1 Kingschapter 7

A.Thirteen years for his own house, and the house of the forest of Lebanonvv. 1-12

1 Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace. 2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, with four rows of cedar pillars supporting the cedar beams. 3 The house was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen per row. 4 There were three rows of high windows facing one another in three tiers. 5 All the doorways had rectangular frames, with the openings facing one another in three tiers. 6 Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico. 7 In addition, he built a hall for the throne, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling. 8 And the palace where Solomon would live, set further back, was of similar construction. He also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married. 9 All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the great courtyard. 10 The foundations were laid with large, costly stones, some ten cubits long and some eight cubits long. 11 Above these were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. 12 The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the LORD.

B.Hiram the bronze-worker casts Jachin and Boazvv. 13-22

13 Now King Solomon sent to bring Huram from Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Huram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work. 15 He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference. 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars, each capital five cubits high. 17 For the capitals on top of the pillars he made a network of lattice, with wreaths of chainwork, seven for each capital. 18 Likewise, he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates around each grating to cover each capital atop the pillars. 19 And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital. 21 Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz. 22 And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.

C.The molten sea on twelve oxen, and ten wheeled basesvv. 23-39

23 He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference. 24 Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea. 25 The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center. 26 It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths. 27 In addition, he made ten movable stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. 28 This was the design of the stands: They had side panels attached to uprights, 29 and on the panels between the uprights were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the uprights was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of beveled work. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles and a basin resting on four supports, with wreaths at each side. 31 The opening to each stand inside the crown at the top was one cubit deep, with a round opening like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half wide. And around its opening were engravings, but the panels of the stands were square, not round. 32 There were four wheels under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand; each wheel was a cubit and a half in diameter. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal. 34 Each stand had four handles, one for each corner, projecting from the stand. 35 At the top of each stand was a circular band half a cubit high. The supports and panels were cast as a unit with the top of the stand. 36 He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and panels, wherever each had space, with wreaths all around. 37 In this way he made the ten stands, each with the same casting, dimensions, and shape. 38 He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands. 39 He set five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north, and he put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple.

D.Bronze past weighing, gold past counting — the work finishedvv. 40-51

40 Additionally, Huram made the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished all the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of the LORD: 41 the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars; the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars; 42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network covering both the bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars); 43 the ten stands; the ten basins on the stands; 44 the Sea; the twelve oxen underneath the Sea; 45 and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. All the articles that Huram made for King Solomon in the house of the LORD were made of burnished bronze. 46 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all these articles unweighed, because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be determined. 48 Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar; the golden table on which was placed the Bread of the Presence; 49 the lampstands of pure gold in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right side and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs; 50 the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the Most Holy Place) as well as for the doors of the main hall of the temple. 51 So all the work that King Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed. Then Solomon brought in the items his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

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Chapter summary

Thirteen years go to Solomon's own house, a note the narrator lets stand beside the temple's seven.

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Thirteen years go to Solomon's own house, a note the narrator lets stand beside the temple's seven. He builds the house of the forest of Lebanon on its rows of cedar pillars, the porch of pillars, the porch of the throne where he judges, and a house for Pharaoh's daughter. Then Hiram of Tyre, a widow's son of Naphtali filled with wisdom and skill to work in brass, casts the temple's bronze: the two pillars named Jachin and Boaz with capitals of lily-work and pomegranates, the molten sea on twelve oxen facing the four winds, the ten wheeled bases and their lavers, and vessels beyond weighing.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.

Context

History · Jeremiah — 1 Kings overview

A. 1–12 Thirteen years for his own house, and the house of the forest of Lebanon
B. 13–22 Hiram the bronze-worker casts Jachin and Boaz
C. 23–39 The molten sea on twelve oxen, and ten wheeled bases
D. 40–51 Bronze past weighing, gold past counting — the work finished

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

2 Chronicles 416 verses
- 2 Chronicles 4:2He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.
- 2 Chronicles 4:3Below the rim, figures of oxen encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.
- 2 Chronicles 4:4The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.
- 2 Chronicles 4:5It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold three thousand baths.
- 2 Chronicles 4:6He also made ten basins for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. The parts of the burnt offering were rinsed in them, but the priests used the Sea for washing.
- 2 Chronicles 4:7He made ten gold lampstands according to their specifications and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north.
- Read 2 Chronicles 4: 10 more there →
1 Kings 714 verses
- 1 Kings 7:5All the doorways had rectangular frames, with the openings facing one another in three tiers.
- 1 Kings 7:6Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico.
- 1 Kings 7:10The foundations were laid with large, costly stones, some ten cubits long and some eight cubits long.
- 1 Kings 7:12The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the LORD.
- 1 Kings 7:15He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.
- 1 Kings 7:20On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital.
- Read 1 Kings 7: 8 more there →
1 Kings 66 verses
- 1 Kings 6:3The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.
- 1 Kings 6:5Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.
- 1 Kings 6:18The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.
- 1 Kings 6:32The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.
- 1 Kings 6:35He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold, hammered evenly over the carvings.
- 1 Kings 6:36Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
- Read 1 Kings 6 →
Jeremiah 525 verses
- Jeremiah 52:17Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.
- Jeremiah 52:18They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service.
- Jeremiah 52:20As for the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands that King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure.
- Jeremiah 52:21Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick.
- Jeremiah 52:22The bronze capital atop one pillar was five cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.
- Read Jeremiah 52 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Ezekiel 14 verses
- Ezekiel 1:10The form of their faces was that of a man, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and also the face of an eagle.
- Ezekiel 1:15When I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.
- Ezekiel 1:16The workmanship of the wheels looked like the gleam of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. Their workmanship looked like a wheel within a wheel.
- Ezekiel 1:18Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.
- Read Ezekiel 1 →
Exodus 393 verses
- Exodus 39:15For the breastpiece they made braided chains like cords of pure gold.
- Exodus 39:36the table with all its utensils and the Bread of the Presence;
- Exodus 39:37the pure gold lampstand with its row of lamps and all its utensils, as well as the oil for the light;
- Read Exodus 39 →
1 Kings 93 verses
- 1 Kings 9:10Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built these two houses, the house of the LORD and the royal palace,
- 1 Kings 9:19as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.
- 1 Kings 9:24As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.
- Read 1 Kings 9 →
Ezekiel 403 verses
- Ezekiel 40:29Its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.
- Ezekiel 40:31Its portico faced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees. Eight steps led up to it.
- Ezekiel 40:36as did its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico. It also had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.
- Read Ezekiel 40 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.