Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

skill, to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.

      ¹⁵Thus he fashioned the two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high each; and a line of twelve cubits did compass it about; [and so] the other pillar. ¹⁶And 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. ¹⁷He also made nets of checker-work, and 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. ¹⁸And he made the pillars; and there were two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the capitals that were upon the top of the pomegranates; and so did he for the other capital. ¹⁹And the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily-work, four cubits. ²⁰And there were capitals above also upon the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network; and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about upon each capital. ²¹And he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple; and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz. ²²And upon the top of the pillars was lily-work; so was the work of the pillars finished.

      ²³And he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. ²⁴And under the brim of it round about there were knops which did compass it, for ten cubits, compassing the sea round about; the knops were in two rows, cast when it was cast. ²⁵It 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 set upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inward. ²⁶And it was a handbreadth thick; and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.

      ²⁷And he made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it. ²⁸And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders; and there were borders between the stays; ²⁹and on the borders that were between the stays were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and upon the stays it was in like manner above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. ³⁰And every base had four brazen wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet thereof had undersetters; beneath the laver were the undersetters molten, with wreaths at the side of each. ³¹And the mouth of it within the crown and above was a cubit high; and the mouth thereof was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also upon the mouth of it were gravings; and their borders were foursquare, not round. ³²And the four wheels were underneath the borders; and the axletrees of the wheels were in the base; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. ³³And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel; their axletrees, and their felloes, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten. ³⁴And there were four undersetters at the four corners of each base; the undersetters thereof were of one piece with the base itself. ³⁵And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high; and on the top of the base the stays thereof and the borders thereof were of one piece therewith. ³⁶And on the plates of the stays thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubim, lions, and palm-trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about. ³⁷After this manner he made the ten bases; all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.

      ³⁸And he made ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths; and every laver was four cubits; and upon every one of the ten bases one laver. ³⁹And he set 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, toward the south.

⁴⁰And ⁶Hiram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins.

      So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he wrought for king Solomon in the house of the Lord: ⁴¹the two pillars, and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; ⁴²and 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 upon the top of the pillars; ⁴³and the ten bases, and the ten lavers on the bases; ⁴⁴and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea; ⁴⁵and the pots, and the shovels, and the basins; even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in the house of the Lord, were of burnished brass. ⁴⁶In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many; the weight of the brass could not be found out. ⁴⁸And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the showbread was, of gold; ⁴⁹and the candlesticks, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the Sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; ⁵⁰and the cups, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the pans, and the fire-pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, that is, of the temple, of gold.

      ⁵¹Thus all the work that king Solomon wrought in the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

      8Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' houses of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. ²And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. ³And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. ⁴And they brought up the ark of the Lord, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these did the priests and the Levites bring up. ⁵And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. ⁶And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto its place, into the Sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. ⁷For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above. ⁸And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place, even before the Sanctuary; but they could not be seen without; and there they are unto this day. ⁹There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

      ¹²Then spoke Solomon:

      The Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.¹³I have surely built Thee a house of habitation,A place for Thee to dwell in for ever.

      ¹⁴And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel; and all the congregation of Israel stood. ¹⁵And he said: 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth unto David my father, and hath with His hand fulfilled it, saying: ¹⁶Since the day that I brought forth My people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that My name might be there; but I chose David to be over My people Israel. ¹⁷Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸But the Lord said unto David my father: Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house for My name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart; ¹⁹nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for My name. ²⁰And