1 Kings 7-8

Darby Translation

7 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.

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.

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.

8 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion.

² And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, that is, the seventh month.

³ And all the elders of Israel came; and the priests took up the ark.

⁴ And they brought up the ark of Jehovah, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent: the priests and the Levites brought them up.

⁵ And king Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel that were assembled to him, [who were] with him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.

⁶ And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim;

⁷ for the cherubim stretched forth [their] wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above.

⁸ And the staves were long, so that the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle, but they were not seen without. And there they are to this day.

⁹ There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses placed there at Horeb, when Jehovah made [a covenant] with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Jehovah,

¹¹ and the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of Jehovah.

¹² Then said Solomon: Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

¹³ I have indeed built a house of habitation for thee, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.

¹⁴ And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel; and the whole congregation of Israel stood.

¹⁵ And he said: Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

¹⁶ Since 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 in, that my name might be there; but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

¹⁷ And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.

¹⁸ But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart;

¹⁹ nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name.

²⁰ And Jehovah has performed his word which he spoke; and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and I have built the house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.

²¹ And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²² And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward the heavens.

²³ And he said, Jehovah, God of Israel! there is no God like thee, in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart;

²⁴ who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him; thou spokest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled [it] with thy hand, as at this day.

²⁵ And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way, to walk before me as thou hast walked before me.

²⁶ And now, O God of Israel, let thy words, I pray thee, be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David my father.

²⁷ But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens, and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

²⁸ Yet have respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, Jehovah, my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee this day;

²⁹ that thine eyes may be open upon this house night and day, upon the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.

³⁰ And hearken unto the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou in thy dwelling-place, in the heavens, and when thou hearest, forgive.

³¹ If a man have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;

³² then hear thou in the heavens, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

³³ When thy people Israel are put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house;

³⁴ then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land that thou gavest unto their fathers.

³⁵ When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, because thou hast afflicted them;

³⁶ then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

³⁷ If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight, mildew, locust, caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their gates; whatever plague, whatever sickness there be:

³⁸ what prayer, what supplication soever be made by any man, of all thy people Israel, when they shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house;

³⁹ then hear thou in the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and do, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men),

⁴⁰ that they may fear thee all the days that they live upon the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

⁴¹ And as to the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake

⁴² (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy mighty hand, and of thy stretched-out arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house,

⁴³ hear thou in the heavens thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; in order that all peoples of the earth may know thy name, [and] that they may fear thee as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

⁴⁴ If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray to Jehovah toward the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name;

⁴⁵ then hear thou in the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right.

⁴⁶ If they have sinned against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and give them up to the enemy, and they have carried them away captives unto the enemy's land, far or near;

⁴⁷ and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done iniquity, we have dealt perversely;

⁴⁸ and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name;

⁴⁹ then hear thou in the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right;

⁵⁰ and forgive thy people their sin against thee, and all their transgressions whereby they have transgressed against thee, and give them to find compassion with those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them

⁵¹ (for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron)—

⁵² thine eyes being open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.

⁵³ For thou hast separated them from among all peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spokest through Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.

⁵⁴ And it was so, that when Solomon had ended praying all this prayer and supplication to Jehovah, he arose from before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth to the heavens,

⁵⁵ and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

⁵⁶ Blessed be Jehovah, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there has not failed one word of all his good promises which he spoke through Moses his servant!

⁵⁷ Jehovah our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; let him not forsake us nor cast us off:

⁵⁸ that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.

⁵⁹ And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before Jehovah, be nigh to Jehovah our God day and night, that he maintain the right of his servant, and the right of his people Israel, as the matter of each day shall require;

⁶⁰ that all peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah is God, that there is none else;

⁶¹ and that your heart may be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

⁶² And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifices before Jehovah.

⁶³ And Solomon sacrificed a sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he sacrificed to Jehovah, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah.

⁶⁴ The same day the king hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah; for there he offered the burnt-offerings, and the oblations, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar that was before Jehovah was too small to receive the burnt-offerings, and the oblations, and the fat of the peace-offerings.

⁶⁵ And at that time Solomon held the feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entrance of Hamath unto the torrent of Egypt, before Jehovah our God, seven days and seven days, fourteen days.

⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Jehovah had done to David his servant, and to Israel his people.