1 Kings 7 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible

Solomon Builds His Royal Palace

Chapter 7.

But Solomon spent thirteen years building his own palace, until he had finished all of it. He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, set on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams resting on the pillars. Above, it was roofed with cedar over the chambers that rested on the pillars, forty-five in all, fifteen to a row. There were window frames in three rows, with window facing window in three tiers. All the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames, with window facing window in three tiers. He made the Hall of Pillars, fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a porch in front of it and pillars and an overhang before them. He made the Hall of the Throne, where he would render judgment — the Hall of Justice — and it was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling. His own residence, in the other courtyard set back from the hall, was made in the same style. And he made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had married. All these structures, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard, were made of costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws on their inner and outer faces. The foundation was laid with costly stones, huge stones, some ten cubits and some eight cubits long. Above were costly stones, cut to size, and cedar timber. The great courtyard was enclosed by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of the house of our Father with its portico.

Bronze for the Father's House

King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought back Hiram, the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, whose father had been a man of Tyre and a craftsman in bronze. Hiram was filled with wisdom, understanding, and skill to do every kind of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and carried out all his work. He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of each. He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits high. Networks of latticework and wreaths of chainwork adorned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. He made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates encircling each network, to cover the capitals on top; he did the same for both capitals. The capitals on top of the pillars in the porch were shaped like lilies, four cubits high. On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around each capital. He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. The pillar on the south he named Jachin, and the pillar on the north he named Boaz. ¹ On top of the pillars was the lily design. So the work of the pillars was finished.

The Great Bronze Sea

He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high; a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. Below the rim, gourds encircled it, ten to a cubit, running all the way around the Sea; the gourds were cast in two rows as one piece with the Sea. The Sea rested on twelve oxen — three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east — with their hindquarters toward the center. It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.

The Ten Bronze Stands

He also made ten bronze stands, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. This was how the stands were made: they had panels set between the uprights. On the panels between the uprights were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and above and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hammered work. Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and its four legs had cast supports beneath the basin, with wreaths at each side. Its opening was inside a crown that rose a cubit above it; the opening was round, shaped like a pedestal, a cubit and a half across, with engravings around it; its panels were square, not round. The four wheels were beneath the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand; each wheel was a cubit and a half high. The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal. Each stand had four handles, one at each corner, projecting from the stand itself. At the top of each stand was a round band half a cubit deep; the supports and panels at the top were of one piece with the stand. On the surfaces of the supports and on the panels he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was space, with wreaths all around. This is how he made the ten stands; all of them were cast alike, with the same measurements and the same shape.

The Ten Bronze Basins

Then he made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands. He placed five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north, and he set the Sea at the southeast corner.

The Bronze Work Is Finished

Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the bowls. So Hiram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon on the house of our Father: the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the two networks covering the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, covering the two bowl-shaped capitals on the pillars; the ten stands with their ten basins; the one Sea with the twelve oxen beneath it; and the pots, the shovels, and the bowls. All these objects that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of our Father were of polished bronze. The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all these objects unweighed, for there were so many; the weight of the bronze was never determined.

Gold Furnishings for the Father's House

Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of our Father: the golden altar; the golden table that held the bread of the Presence; the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, in front of the inner sanctuary; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs; the basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and firepans of pure gold; and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

When all the work King Solomon did for the house of our Father was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated — the silver, the gold, and the furnishings — and placed them in the treasuries of the house of our Father.

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