2 Chronicles 4-6

Complete Jewish Bible

4 He made an altar of bronze thirty-five feet long, thirty-five feet wide and seventeen-and-a-half feet high.

² He made the cast metal “Sea” circular, seventeen-and-a-half feet from rim to rim, eight-and-three quarters feet high and fifty-two-and-a-half feet in circumference. ³ Below the rim a ring of ox-like figures encircled it, ten for every twenty-one inches all the way around the Sea. The oxen were in two rows; they were cast when the Sea was cast. ⁴ It rested on twelve oxen, three looking north, three looking west, three looking south and three looking east, all with their hindquarters toward the center. The Sea was set on top of them. ⁵ It was a handbreadth thick, its rim was made like the rim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; and its capacity was 16,500 gallons. ⁶ He also made ten basins for washing and put five on the right and five on the left. Items needed for the burnt offerings would be cleansed in these, but the Sea was for the cohanim to wash in.

⁷ He made the ten menorahs of gold in accordance with their specifications and set them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. ⁸ He also made ten tables and put them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold.

⁹ He made the courtyard for the cohanim and the great courtyard, also the doors to the courtyard, which he overlaid with bronze.

¹⁰ The Sea he placed on the right side [of the house], toward the southeast.

¹¹ Huram made the ash pots, shovels and sprinkling basins. With that, Huram completed the work he had been doing for King Shlomo in the house of God — ¹² the two columns, the two moldings, the two capitals on top of the columns, the two nettings covering the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns, ¹³ and the 400 pomegranates for the two nettings, two rows of pomegranates for each netting, to cover the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns. ¹⁴ He also made the trolleys, the basins on the trolleys, ¹⁵ the one Sea, the twelve oxen under it, ¹⁶ the ash pots, the shovels, the forks and all the other equipment for it. All these articles that Huram the master craftsman made for King Shlomo in the house of Adonai were of brilliant bronze. ¹⁷ The king cast them in the plain of the Yarden, in the clay ground between Sukkot and Tz’redah. ¹⁸ Shlomo made so many of these objects that the total weight of the bronze could not be determined.

¹⁹ Shlomo made all the objects that were inside the house of God: the gold altar; the table on which the showbread was displayed; ²⁰ the menorahs with their lamps to burn in front of the sanctuary as specified, of pure gold; ²¹ the flowers, lamps and tongs of gold, solid gold; ²² and the snuffers, bowls, cups and fire pans of pure gold. As for the entryway to the house, the inner doors for the Especially Holy Place and the doors of the house (that is, of the temple) were of gold.

5 Thus all the work that Shlomo did for the house of Adonai was finished. Then Shlomo brought in the gifts which David his father had consecrated — the silver, the gold and all the utensils — and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

² Shlomo assembled all the leaders of Isra’el and all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the paternal clans of the people of Isra’el, to Yerushalayim, to bring the ark for the covenant of Adonai out of the City of David, also known as Tziyon. ³ All the people of Isra’el assembled before the king at the festival in the seventh month. ⁴ All the leaders of Isra’el came. The L’vi’im took the ark ⁵ and brought up the ark, the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils that were in the tent; these are what the cohanim and L’vi’im brought up. ⁶ King Shlomo and the whole community of Isra’el who had assembled in his presence were in front of the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen in numbers beyond counting or recording. ⁷ The cohanim brought the ark for the covenant of Adonai in to its place inside the sanctuary of the house, to the Especially Holy Place, under the wings of the k’ruvim. ⁸ For the k’ruvim spread out their wings over the place for the ark, covering the ark and its poles from above. ⁹ The poles were so long that their ends could be seen [extending] from the ark into the sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets Moshe put there at Horev, when Adonai made the covenant with the people of Isra’el at the time of their leaving Egypt.

¹¹ When the cohanim came out of the Holy Place (for all the cohanim who were present had consecrated themselves; they didn’t keep to their divisions; ¹² also the L’vi’im who were the singers, all of them — Asaf, Heman, Y’dutun and their sons and relatives — dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, lutes and lyres, stood on the east side of the altar; and with them 120 cohanim sounding trumpets), ¹³ then, when the trumpeters and singers were playing in concord, to be heard harmoniously praising and thanking Adonai, and they lifted their voices together with the trumpets, cymbals and other musical instruments to praise Adonai: “for he is good, for his grace continues forever” — then, the house, the house of Adonai, was filled with a cloud; ¹⁴ so that because of the cloud, the cohanim could not stand up to perform their service; for the glory of Adonai filled the house of God.

6 Shlomo said, “Adonai said he would live in thick darkness. ² But I have built you a magnificent house, a place where you can live forever.”

³ Then the king turned around and blessed the whole community of Isra’el. The whole community of Isra’el stood ⁴ as he said, “Blessed be Adonai, the God of Isra’el, who spoke to my father David with his mouth and fulfilled his promise with his hand. He said, ⁵ ‘Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I chose no city from any of the tribes of Isra’el to build a house, so that my name might be there; nor did I choose anyone to be the leader of my people Isra’el. ⁶ But now I have chosen Yerushalayim, so that my name can be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Isra’el.’ ⁷ It was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Adonai the God of Isra’el; ⁸ but Adonai said to David my father, ‘Although it was in your heart to build a house for my name, and you did well that it was in your heart, ⁹ nevertheless you will not build the house. Rather, you will father a son, and it will be he who will build the house for my name.’ ¹⁰ Now Adonai has fulfilled this spoken word of his; for I have succeeded my father and sit on the throne of Isra’el, as Adonai promised; and I have built the house for the name of Adonai the God of Isra’el. ¹¹ And there I have placed the ark containing the covenant of Adonai, which he made with the people of Isra’el.”

¹² Then he stood before the altar of Adonai in the presence of the whole community of Isra’el, spread out his hands — ¹³ for Shlomo had made a bronze platform eight-and-three quarters feet long, eight-and-three-quarters feet wide and five-and-a-quarter feet high and had set it up in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, then got down on his knees before the whole community, spread out his hands toward heaven, ¹⁴ and said, “Adonai, God of Isra’el, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth. You keep covenant with your servants and show them grace, provided they live in your presence with all their heart. ¹⁵ You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father; you spoke with your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand; so it is today. ¹⁶ Now therefore, Adonai, God of Isra’el, keep what you promised to your servant David, my father, when you said, ‘You will never lack a man in my presence to sit on the throne of Isra’el, if only your children are careful about what they do, so that they live by my Torah, just as you have lived in my presence.’ ¹⁷ Now therefore, Adonai, God of Isra’el, please let your word, which you spoke to your servant David, my father, be confirmed.

¹⁸ “But can God actually live with human beings on the earth? Why, heaven itself, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain you; so how much less this house I have built? ¹⁹ Even so, Adonai my God, pay attention to your servant’s prayer and plea, listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying before you, ²⁰ that your eyes will be open toward this house day and night — toward the place where you said you would put your name — to listen to the prayer your servant will pray toward this place. ²¹ Yes, listen to the pleas of your servant, and also those of your people Isra’el when they pray toward this place. Hear from where you live, from heaven; and when you hear, forgive!

²² “If a person sins against a fellow member of the community, and he is made to swear under oath, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house; ²³ then hear from heaven, act and judge your servants, paying back the wicked, so that his way of life devolves on his own head, and vindicating the one who is right, giving him what his righteousness deserves.

²⁴ “If your people Isra’el sin against you and in consequence are defeated by an enemy; then if they turn back to you, acknowledge your name, and pray and make their plea to you in this house, ²⁵ hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Isra’el, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.

²⁶ “When they sin against you, and in consequence the sky is shut, so that there is no rain; then if they pray toward this place, acknowledge your name and turn from their sin when you have brought them low; ²⁷ hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Isra’el — since you keep teaching them the good way by which they should live — and send down rain on your land, which you have given your people as their inheritance.

²⁸ “If there is famine in the land, or blight, windstorm, mildew, locusts or shearer-worms; or if their enemies besiege them in any of their cities — no matter what kind of plague or sickness it is; ²⁹ then, regardless of what prayer or plea anyone among all your people Isra’el makes — for each individual will know his own plague and his own pain — and the person spreads out his hands toward this house; ³⁰ then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive; also, since you know what is in each one’s heart, give each person what his conduct deserves (because you, and only you, know human hearts), ³¹ so that they will fear you and therefore live according to your ways throughout the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.

³² “Also the foreigner who does not belong to your people Isra’el — when he comes from a distant country because of your great reputation, your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house; ³³ then hear from heaven, from where you live; and act in accordance with everything about which the foreigner is calling to you; so that all the peoples of the earth will know your name and fear you, as does your people Isra’el, and so that they will know that this house which I have built bears your name.

³⁴ “If your people go out to fight their enemies, no matter by which way you send them, and they pray to you toward the city you chose and the house I built for your name; ³⁵ then, from heaven, hear their prayer and plea, and uphold their cause.

³⁶ “If they sin against you — for there is no one who doesn’t sin — and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, so that they carry them off captive to a land far away or nearby; ³⁷ then, if they come to their senses in the land where they have been carried away captive, turn back and make their plea to you in the land where they are being held captive, saying, ‘We sinned, we acted wrongly, we behaved wickedly,’ ³⁸ if, in the land where they were brought and are being held captive, they return to you with all their heart and being and pray to you toward their own land, which you gave to their ancestors, toward the city you chose and toward the house I have built for your name; ³⁹ then, from heaven, from where you live, hear their prayer and pleas, uphold their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

⁴⁰ “Now, my God, please, let your eyes be open, and let your ears pay attention to the prayer being made in this place.