1 Kings 7:13-47

New International Version - UK

The temple’s furnishings

¹³ King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,^{[a] 14} whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was from Tyre and a skilled craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.

¹⁵ He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.^{[b] 16} He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits^[c] high. ¹⁷ A network of interwoven chains adorned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. ¹⁸ He made pomegranates in two rows^[d] encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars.^[e] He did the same for each capital. ¹⁹ The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits^[f] high. ²⁰ On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. ²¹ He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin^[g] and the one to the north Boaz.^{[h] 22} The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.

²³ He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits^[i] to measure round it. ²⁴ Below the rim, gourds encircled it – ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

²⁵ The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were towards the centre. ²⁶ It was a handbreadth^[j] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.^[k]

²⁷ He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high.^{[l] 28} This is how the stands were made: they had side panels attached to uprights. ²⁹ On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim – and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. ³⁰ Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. ³¹ On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit^[m] deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half.^[n] Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. ³² The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³ The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.

³⁴ Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. ³⁵ At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit^[o] deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. ³⁶ He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same moulds and were identical in size and shape.

³⁸ He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths^[p] and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the south-east corner of the temple. ⁴⁰ He also made the pots^[q] and shovels and sprinkling bowls.

So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the Lord:

All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had them cast in clay moulds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.