2 Chronicles 2–4: The House Rises

Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the Name of the LORD and a royal palace for himself. So he conscripted 70,000 porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.

Then Solomon sent word to Hiram king of Tyre:

“Do for me as you did for my father David when you sent him cedars to build himself a house to live in. Behold, I am about to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God to dedicate to him for burning fragrant incense before him, for displaying the showbread continuously, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening as well as on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts of the LORD our God. This is ordained for Israel forever.

The house that I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. But who is able to build a house for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I, that I should build a house for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?

Send me, therefore, a craftsman skilled in engraving to work with gold and silver, with bronze and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn. He will work with my craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.

Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber there. And indeed, my servants will work with yours to prepare for me timber in abundance, because the temple I am building will be great and wonderful. I will pay your servants, the woodcutters, 20,000 cors of ground wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.”

Then Hiram king of Tyre wrote a letter in reply to Solomon:

“Because the LORD loves his people, he has set you over them as king.”

And Hiram added:

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son with insight and understanding, who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal palace for himself.

So now I am sending you Huram-abi, a skillful man endowed with creativity. He is the son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father is a man of Tyre. He is skilled in work with gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple, blue, and crimson yarn, and fine linen. He is experienced in every kind of engraving and can execute any design that is given him. He will work with your craftsmen and with those of my lord, your father David.

Now let my lord send to his servants the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine he promised. We will cut logs from Lebanon, as many as you need, and we will float them to you as rafts by sea down to Joppa. Then you can take them up to Jerusalem.”

Solomon numbered all the foreign men in the land of Israel following the census his father David had conducted, and there were found to be 153,600 in all. Solomon made 70,000 of them porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Solomon began construction on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

The foundation that Solomon laid for the house of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, according to the old standard. The portico at the front, extending across the width of the temple, was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

He paneled the main room with cypress, which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains. He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and its gold was from Parvaim. He overlaid its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.

Then he made the Most Holy Place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of fine gold. The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid the upper area with gold.

In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of sculptured work, and he overlaid them with gold. The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and touched the wall of the temple, and its other wing was five cubits long and touched the wing of the other cherub. The wing of the second cherub also measured five cubits and touched the wall of the temple, while its other wing measured five cubits and touched the wing of the first cherub. So the total wingspan of these cherubim was twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main room.

He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim woven into it.

In front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits high, each with a capital on top measuring five cubits.

He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork. Then he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south and one on the north. The pillar on the south he named Jachin, and the pillar on the north he named Boaz.

He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

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. Below 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.

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. It 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.

He 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.

He made ten gold lampstands according to their specifications and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north.

Additionally, he made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made a hundred gold bowls.

He made the courtyard of the priests and the large court with its doors, and he overlaid the doors with bronze.

He put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner.

Additionally, Huram made the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls.

So Huram finished the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of God:

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;
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);
the stands;
the basins on the stands;
the Sea;
the twelve oxen underneath the Sea;
and the pots, shovels, meat forks, and all the other articles.

All these objects that Huram-abi made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of polished bronze. The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredah. Solomon made all these articles in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of God:

the golden altar;
the tables on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;
the lampstands of pure gold and their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed;
the flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold—of purest gold;
the wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers of purest gold;
and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place as well as the doors of the main hall.