2 Chronicles 3-5

New King James Version

Solomon Builds the Temple^(A)

3 Now ^(B)Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at ^(C)Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where ^[a]the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of ^(D)Ornan^[b] the Jebusite. ² And he began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

³ This is the foundation ^(E)which Solomon laid for building the house of God: The length was sixty cubits (by cubits according to the former measure) and the width twenty cubits. ⁴ And the ^(F)vestibule that was in front of ^[c]the sanctuary was twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the height was ^[d]one hundred and twenty. He overlaid the inside with pure gold. ^5 (G)The larger ^[e]room he ^(H)paneled with cypress which he overlaid with fine gold, and he carved palm trees and chainwork on it. ⁶ And he decorated the house with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was gold from Parvaim. ⁷ He also overlaid the house—the beams and doorposts, its walls and doors—with gold; and he carved cherubim on the walls.

⁸ And he made the ^(I)Most Holy Place. Its length was according to the width of the house, twenty cubits, and its width twenty cubits. He overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold. ⁹ The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold; and he overlaid the upper ^(J)area with gold. ^10 (K)In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim, fashioned by carving, and overlaid them with gold. ¹¹ The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits in overall length: one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, touching the wall of the room, and the other wing was five cubits, touching the wing of the other cherub; ¹² one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, touching the wall of the room, and the other wing also was five cubits, touching the wing of the other cherub. ¹³ The wings of these cherubim spanned twenty cubits overall. They stood on their feet, and they faced inward. ¹⁴ And he made the ^(L)veil of blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen, and wove cherubim into it.

¹⁵ Also he made in front of the ^[f]temple ^(M)two pillars ^[g]thirty-five cubits ^[h]high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits. ¹⁶ He made wreaths of chainwork, as in the inner sanctuary, and put them on top of the pillars; and he made ^(N)one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the wreaths of chainwork. ¹⁷ Then he ^(O)set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; he called the name of the one on the right hand ^[i]Jachin, and the name of the one on the left ^[j]Boaz.

Furnishings of the Temple^(P)

4 Moreover he made ^(Q)a bronze altar: twenty cubits was its length, twenty cubits its width, and ten cubits its height.

^2 (R)Then he made the ^[k]Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. ^3 (S)And under it was the likeness of oxen encircling it all around, ten to a cubit, all the way around the Sea. The oxen were cast in two rows, when it was cast. ⁴ It stood on twelve ^(T)oxen: three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; the Sea was set upon them, and all their back parts pointed inward. ⁵ It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained ^[l]three thousand baths.

⁶ He also made ^(U)ten lavers, and put five on the right side and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as they offered for the burnt offering they would wash in them, but the ^[m]Sea was for the ^(V)priests to wash in. ^7 (W)And he made ten lampstands of gold ^(X)according to their design, and set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. ^8 (Y)He also made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made one hundred ^(Z)bowls of gold.

⁹ Furthermore ^(AA)he made the court of the priests, and the ^(AB)great court and doors for the court; and he overlaid these doors with bronze. ^10 (AC)He set the Sea on the right side, toward the southeast.

¹¹ Then ^(AD)Huram made the pots and the shovels and the bowls. So Huram finished doing the work that he was to do for King Solomon for the house of God: ¹² the two pillars and ^(AE)the bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two networks covering the two bowl-shaped capitals which were on top of the pillars; ^13 (AF)four hundred pomegranates for the two networks (two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on the pillars); ¹⁴ he also made ^(AG)carts and the lavers on the carts; ¹⁵ one Sea and twelve oxen under it; ¹⁶ also the pots, the shovels, the forks—and all their articles ^(AH)Huram his ^[n]master craftsman made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the Lord.

¹⁷ In the plain of Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds, between Succoth and ^[o]Zeredah. ^18 (AI)And Solomon had all these articles made in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze was not determined.

¹⁹ Thus ^(AJ)Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of God: the altar of gold and the tables on which was ^(AK)the showbread; ²⁰ the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, to burn ^(AL)in the prescribed manner in front of the inner sanctuary, ²¹ with ^(AM)the flowers and the lamps and the wick-trimmers of gold, of purest gold; ²² the trimmers, the bowls, the ladles, and the censers of pure gold. As for the entry of the ^[p]sanctuary, its inner doors to the Most Holy Place, and the doors of the main hall of the temple, were gold.

The Ark Brought into the Temple

5 So ^(AN)all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and the gold and all the furnishings. And he put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

The Ark Brought into the Temple^(AO)

^2 (AP)Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, in Jerusalem, that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up ^(AQ)from the City of David, which is Zion. ^3 (AR)Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with the king ^(AS)at the feast, which was in the seventh month. ⁴ So all the elders of Israel came, and the ^(AT)Levites took up the ark. ⁵ Then they brought up the ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁶ Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. ⁷ Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the ^(AU)inner sanctuary of the ^[q]temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. ⁹ The poles extended so that the ends of the ^(AV)poles of the ark could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And ^[r]they are there to this day. ¹⁰ Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets which Moses ^(AW)put there at Horeb, ^[s]when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they had come out of Egypt.

¹¹ And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had ^[t]sanctified themselves, without keeping to their ^(AX)divisions), ^12 (AY)and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, ^(AZ)and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets— ¹³ indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying:

that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, ¹⁴ so that the priests could not ^[u]continue ministering because of the cloud; ^(BB)for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.