2 Chronicles 2:1-5

New International Version

Preparations for Building the Temple^(A)

2 ^[a]Solomon gave orders to build a temple^(B) for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.^(C) ²He conscripted 70,000 men as carriers and 80,000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 as foremen over them.^(D)

³Solomon sent this message to Hiram^[b]^(E) king of Tyre:

“Send me cedar logs^(F) as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in. ⁴Now I am about to build a temple^(G) for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense^(H) before him, for setting out the consecrated bread^(I) regularly, and for making burnt offerings^(J) every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths,^(K) at the New Moons^(L) and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.

⁵“The temple I am going to build will be great,^(M) because our God is greater than all other gods.^(N) ⁶But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him?^(O) Who then am I^(P) to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?

⁷“Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers,^(Q) whom my father David provided.

⁸“Send me also cedar, juniper and algum^[c] logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there. My servants will work with yours ⁹to provide me with plenty of lumber, because the temple I build must be large and magnificent. ¹⁰I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors^[d] of ground wheat, twenty thousand cors^[e] of barley, twenty thousand baths^[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oil.^(R)”

¹¹Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:

“Because the Lord loves^(S) his people, he has made you their king.”

¹²And Hiram added:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth!^(T) He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

¹³“I am sending you Huram-Abi,^(U) a man of great skill, ¹⁴whose mother was from Dan^(V) and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained^(W) to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and blue^(X) and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord, David your father.

¹⁵“Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil^(Y) and wine he promised, ¹⁶and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa.^(Z) You can then take them up to Jerusalem.”

¹⁷Solomon took a census of all the foreigners^(AA) residing in Israel, after the census^(AB) his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. ¹⁸He assigned^(AC) 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.

Solomon Builds the Temple^(AD)

3 Then Solomon began to build^(AE) the temple of the Lord^(AF) in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah^[g]^(AG) the Jebusite, the place provided by David. ²He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.^(AH)

³The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide^[h]^(AI) (using the cubit of the old standard). ⁴The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits^[i] long across the width of the building and twenty^[j] cubits high.

He overlaid the inside with pure gold. ⁵He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree^(AJ) and chain designs. ⁶He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim. ⁷He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubim^(AK) on the walls.

⁸He built the Most Holy Place,^(AL) its length corresponding to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents^[k] of fine gold. ⁹The gold nails^(AM) weighed fifty shekels.^[l] He also overlaid the upper parts with gold.

¹⁰For the Most Holy Place he made a pair^(AN) of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold. ¹¹The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits^[m] long and touched the temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub. ¹²Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub. ¹³The wings of these cherubim^(AO) extended twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main hall.^[n]

¹⁴He made the curtain^(AP) of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim^(AQ) worked into it.

¹⁵For the front of the temple he made two pillars,^(AR) which together were thirty-five cubits^[o] long, each with a capital^(AS) five cubits high. ¹⁶He made interwoven chains^[p]^(AT) and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates^(AU) and attached them to the chains. ¹⁷He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin^[q] and the one to the north Boaz.^[r]

The Temple’s Furnishings^(AV)

4 He made a bronze altar^(AW) twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.^[s] ²He made the Sea^(AX) of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits^[t] high. It took a line of thirty cubits^[u] to measure around it. ³Below the rim, figures of bulls encircled it—ten to a cubit.^[v] 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.^(AY) The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. ⁵It was a handbreadth^[w] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held three thousand baths.^[x]

⁶He then made ten basins^(AZ) 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^(BA) were rinsed, but the Sea was to be used by the priests for washing.

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

⁸He made ten tables^(BD) and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made a hundred gold sprinkling bowls.^(BE)

⁹He made the courtyard^(BF) 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 southeast corner.

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

So Huram finished^(BG) 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^(BH) 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^(BI) made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of polished bronze. ¹⁷The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth^(BJ) and Zarethan.^[y] ¹⁸All these things that Solomon made amounted to so much that the weight of the bronze^(BK) could not be calculated.

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

the golden altar;

the tables^(BL) on which was the bread of the Presence;

²⁰the lampstands^(BM) 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^(BN) and censers;^(BO) and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and the doors of the main hall.

5 When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished,^(BP) he brought in the things his father David had dedicated^(BQ)—the silver and gold and all the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of God’s temple.

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 2:1 In Hebrew texts 2:1 is numbered 1:18, and 2:2-18 is numbered 2:1-17.
2 Chronicles 2:3 Hebrew Huram, a variant of Hiram; also in verses 11 and 12
2 Chronicles 2:8 Probably a variant of almug
2 Chronicles 2:10 That is, probably about 3,600 tons or about 3,200 metric tons of wheat
2 Chronicles 2:10 That is, probably about 3,000 tons or about 2,700 metric tons of barley
2 Chronicles 2:10 That is, about 120,000 gallons or about 440,000 liters
2 Chronicles 3:1 Hebrew Ornan, a variant of Araunah
2 Chronicles 3:3 That is, about 90 feet long and 30 feet wide or about 27 meters long and 9 meters wide
2 Chronicles 3:4 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters; also in verses 8, 11 and 13
2 Chronicles 3:4 Some Septuagint and Syriac manuscripts; Hebrew and a hundred and twenty
2 Chronicles 3:8 That is, about 23 tons or about 21 metric tons
2 Chronicles 3:9 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams
2 Chronicles 3:11 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters; also in verse 15
2 Chronicles 3:13 Or facing inward
2 Chronicles 3:15 That is, about 53 feet or about 16 meters
2 Chronicles 3:16 Or possibly made chains in the inner sanctuary; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
2 Chronicles 3:17 Jakin probably means he establishes.
2 Chronicles 3:17 Boaz probably means in him is strength.
2 Chronicles 4:1 That is, about 30 feet long and wide and 15 feet high or about 9 meters long and wide and 4.5 meters high
2 Chronicles 4:2 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
2 Chronicles 4:2 That is, about 45 feet or about 14 meters
2 Chronicles 4:3 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
2 Chronicles 4:5 That is, about 3 inches or about 7.5 centimeters
2 Chronicles 4:5 That is, about 18,000 gallons or about 66,000 liters
2 Chronicles 4:17 Hebrew Zeredatha, a variant of Zarethan