The Bronze Altar and the Great Sea
4 1 He made a bronze altar thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet high. 2 Then he made the cast-metal Sea, circular in shape, fifteen feet from rim to rim and seven and a half feet high, with a circumference of forty-five feet. 3 Below the rim, figures of oxen encircled it, about seven to every foot, all the way around the Sea. The oxen were cast in two rows, made as one piece with the Sea. 4 The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and all their hindquarters were turned inward. 5 It was about three inches thick, and its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup, like the blossom of a lily. It could hold about seventeen thousand gallons. a a v5 A handbreadth was about three inches (8 cm) — the width of a hand across the palm.
6 He also made ten basins, setting five on the south side and five on the north, for washing. The utensils for the burnt offerings were rinsed in them, but the Sea was for the priests to wash in.
7 He made the ten gold lampstands according to their specifications and set them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. 8 He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. And he made a hundred gold basins.
9 He made the courtyard of the priests and the great court with its doors, and he overlaid the doors with bronze. 10 He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner.
11 Huram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Huram finished the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of our Father:
12 The two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the two networks decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; 13 the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on the pillars; 14 the stands and the basins on the stands; 15 the one Sea and the twelve oxen beneath it; 16 the pots, the shovels, the meat forks, and all the related utensils. All these articles that Huram-abi made for King Solomon for the house of our Father were of polished bronze. 17 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredah. 18 Solomon made all these articles in such great quantity that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.
19 Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of our Father: the golden altar; the tables on which the bread of the Presence was set; 20 the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed; 21 the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs (these were of the purest gold); 22 the pure gold wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and censers; and the gold doors of the temple—the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and the doors of the main hall.