Solomon’s Palace

7 King Solomon also built a palace for himself; it took him thirteen years to finish it. ² Built of cedars from the Forest of Lebanon, it was one hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. It had four rows of cedar columns which supported the cedar beams. ³ There were forty-five beams on the roof, with fifteen beams in each row, and the ceiling was covered with cedar above the beams. ⁴ Windows were placed in three rows facing each other. ⁵ All the doors were square, and the three doors at each end faced each other.

⁶ Solomon also built the porch that had pillars. This porch was seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide. Along the front of the porch was a roof supported by pillars.

⁷ Solomon also built a throne room where he judged people, called the Hall of Justice. This room was covered with cedar from the floor to the ceiling. ⁸ The palace where Solomon lived was built like the Hall of Justice, and it was behind this hall. Solomon also built the same kind of palace for his wife, who was the daughter of the king of Egypt.

⁹ All these buildings were made with blocks of fine stone. First they were carefully cut. Then they were trimmed with a saw in the front and back. These fine stones went from the foundations of the buildings to the top of the walls. Even the courtyard was made with blocks of stone. ¹⁰ The foundations were made with large blocks of fine stone, some as long as fifteen feet. Others were twelve feet long. ¹¹ On top of these foundation stones were other blocks of fine stone and cedar beams. ¹² The palace courtyard, the courtyard inside the Temple, and the porch of the Temple were surrounded by walls. All of these walls had three rows of stone blocks and one row of cedar beams.

The Temple Is Completed Inside

¹³ King Solomon sent to Tyre and had Huram brought to him. ¹⁴ Huram’s mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father was from Tyre and had been skilled in making things from bronze. Huram was also very skilled and experienced in bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and did all the bronze work.

¹⁵ He made two bronze pillars, each one twenty-seven feet tall and eighteen feet around. ¹⁶ He also made two bronze capitals that were seven and one-half feet tall, and he put them on top of the pillars. ¹⁷ Then he made a net of seven chains for each capital, which covered the capitals on top of the two pillars. ¹⁸ He made two rows of bronze pomegranates to go on the nets. These covered the capitals at the top of the pillars. ¹⁹ The capitals on top of the pillars in the porch were shaped like lilies, and they were six feet tall. ²⁰ The capitals were on top of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped section and next to the nets. At that place there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around the capitals. ²¹ Huram put these two bronze pillars at the porch of the Temple. He named the south pillar He Establishes and the north pillar In Him Is Strength. ²² The capitals on top of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work on the pillars was finished.

²³ Then Huram made from bronze a large round bowl, which was called the Sea. It was forty-five feet around, fifteen feet across, and seven and one-half feet deep. ²⁴ Around the outer edge of the bowl was a rim. Under this rim were two rows of bronze plants which surrounded the bowl. There were ten plants every eighteen inches, and these plants were made in one piece with the bowl. ²⁵ The bowl rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced outward from the center of the bowl. Three bulls faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. ²⁶ The sides of the bowl were four inches thick, and it held about eleven thousand gallons. The rim of the bowl was like the rim of a cup or like a lily blossom.

²⁷ Then Huram made ten bronze stands, each one six feet long, six feet wide, and four and one-half feet high. ²⁸ The stands were made from square sides, which were put on frames. ²⁹ On the sides were bronze lions, bulls, and creatures with wings. On the frames above and below the lions and bulls were designs of flowers hammered into the bronze. ³⁰ Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. At the corners there were bronze supports for a large bowl, and the supports had designs of flowers. ³¹ There was a frame on top of the bowls, eighteen inches high above the bowls. The opening of the bowl was round, twenty-seven inches deep. Designs were carved into the bronze on the frame, which was square, not round. ³² The four wheels, placed under the frame, were twenty-seven inches high. The axles between the wheels were made as one piece with the stand. ³³ The wheels were like a chariot’s wheels. Everything on the wheels—the axles, rims, spokes, and hubs—were made of bronze.

³⁴ The four supports were on the four corners of each stand. They were made as one piece with the stand. ³⁵ A strip of bronze around the top of each stand was nine inches deep. It was also made as one piece with the stand. ³⁶ The sides of the stand and the frames were covered with carvings of creatures with wings, as well as lions, palm trees, and flowers. ³⁷ This is the way Huram made the ten stands. The bronze for each stand was melted and poured into a mold, so all the stands were the same size and shape.

³⁸ Huram also made ten bronze bowls, one bowl for each of the ten stands. Each bowl was six feet across and could hold about two hundred thirty gallons. ³⁹ Huram put five stands on the south side of the Temple and five on the north side. He put the large bowl in the southeast corner of the Temple. ⁴⁰ Huram also made bowls, shovels, and small bowls.

So Huram finished all his work for King Solomon on the Temple of the Lord:

Huram made everything King Solomon wanted from polished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had these things poured into clay molds that were made in the plain of the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon never weighed the bronze used to make these things, because there was too much to weigh. So the total weight of all the bronze was never known.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all the items for the Temple of the Lord:

⁵¹ Finally the work King Solomon did for the Temple of the Lord was finished. Solomon brought in everything his father David had set apart for the Temple—silver, gold, and other articles. He put everything in the treasuries of the Temple of the Lord.