The temple’s furnishings

1He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.4:1 That is, about 9 metres long and wide and 4.5 metres high 2He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits4:2 That is, about 2.3 metres high. It took a line of thirty cubits4:2 That is, about 14 metres to measure round it. 3Below the rim, figures of bulls encircled it – ten to a cubit.4:3 That is, about 45 centimetres The bulls were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

4The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were towards the centre. 5It was a handbreadth4:5 That is, about 7.5 centimetres in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held three thousand baths.4:5 That is, about 66,000 litres

6He then made ten basins for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. In them the things to be used for the burnt offerings were rinsed, but the Sea was to be used by the priests for washing.

7He made ten gold lampstands according to the specifications for them and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north.

8He 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 sprinkling bowls.

9He made the courtyard of the priests, and the large court and the doors for the court, and overlaid the doors with bronze. 10He placed the Sea on the south side, at the south-east corner.

11And Huram also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls.

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

12the two pillars;

the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;

the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;

13the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);

14the stands with their basins;

15the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;

16the pots, shovels, meat forks and all related articles.

All the objects that Huram-Abi made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of polished bronze. 17The king had them cast in clay moulds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan.4:17 Hebrew Zeredatha, a variant of Zarethan 18All these things that Solomon made amounted to so much that the weight of the bronze could not be calculated.

19Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in God’s temple:

the golden altar;

the tables on which was the bread of the Presence;

20the lampstands of pure gold with their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed;

21the gold floral work and lamps and tongs (they were solid gold);

22the pure gold wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and the doors of the main hall.