inside with wood: and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir. 16. And he built twenty cubits on the hinder part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor unto the walls: he even built them for it within, for an oracle even for the most holy place. And the greater house, that is, the temple before the oracle, was forty cubits long. And there was cedar on the house within, carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen, and he ceiled it with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and wrought thereon palm trees and chains. And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was the gold of Parvaim. And he prepared an oracle in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. And within the oracle was a space of twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. And the weight of the nails was fifteen shekels of gold. And he covered the * altar which was of cedar with gold, and overlaid the upper chambers with gold. So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he drew chains of gold across before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. He overlaid the whole house, the beams, the thresholds, and the walls thereof, with gold, until all the house was finished: also the whole altar that belonged to the oracle he overlaid with gold. And in the oracle he made two cherubim in image work of olive wood, each ten cubits high and overlaid them with gold. The wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. And the wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub. And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and of one form. The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub. And he set the cherubim within the inner house: and the wings of the cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house, and they stood on their feet, and their faces were *inward. And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubim thereon. I Kings 6:28. And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. 29. And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, within and without. 30. And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. 31. And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive wood: the lintel and the door posts were a fifth part of the wall. 32. So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved upon them carving of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold upon the cherubim, and upon the palm trees. 33. So also made he for the entering of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall; and two doors of fir wood; the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35. And he carved thereon cherubim and palm trees and open flowers: and he overlaid them with gold fitted upon the graven work. 36. And he built the inner court with three rows of hewn stone, and a row of cedar beams. 37. In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the month Ziv. 38. And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

Marginal reading.

1

1

Hiram and His Works

Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the Lord loveth his people, he hath made thee king over them.* And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding, * of Hiram, my father's, the son of a widow woman of the tribe of ** Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave in any manner of graving, and to devise any device: that there may be a place appointed unto him with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.

Two Pillars of Brass

For he fashioned two pillars of brass of ** eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits compassed either of them about. And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits. There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, as in the oracle, for the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter. So he made the pillars; and there were two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars: and so did he for the other chapiter. And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were in lily work, four cubits. And there were chapiters above also upon the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about upon the other chapiter. And he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name Boaz. And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished. Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof. Also he made the

The Molten Sea

molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about. And under the brim of it round about there were **knops which did compass it round about for ten cubits, compassing the sea round about. The **knops were in two rows, cast when it was cast. It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inward. And it was an handbreadth thick; and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it received and held ** two thousand baths. 27. And he made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it. 28. And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders; and there were borders between the ledges: 29. and on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and upon the ledges there was a pedestal above: and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. 30. And every base had four brasen wheels, and axles of brass: and the four feet thereof had undersetters: beneath the laver were the undersetters molten, with wreaths at the side of each. 31. And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above *See Chronicles, Appendix C, III, 2, (3). *3 Chronicles, Thirty-five, III, 1 (11).

Oxen.

Ten Bases and Lavers

I cf. II Chronicles 4: 16.

*2 Chronicles, Dan. *5 Chronicles, three thousand, III, 1, (12).

4 Chronicles

1

was a cubit: and the mouth thereof was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings, and their borders were foursquare, not round. 32. And the four wheels were underneath the borders; and the axletrees of the wheels were in the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. 33. And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their felloes, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten. 34. And there were four undersetters at the four corners of each base: the undersetters thereof were of the base itself. 35. And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the stays thereof and the borders thereof were of the same. 36. And on the plates of the stays thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about. 37. After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. He made also ten lavers of brass, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them, such things as belonged to the burnt offering they washed in them: one laver contained forty baths; and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver. And he set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: but the sea was for the priests to wash in. And he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south. And he made ten candlesticks of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left. He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. And he made an hundred basons of gold. Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and the doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with brass. And Hiram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basons.

Summary of Hiram's Works

So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he wrought for king Solomon in the house of God: the two pillars, and the two bowls, and the two chapiters that were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the chapters that were on the top of the pillars: and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars. He made also the ten bases, and the ten lavers on the bases; and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under it. The pots also, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and all the vessels thereof, did Hiram his father make for king Solomon for the house of the Lord of bright brass. In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zaredah. And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: the weight of the brass could not be found out. And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God: the golden altar, and the tables whereon was the shewbread, of gold; and the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold, and that perfect gold; and the cups, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the firepans, of pure gold; and the hinges both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple were of gold. Thus all the. work that king Solomon wrought for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.