2 Chronicles 2; 2 Chronicles 3; 2 Chronicles 4; 2 Chronicles 5

1 Solomon decided to build a temple as a place to worship the Lord and also a palace for himself.

2 He chose seventy thousand men to carry loads, eighty thousand men to cut stone in the hill country, and thirty-six hundred men to direct the workers.

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram king of the city of Tyre: "Help me as you helped my father David by sending him cedar logs so he could build himself a palace to live in.

4 I will build a temple for worshiping the Lord my God, and I will give this temple to him. There we will burn sweet-smelling spices in his presence. We will continually set out the holy bread in God's presence. And we will burn sacrifices every morning and evening, on Sabbath days and New Moons, and on the other feast days commanded by the Lord our God. This is a rule for Israel to obey forever.

5 "The temple I build will be great, because our God is greater than all gods.

6 But no one can really build a house for our God. Not even the highest of heavens can hold him. How then can I build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices to him?

7 "Now send me a man skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and with purple, red, and blue thread. He must also know how to make engravings. He will work with my skilled craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David chose.

8 "Also send me cedar, pine, and juniper logs from Lebanon. I know your servants are experienced at cutting down the trees in Lebanon, and my servants will help them.

9 Send me a lot of wood, because the temple I am going to build will be large and wonderful.

10 I will give your servants who cut the wood one hundred twenty-five thousand bushels of wheat, one hundred twenty-five thousand bushels of barley, one hundred fifteen thousand gallons of wine, and one hundred fifteen thousand gallons of oil."

11 Then Hiram king of Tyre answered Solomon with this letter: "Solomon, because the Lord loves his people, he chose you to be their king."

12 Hiram also said: "Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, one with wisdom and understanding, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

13 "I will send you a skilled and wise man named Huram-Abi.

14 His mother was from the people of Dan, and his father was from Tyre. Huram-Abi is skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and with purple, blue, and red thread, and expensive linen. He is skilled in making engravings and can make any design you show him. He will help your craftsmen and the craftsmen of your father David.

15 "Now send my servants the wheat, barley, oil, and wine you promised.

16 We will cut as much wood from Lebanon as you need and will bring it on rafts by sea to Joppa. Then you may carry it to Jerusalem."

17 Solomon counted all the foreigners living in Israel. (This was after the time his father David had counted the people.) There were one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred foreigners in the country.

18 Solomon chose seventy thousand of them to carry loads, eighty thousand of them to cut stone in the mountains, and thirty-six hundred of them to direct the workers and to keep the people working.

1 Then Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. This was where the Lord had appeared to David, Solomon's father. Solomon built the Temple on the place David had prepared on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

2 Solomon began building in the second month of the fourth year he ruled Israel.

3 Solomon used these measurements for building the Temple of God. It was ninety feet long and thirty feet wide, using the old measurement.

4 The porch in front of the main room of the Temple was thirty feet long and thirty feet high. He covered the inside of the porch with pure gold.

5 He put panels of pine on the walls of the main room and covered them with pure gold. Then he put designs of palm trees and chains in the gold.

6 He decorated the Temple with gems and gold from Parvaim.

7 He put gold on the Temple's ceiling beams, doorposts, walls, and doors, and he carved creatures with wings on the walls.

8 Then he made the Most Holy Place. It was thirty feet long and thirty feet wide, as wide as the Temple. He covered its walls with about forty-six thousand pounds of pure gold.

9 The gold nails weighed over a pound. He also covered the upper rooms with gold.

10 He made two creatures with wings for the Most Holy Place and covered them with gold.

11 The wings of the gold creatures were thirty feet across. One wing of one creature was seven and one-half feet long and touched the Temple wall. The creature's other wing was also seven and one-half feet long, and it touched a wing of the second creature.

12 One wing of the second creature touched the other side of the room and was also seven and one-half feet long. The second creature's other wing touched the first creature's wing, and it was also seven and one-half feet long.

13 Together, the creatures' wings were thirty feet across. The creatures stood on their feet, facing the main room.

14 He made the curtain of blue, purple, and red thread, and expensive linen, and he put designs of creatures with wings in it.

15 He made two pillars to stand in front of the Temple. They were about fifty-two feet tall, and the capital of each pillar was over seven feet tall.

16 He made a net of chains and put them on the tops of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.

17 Then he put the pillars up in front of the Temple. One pillar stood on the south side, the other on the north. He named the south pillar He Establishes and the north pillar In Him Is Strength.

1 He made a bronze altar thirty feet long thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet tall.

2 Then he made from bronze a large round bowl, which was called the Sea. It was forty-five feet around, fifteen feet across, and seven and one-half feet deep.

3 There were carvings of bulls under the rim of the bowl -- ten bulls every eighteen inches. They were in two rows and were made in one piece with the bowl.

4 The bowl rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced outward from the center of the bowl. Three bulls faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east.

5 The sides of the bowl were four inches thick, and it held about seventeen thousand five hundred gallons. The rim of the bowl was like the rim of a cup or like a lily blossom.

6 He made ten smaller bowls and put five on the south side and five on the north. They were for washing the animals for the burnt offerings, but the large bowl was for the priests to wash in.

7 He made ten lampstands of gold, following the plans. He put them in the Temple, five on the south side and five on the north.

8 He made ten tables and put them in the Temple, five on the south side and five on the north. And he used gold to make a hundred other bowls.

9 He also made the priests' courtyard and the large courtyard. He made the doors that opened to the courtyard and covered them with bronze.

10 Then he put the large bowl in the southeast corner of the Temple.

11 Huram also made bowls, shovels, and small bowls. So he finished his work for King Solomon on the Temple of God:

12 two pillars; two large bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars; two nets to cover the two large bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars;

13 four hundred pomegranates for the two nets (there were two rows of pomegranates for each net covering the bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars);

14 the stands with a bowl on each stand;

15 the large bowl with twelve bulls under it;

16 the pots, shovels, forks, and all the things to go with them. All the things that Huram-Abi made for King Solomon for the Temple of the Lord were made of polished bronze.

17 The king had these things poured into clay molds that were made in the plain of the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan.

18 Solomon had so many things made that the total weight of all the bronze was never known.

19 Solomon also made all the things for God's Temple: the golden altar; tables which held the bread that shows God's people are in his presence;

20 the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold, to burn in front of the Most Holy Place as planned;

21 the flowers, lamps, and tongs of pure gold;

22 the pure gold wick trimmers, small bowls, pans, and dishes used to carry coals, the gold doors for the Temple, and the inside doors of the Most Holy Place and of the main room.

1 Finally all the work Solomon did for the Temple of the Lord was fin- ished. He brought in everything his father David had set apart for the Temple -- all the silver and gold and other articles. And he put everything in the treasuries of God's Temple.

2 Solomon called for the older leaders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the families to come to him in Jerusalem. He wanted them to bring the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord from the older part of the city.

3 So all the Israelites came together with the king during the festival in the seventh month.

4 When all the older leaders of Israel arrived, the Levites lifted up the Ark.

5 They carried the Ark of the Agreement, the Meeting Tent, and the holy utensils in it; the priests and the Levites brought them up.

6 King Solomon and all the Israelites gathered before the Ark of the Agreement and sacrificed so many sheep and bulls no one could count them.

7 Then the priests put the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord in its place inside the Most Holy Place in the Temple, under the wings of the golden creatures.

8 The wings of these creatures were spread out over the place for the Ark, covering it and its carrying poles.

9 The carrying poles were so long that anyone standing in the Holy Place in front of the Most Holy Place could see the ends of the poles. But no one could see them from outside the Holy Place. The poles are still there today.

10 The only things inside the Ark were two stone tabletsn that Moses had put in the Ark at Mount Sinai. That was where the Lord made his agreement with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

11 Then all the priests left the Holy Place. (All the priests from each group had made themselves ready to serve the Lord.)

12 All the Levite musicians -- Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and all their sons and relatives -- stood on the east side of the altar. They were dressed in white linen and played cymbals, harps, and lyres. With them were one hundred twenty priests who blew trumpets.

13 Those who blew the trumpets and those who sang together sounded like one person as they praised and thanked the Lord. They sang as others played their trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments. They praised the Lord with this song: "He is good; his love continues forever." Then the Temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud.

14 The priests could not continue their work because of the cloud, because the Lord's glory filled the Temple of God.