21He set up the columns at the portico of the Great Hall; he set up one column on the right and named it Jachin, and he set up the other column on the left and named it Boaz. 22Upon the top of the columns there was a lily design. Thus the work of the columns was completed.
23Then he made the tankl of cast metal, 10 cubits across from brim to brim, completely round; it was 5 cubits high, and it measured 30 cubits in circumference. 24There were gourds below the brim completely encircling it—ten to a cubit, encircling the tank; the gourds were in two rows, cast in one piece with it. 25It stood upon twelve oxen: three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east, with the tank resting upon them; their haunches were all turned inward. 26It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like that of a cup, like the petals of a lily. Its capacity was 2,000 baths.
27He made the ten laver stands of bronze. The length of each laver stand was 4 cubits and the width 4 cubits, and the height was 3 cubits. 28The structure of the laver stands was as follows: They had insets,m and there were insets within the frames; 29and on the insets within the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. Above the frames was a stand; and both above and below the lions and the oxen were spirals of hammered metal. 30Each laver stand had four bronze wheels and [two] bronze axletrees. Its four legs had brackets; the brackets were under the laver, cast d-with spirals beyond each.-d 31Its funnel, within the crown, rose a cubit above it; this funnel was round, in the fashion of a stand, a cubit and a half in diameter. On the funnel too there were carvings.
But the insets were square, not round. 32And below the insets were the four wheels. The axletrees of the wheels were [fixed] in the laver stand, and the height of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33The structure of the wheels was like the structure of chariot wheels; and their axletrees, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast metal. 34Four brackets ran to the four corners of each laver stand; the brackets were of a piece with the laver stand. 35At the top of the laver stand was a round band half a cubit high, and together with the top of the laver stand; its sides and its insets were of one piece with it. 36d-On its surface—on its sides—and on its insets [Hiram] engraved cherubim, lions, and palms, as the clear space on each allowed,-d with spirals roundabout. 37It was after this manner that he made the ten laver stands, all of them cast alike, of the same measure and the same form. 38Then he made ten bronze lavers, one laver on each of the ten laver stands, each laver measuring 4 cubits and each laver containing forty baths.
39He disposed the laver stands, five at the right side of the House and five at its left side; and the tank he placed on the right side of the House, at the southeast [corner].
40Hiram also made the lavers, the scrapers, and the sprinkling bowls.
So Hiram finished all the work that he had been doing for King Solomon on the House of the LORD: 41the two columns, the two globes of the capitals upon the columns; and the two pieces of network to cover the two globes of the capitals upon the columns; 42the four hundred pomegranates for the two pieces of network, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two globes of the capitals upon the columns; 43the ten stands and the ten lavers upon the stands; 44the one tank with the twelve oxen underneath the tank; 45the pails, the scrapers, and the sprinkling bowls. All those vessels in the House of the LORD that Hiram made for King Solomon were of burnished bronze. 46The king had them cast n-in earthen molds,-n in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. 47Solomon left all the vessels [unweighed] because of their very great quantity; the weight of the bronze was not reckoned.
48And Solomon made all the furnishings that were in the House of the LORD: the altar, of gold; the table for the bread of display, of gold; 49the lampstands—five on the right side and five on the left—in front of the Shrine, of solid gold; and the petals, lamps, and tongs, of gold; 50the basins, snuffers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and fire pans, of solid gold; and the hinge sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the House, the Holy of Holies, and for the doors of the Great Hall of the House, of gold.
51When all the work that King Solomon had done in the House of the LORD was completed, Solomon brought in the sacred donations of his father David—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and deposited them in the treasury of the House of the LORD.
8 Then Solomon convoked the elders of Israel—all the heads of the tribes and the ancestral chieftains of the Israelites—before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from the City of David, that is, Zion.
2All the men of Israel gathered before King Solomon at the Feast,a in the month of Ethanim—that is, the seventh month. 3When all the elders of Israel had come, the priests lifted the Ark 4and carried up the Ark of the LORD. Then the priests and the Levites brought the Tent of Meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. 5Meanwhile, King Solomon and the whole community of Israel, who were assembled with him before the Ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen in such abundance that they could not be numbered or counted.
6The priests brought the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant to its place underneath the wings of the cherubim, in the Shrine of the House, in the Holy of Holies; 7for the cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the Ark, so that the cherubim shielded the Ark and its poles from above. 8The poles projected so that the ends of the poles were visible in the sanctuary in front of the Shrine, but they could not be seen outside; and there they remain to this day. 9There was nothing inside the Ark but the two tablets of stone which Moses placed there at Horeb, when the LORD made [a covenant] with the Israelites after their departure from the land of Egypt.
10When the priests came out of the sanctuary—for the cloud had filled the House of the LORD 11and the priests were not able to remain and perform the service because of the cloud, for the Presence of the LORD filled the House of the LORD—12then Solomon declared:
“The LORD has chosen
To abide in a thick cloud:
13I have now built for You
A stately House,
A place where You
May dwell forever.”
14Then, with the whole congregation of Israel standing, the king faced about and blessed the whole congregation of Israel. 15He said:
“Praised be the LORD, the God of Israel, b-who has fulfilled with deeds the promise He made-b to my father David. For He said, 16‘Ever since I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city among all the tribes of Israel for building a House where My name might abide; but I have chosen David to rule My people Israel.’
17“Now my father David had intended to build a House for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 18But the LORD said to my father David, ‘As regards your intention to build a House for My name, you did right to have that intention. 19However, you shall not build the House yourself; instead, your son, the issue of your loins, shall build the House for My name.’
20“And the LORD has fulfilled the promise that He made: I have succeededc my father David and have ascended the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the House for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel; 21and I have set a place there for the Ark, containing the covenant which the LORD made with our fathers when He brought them out from the land of Egypt.”
22Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the whole community of Israel; he spread the palms of his hands toward heaven 23and said, “O LORD God of Israel, in the heavens above and on the earth below there is no god like You, who keep Your gracious covenant with Your servants when they walk before You in wholehearted devotion; 24You who have kept the promises You made to Your servant, my father David,
