World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Kings 7
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was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. For he built the House of the Forest of . Its length was one hundred , its width fifty , and its height thirty , on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row. There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks. 5All the doors and posts were made square with beams; and window was facing window in three ranks. He made the hall of pillars. Its length was fifty and its width thirty , with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them. He made the porch of where he was to judge, even the porch of ; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. His house where he was to , the other court within the porch, was of the same construction. He made also a house for daughter (whom had taken as wife), like this porch. All these were of costly stones, even of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten and stones of eight . Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood. The great court around had three courses of cut stone with a course of cedar beams, like the inner court of house and the porch of the house. King sent and brought out of . He was the son of a of the tribe of , and his was a man of , a worker in bronze; and he was filled with and understanding and skill to work all works in bronze. He came to King and performed all his work. For he fashioned the two pillars of bronze, eighteen high apiece; and a line of twelve encircled either of them. He made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five , and the height of the other capital was five . There were nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars: seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. So he made the pillars; and there were two rows of pomegranates around the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and he did so for the other capital. The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four . There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital. He set up the pillars at the porch of . He set up the right pillar and called its name ; and he set up the left pillar and called its name . 22On the tops of the pillars was lily work. So the work of the pillars was finished. He made the molten sea ten from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five ; and a line of thirty encircled it. Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten , encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast. It stood on 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 set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a , like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was four , four its width, and three its height. 28The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and ; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. Every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; and its four feet had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each. 31Its opening within the capital and above was a . Its opening was round like the work of a pedestal, a and a half; and also on its opening were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. 32The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a and half a . The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast metal. 34There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. 35In the top of the base there was a round band half a high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same. On the plates of its supports and on its panels, he engraved , lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. 37He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths. Every basin measured four . One basin was on every one of the ten bases. He set the bases, five on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south. made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So finished doing all the work that he worked for King in house: the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; 43the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases; the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea; the pots; the shovels; and the basins. All of these vessels, which made for King in house, were of burnished bronze. The king cast them in the plain of , in the ground between and . left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze could not be determined. made all the vessels that were in house: the golden and the table that the show bread was on, of gold; and the lamp stands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; the , the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most place, and for the doors of the house, of , of gold. Thus all the work that King did in house was finished. brought in the things which his had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of house.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The united kingdom, 1050 BC to 931 BC ›
Saul, David, and Solomon. A rare window when both Egypt and Mesopotamia are weak, which is how a small kingdom in the corridor between them could briefly become a regional power.
- The power vacuum
- This is the whole political explanation for the united kingdom. Egypt is fragmented, Assyria is recovering but still local, the Hittites are gone, and nobody is in a position to object to a strong state in the corridor. It lasts about a century, and Israel's golden age fits exactly inside it.
- Phoenicia
- Tyre under Hiram is the commercial power of the coast, and supplies the cedar, the craftsmen, and the shipping for Solomon's building programme. The alliance is trade, not charity: Israel had grain and a land route, Tyre had timber and ships.
- Egypt
- Weak enough that a pharaoh gives a daughter in marriage to an Israelite king, which is the opposite of Egyptian practice in stronger centuries. Late in the era it recovers under a new house, and Shishak will invade within five years of Solomon's death.
- Further afield
- Greece is still in its dark age but beginning to recover, and will adopt the Phoenician alphabet within a century or two. Carthage is founded by settlers from Tyre by tradition in 814 BC. In the Americas the Olmec centre shifts to La Venta.