The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 It took Solomon another thirteen years to finish building his own palace complex.
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But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.
2 He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high.
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He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
3 There were four rows of cedar columns supporting forty-five cedar beams, fifteen in each row, and then roofed with cedar.
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And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.
4 Windows in groupings of three were set high in the walls on either side.
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And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks.
5 All the doors were rectangular and arranged symmetrically.
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And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks.
6 He built a colonnaded courtyard seventy-five feet long and forty-five wide. It had a roofed porch at the front with ample eaves.
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And he made a porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits: and the porch was before them: and the other pillars and the thick beam were before them.
7 He built a court room, the Hall of Justice, where he would decide judicial matters, and paneled it with cedar.
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Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other.
8 He built his personal residence behind the Hall on a similar plan. Solomon also built another one just like it for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married.
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And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.
9 No expense was spared - everything here, inside and out, from foundation to roof was constructed using high-quality stone, accurately cut and shaped and polished.
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All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.
10 The foundation stones were huge, ranging in size from twelve to fifteen feet, and of the very best quality.
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And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.
11 The finest stone was used above the foundation, shaped to size and trimmed with cedar.
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And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars.
12 The courtyard was enclosed with a wall made of three layers of stone and topped with cedar timbers, just like the one in the porch of The Temple of God.
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And the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the LORD, and for the porch of the house.
13 King Solomon sent to Tyre and asked Hiram (not the king; another Hiram) to come.
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And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
14 Hiram's mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father was a Tyrian and a master worker in bronze. Hiram was a real artist - he could do anything with bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all the bronze work.
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He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.
15 First he cast two pillars in bronze, each twenty-seven feet tall and eighteen feet in circumference.
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For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.
16 He then cast two capitals in bronze to set on the pillars; each capital was seven and a half feet high
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And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits:
17 and flared at the top in the shape of a lily. Each capital was dressed with an elaborate filigree of seven braided chains and a double row of two hundred pomegranates, setting the pillars off magnificently.
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And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.
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And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter.
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And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.
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And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.
21 He set the pillars up in the entrance porch to The Temple; the pillar to the south he named Security (Jachin) and the pillar to the north Stability (Boaz).
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And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
22 The capitals were in the shape of lilies.
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And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.
23 Hiram's next project was to make the Sea - an immense round basin of cast metal fifteen feet in diameter, seven and a half feet tall, and forty-five feet in circumference.
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And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
24 Just under the rim there were two bands of decorative gourds, ten gourds to each foot and a half. The gourds were cast in one piece with the Sea.
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And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.
25 The Sea was set on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the bulls faced outward supporting the Sea on their hindquarters.
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It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
26 The Sea was three inches thick and flared at the rim like a cup, or like a lily. It held about 11,500 gallons.
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And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.
27 Hiram also made ten washstands of bronze. Each was six feet square and four and a half feet tall.
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And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.
28 They were made like this: Panels were fastened to the uprights.
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And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges:
29 Lions, bulls, and cherubim were represented on the panels and uprights. Beveled wreath-work bordered the lions and bulls above and below.
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And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work.
30 Each stand was mounted on four bronze wheels with bronze axles. The uprights were cast with decorative relief work.
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And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of every addition.
31 Each stand held a basin on a circular engraved support a foot and a half deep set on a pedestal two and a quarter feet square. The washstand itself was square.
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And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: but the mouth thereof was round after the work of the base, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round.
32 The axles were attached under the stand and the wheels fixed to them. The wheels were twenty-seven inches in diameter;
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And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
33 they were designed like chariot wheels. Everything - axles, rims, spokes, and hubs - was of cast metal.
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And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.
34 There was a handle at the four corners of each washstand, the handles cast in one piece with the stand.
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And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the very base itself.
35 At the top of the washstand there was a ring about nine inches deep. The uprights and handles were cast with the stand.
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And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.
36 Everything and every available surface was engraved with cherubim, lions, and palm trees, bordered by arabesques.
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For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about.
37 The washstands were identical, all cast in the same mold.
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After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.
38 He also made ten bronze washbasins, each six feet in diameter with a capacity of 230 gallons, one basin for each of the ten washstands.
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Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.
39 He arranged five stands on the south side of The Temple and five on the north. The Sea was placed at the southeast corner of The Temple.
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And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south.
40 Hiram then fashioned the various utensils: buckets and shovels and bowls. Hiram completed all the work he set out to do for King Solomon on The Temple of God:
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And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD:
41 two pillars; two capitals on top of the pillars; two decorative filigrees for the capitals;
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The two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars;
42 four hundred pomegranates for the two filigrees (a double row of pomegranates for each filigree);
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And four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars;
43 ten washstands each with its washbasin; one Sea;
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And the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases;
44 twelve bulls under the Sea;
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And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;
45 miscellaneous buckets, shovels, and bowls.
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And the pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright brass.
46 He cast them in clay in a foundry on the Jordan plain between Succoth and Zarethan.
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In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.
47 These artifacts were never weighed - there were far too many! Nobody has any idea how much bronze was used.
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And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out.
48 Solomon was also responsible for all the furniture and accessories in The Temple of God: the gold Altar; the gold Table that held the Bread of the Presence;
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And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was,
49 the pure gold candelabras, five to the right and five to the left in front of the Inner Sanctuary; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;
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And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,
50 the pure gold dishes, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers; the gold sockets for the doors of the Inner Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, used also for the doors of the Main Sanctuary.
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And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.
51 That completed all the work King Solomon did on The Temple of God. He then brought in the items consecrated by his father David, the silver and the gold and the artifacts. He placed them all in the treasury of God's Temple.
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So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.