which your servant is praying before you today; 29 that your eyes may prove to be opened toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you said, ‘My name will prove to be there,’ to listen to the prayer with which your servant prays toward this place. 30 And you must listen to the request for favor on the part of your servant and of your people Israel with which they pray toward this place; and may you yourself hear at the place of your dwelling, in the heavens, and you must hear and forgive.