2 Chronicles 3–5

1Then Solomon began to build Yahweh’s house at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

2He began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

3Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of God’s house: the length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits.

4The porch that was in front, its length, across the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height one hundred twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

5He made the larger room with a ceiling of cypress wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains.

6He decorated the house with precious stones for beauty. The gold was gold from Parvaim.

7He also overlaid the house, the beams, the thresholds, its walls, and its doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls.

8He made the most holy place. Its length, according to the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and its width twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

9The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

10In the most holy place he made two cherubim by carving, and they overlaid them with gold.

11The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.

12The wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, joining to the wing of the other cherub.

13The wings of these cherubim spread themselves out twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house.

14He made the veil of blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen, and ornamented it with cherubim.

15Also he made before the house two pillars thirty-five cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

16He made chains in the inner sanctuary, and put them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

17He set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

1Then he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

2Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference.

3Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

4It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.

5It was a handbreadth thick. Its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths.

6He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash in them. The things that belonged to the burnt offering were washed in them, but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

7He made the ten lamp stands 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.

8He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. He made one hundred basins of gold.

9Furthermore he made the court of the priests, the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

10He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.

11Huram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Huram finished doing the work that he did for King Solomon in God’s house:

12the two pillars, the bowls, the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,

13and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks—two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars.

14He also made the bases, and he made the basins on the bases—

15one sea, and the twelve oxen under it.

16Huram-abi also made the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all its vessels for King Solomon, for Yahweh’s house, of bright bronze.

17The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

18Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance, so that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

19Solomon made all the vessels that were in God’s house: the golden altar, the tables with the show bread on them,

20and the lamp stands with their lamps to burn according to the ordinance before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold;

21and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold that was purest gold;

22and the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans of pure gold. As for the entry of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.

1Thus all the work that Solomon did for Yahweh’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver, the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of God’s house.

2Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion.

3So all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.

4All the elders of Israel came. The Levites took up the ark.

5They brought up the ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The Levitical priests brought these up.

6King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled to him were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

7The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.

8For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

9The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the ark in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen outside; and it is there to this day.

10There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

11When the priests had come out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, and didn’t keep their divisions;

12also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them one hundred twenty priests sounding with trumpets);

13when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Yahweh; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Yahweh, saying, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever!” then the house was filled with a cloud, even Yahweh’s house,

14so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for Yahweh’s glory filled God’s house.