Solomon's Other Buildings

71 And Solomon was thirteen years building his own house; and he finished all his house. 2 And he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was a hundred cubits, and its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar-pillars, with cedar-beams upon the pillars; 3 and it was covered with cedar above upon the side-chambers, which were on forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row. 4 And there were cross-beams in three rows, and window was against window in three ranks. 5 And all the doors and posts were square, with an architrave; and window was against window in three ranks. 6 And he made the porch of pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits; and there was a porch in front of them; and there were pillars, and steps in front of them. 7 And he made the porch for the throne where he judged, the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. 8 And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. And he made, like to this porch, a house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had taken. 9 All these [buildings] were of costly stones, hewn stones, according to the measures, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation to the coping, and on the outside as far as the great court. 10 And the foundations were of costly stones, great stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits. 11 And above were costly stones, hewn stones, according to the measures, and cedar. 12 And the great court round about had three rows of hewn stones, and a row of cedar-beams; and so it was for the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and the porch of the house.

Solomon Employs Hiram of Tyre

13 And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. 14 He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was full of wisdom and understanding and knowledge, to do all kinds of works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and made all his work. 15 And he formed the two pillars of brass; the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a line of twelve cubits encompassed the second pillar. 16 And he made two capitals of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits; 17 [and] nets of checker-work, wreaths of chain-work, for the capitals which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. 18 And he made pomegranates, namely two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars; and so he did for the other capital. 19 And the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily-work [as] in the porch, four cubits. 20 And the capitals upon the two pillars, above also, close to the enlargement which was behind the network, had two hundred pomegranates in rows round about, [also] on the other capital. 21 And he set up the pillars for the porch of the temple; and he set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz. 22 And upon the top of the pillars was lily-work; and the work of the pillars was finished.

The Furnishings for the Temple

23 And he made the sea, molten, ten cubits from brim to brim, round all about; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encompassed it round about. 24 And under the brim of it round about there were colocynths, encompassing it, ten in a cubit enclosing the sea round about; two rows of colocynths, cast when it was cast. 25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. 26 And its thickness was a hand-breadth, and its brim was like the work of the brim of a cup, with lily-blossoms; it held two thousand baths. 27 And he made ten bases of brass: four cubits was the length of one base, and the breadth four cubits, and the height three cubits. 28 And the work of the bases was this: they had panels, and the panels were between the fillets. 29 And on the panels that were between the fillets were lions, oxen and cherubim; and over the fillets there was a base above; and beneath the lions and oxen were garlands of festoon-work. 30 And every base had four wheels of brass, and axles of brass; and on its four corners were shoulder-pieces: under the laver were shoulder-pieces molten, behind every garland. 31 And the mouth of it within the crown and above was a cubit; and its mouth was rounded, [as] the work of the base, a cubit and a half; and also upon its mouth was sculpture; but their panels were square, not round. 32 And the four wheels were under the panels; and the supports of the wheels were in the base; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. 33 And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their supports, and their rims, and their spokes and their naves were all molten. 34 And there were four shoulder-pieces to the four corners of one base; of the base itself were its shoulder-pieces. 35 And in the top of the base there was a circular elevation of half a cubit round about; and on the top of the base its stays and its panels were of the same. 36 And he engraved on the plates of its stays and on its panels cherubim, lions and palm-trees, according to the space upon each; and garlands were round about. 37 After this [manner] he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, one form. 38 And he made ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths; every laver was four cubits; upon every one of the ten bases one laver. 39 And he put the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house; and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, over against the south. 40 And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the bowls. So Hiram ended doing all the work that he made for king Solomon [for] the house of Jehovah: 41 two pillars, and the globes of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, two; and the two networks, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; 42 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were upon the pillars; 43 and the ten bases, and the ten lavers on the bases; 44 and one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea; 45 and the pots, and the shovels, and the bowls. And all these things, which Hiram made king Solomon for the house of Jehovah, were of bright brass. 46 In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay-ground between Succoth and Zaretan. 47 And Solomon left all the vessels [unweighed] from their exceeding number; the weight of the brass was not ascertained.

48 And Solomon made all the vessels that were [in] the house of Jehovah: the golden altar; and the table of gold, whereon was the shewbread; 49 and the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right, and five on the left, before the oracle; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold, 50 and the basons, and the knives, and the bowls, and the cups, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, for the folding-doors of the inner house, the most holy place, [and] for the doors of the house, of the temple. 51 And all the work was finished that king Solomon made for the house of Jehovah. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated; the silver and the gold and the vessels he put among the treasures of the house of Jehovah.

Solomon Marries Pharaoh's Daughter

31 And Solomon allied himself by marriage with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had ended building his own house, and the house of Jehovah, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 2 Only, the people sacrificed on the high places; for there was no house built to the name of Jehovah, until those days.

Solomon's Prayer for Wisdom

3 And Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of David his father; only, he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt-offerings did Solomon offer up upon that altar.

5 In Gibeon Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. 6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewn unto thy servant David my father great loving-kindness, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great loving-kindness, that thou hast given him a son who sits upon his throne, as it is this day. 7 And now, Jehovah my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father; and I am but a little child: I know not to go out and to come in. 8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9 Give therefore to thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people, to discern between good and bad; for who is able to judge this thy numerous people? 10 And the word pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 And God said to him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself discernment to understand judgment; 12 behold, I have done according to thy word: behold, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there hath been none like unto thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and glory; so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. 14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will prolong thy days. 15 And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered peace-offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

Solomon's Wisdom and Prosperity

16 Then came two women, harlots, to the king, and stood before him. 17 And the first woman said, Ah, my lord! I and this woman abode in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18 And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also; and we were together; no stranger was with us in the house, only we two were in the house. 19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she had lain upon it. 20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thy handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead; and I considered it in the morning, and behold, it was not my son, whom I bore. 22 And the other woman said, No, for the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this one said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king. 23 Then said the king, The one says, This that is living is my son, and thy son is the dead; and the other says, No, for thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 26 Then spoke the woman whose was the living child to the king, for her bowels yearned over her son, and she said, Ah, my lord! give her the living child, and in no wise put it to death. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine; divide it. 27 And the king answered and said, Give this one the living child, and in no wise put it to death: she is its mother. 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.