15-22 First he cast two pillars in bronze, each twenty-seven feet tall and eighteen feet in circumference. He then cast two capitals in bronze to set on the pillars; each capital was seven and a half feet high and flared at the top in the shape of a lily. Each capital was dressed with an elaborate filigree of seven braided chains and a double row of two hundred pomegranates, setting the pillars off magnificently. He set the pillars up in the entrance porch to The Temple; the pillar to the south he named Security (Jachin) and the pillar to the north Stability (Boaz). The capitals were in the shape of lilies.

22-24 When the pillars were finished, Hiram’s next project was to make the Sea—an immense round basin of cast metal fifteen feet in diameter, seven and a half feet tall, and forty-five feet in circumference. Just under the rim there were two bands of decorative gourds, ten gourds to each foot and a half. The gourds were cast in one piece with the Sea.

Read full chapter

19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits[a] high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates(A) in rows all around. 21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin[b] and the one to the north Boaz.[c](B)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 7:19 That is, about 6 feet or about 1.8 meters; also in verse 38
  2. 1 Kings 7:21 Jakin probably means he establishes.
  3. 1 Kings 7:21 Boaz probably means in him is strength.