Now he made the room of the holy of holies: its length across the width of the house was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to 600 talents.
The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold.
Then he made two sculptured cherubim in the room of the holy of holies and overlaid them with gold.
The wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits; the wing of one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub.
The wing of the other cherub, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house; and its other wing of five cubits was attached to the wing of the first cherub.
The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits, and they stood on their feet facing the main room.
He made the veil of violet, purple, crimson and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.
He also made two pillars for the front of the house, thirty-five cubits high, and the capital on the top of each was five cubits.
He made chains in the inner sanctuary and placed them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates and placed them on the chains.
He erected the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left, and named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.
Also he made the cast metal sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits and its circumference thirty cubits.
Now figures like oxen were under it and all around it, ten cubits, entirely encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast in one piece.
It stood on twelve oxen, three facing the north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them and all their hindquarters turned inwards.
It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; it could hold 3,000 baths.
He also made ten basins in which to wash, and he set five on the right side and five on the left to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.
Then he made the ten golden lampstands in the way prescribed for them and he set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.
He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made one hundred golden bowls.
Then he made the court of the priests and the great court and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.
He set the sea on the right side of the house toward the southeast.
Huram also made the pails, the shovels and the bowls. So Huram finished doing the work which he performed for King Solomon in the house of God:
the two pillars, the bowls and the two capitals on top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on top of the pillars,
and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the pillars.
He also made the stands and he made the basins on the stands,
and the one sea with the twelve oxen under it.
The pails, the shovels, the forks and all its utensils, Huram-abi made of polished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the LORD.
On the plain of the Jordan the king cast them in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.
Thus Solomon made all these utensils in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze could not be found out.
Solomon also made all the things that were in the house of God: even the golden altar, the tables with the bread of the Presence on them,
the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary in the way prescribed;
the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold, of purest gold;
and the snuffers, the bowls, the spoons and the firepans of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, its inner doors for the holy of holies and the doors of the house, that is, of the nave, of gold.
Thus all the work that Solomon performed for the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver and the gold and all the utensils, and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.
Then Solomon assembled to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.
All the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, that is in the seventh month.
Then all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark.
They brought up the ark and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils which were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up.
And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim.
For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles.
The poles were so long that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; and they are there to this day.
There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.
When the priests came forth from the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to divisions),
and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets
in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the LORD, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the LORD saying, “He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting,” then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud,
so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.
Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.
Then the king faced about and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.
He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hands, saying,
‘Since the day that I brought My people from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man for a leader over My people Israel;
Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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