1 Kings 7:23-39

EasyEnglish Bible

²³ Hiram also used bronze to make a big bath which they called ‘the Sea’.^[a] It was in the shape of a circle 4.5 metres across. It was 2.3 metres deep. It was 14 metres around the outside. ²⁴ All around its edge, below the top, there were two rows of round shapes. They were pictures of fruits called gourds. They were all part of the same piece of bronze as ‘the Sea’. There were 20 gourds for every metre around the edge. ²⁵ Hiram fixed ‘the Sea’ on top of 12 bronze bulls. Three pointed north, three pointed west, three pointed south and three pointed east. Their backs were towards the middle of ‘the Sea’. ²⁶ The walls of ‘the Sea’ were 7½ centimetres thick. Its top edge was like a cup in the shape of a lily flower. ‘The Sea’ contained about 40,000 litres of water.

²⁷ Hiram also made ten bronze carts to carry water.^[b] Each one was 1.8 metres long, 1.8 metres wide and 1.3 metres deep. ²⁸ This is how he made the water carts: He made them with bronze sides, which he fixed to bronze bars at the edges. ²⁹ There were pictures of lions, bulls and cherubs on the bars and on the edges. There were shapes like leaves above and below the lions and the bulls. ³⁰ Each cart had four bronze wheels fixed to bronze axles.^[c] The axles were fixed under each cart at four places. These places had shapes like leaves on each side. ³¹ On the top of the cart there was a round piece which held a bowl. This piece was 50 centimetres deep and 75 centimetres across. Hiram cut pictures into the metal all around it. The bronze sides of the carts were square. They were not round.

³² There were four wheels under each cart. They were fixed to axles. The axles and the cart joined together in one piece. Each wheel was 70 centimetres high. ³³ The wheels were like the wheels of a chariot. Hiram used bronze to make the axles and all the parts of the wheels.^{[d] 34} Each cart had four handles. There was one handle on each side, joined to the cart as one piece. ³⁵ There was a piece of metal round the top of each cart. It was 23 centimetres deep. It was fixed at each corner of the cart with pieces of bronze. These pieces and the sides of each cart were all joined together. ³⁶ Hiram cut pictures of cherubs, lions and palm trees on the sides of each cart and on the handles. He cut pictures where there was a space for them. There were also shapes of leaves all around. ³⁷ Hiram used bronze to make the ten carts so that they all had the same size and shape.

³⁸ And Hiram also made ten bronze buckets. Each bucket contained about 800 litres. Each bucket was 1.8 metres across. There was one bucket for each of the ten carts. ³⁹ Hiram put five of the carts on the south side of the temple. He put the other five carts on the north side of the temple. He put ‘the Sea’ on the south side of the temple, at the south-east corner.