New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.
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Solomon was thirteen years building a house for himself till it was complete.
2 He built the House of the Forest of the Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.
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And he made the house of the Woods of Lebanon, which was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, resting on four lines of cedar-wood pillars with cedar-wood supports on the pillars.
3 It was roofed with cedar on the forty-five rafters, fifteen in each row, which were on the pillars.
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And it was covered with cedar over the forty-five supports which were on the pillars, fifteen in a line.
4 There were window frames in the three rows, facing each other in the three rows.
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There were three lines of window-frames, window facing window in every line.
5 All the doorways and doorposts had four-sided frames, opposite, facing each other in the three rows.
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And all the doors and windows had square frames, with the windows facing one another in three lines.
6 He made the Hall of Pillars fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.
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And he made a covered room of pillars, fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, and ... with steps before it.
7 He made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, the Hall of Justice, covered with cedar from floor to floor.
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Then he made a covered room for his high seat when he gave decisions; this was the covered room of judging; it was covered with cedar-wood from floor to roof.
8 His own house where he would reside, in the other court back of the hall, was of the same construction. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken in marriage.
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And the house for his living-place, the other open square in the covered room, was made in the same way. And then he made a house like it for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had taken as his wife.
9 All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, from the foundation to the coping, and from outside to the great court.
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All these buildings were made, inside and out, from base to crowning stone, and outside to the great walled square, of highly priced stone, cut to different sizes with cutting-instruments.
10 The foundation was of costly stones, huge stones, stones of eight and ten cubits.
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And the base was of great masses of highly priced stone, some ten cubits and some eight cubits square.
11 There were costly stones above, cut to measure, and cedarwood.
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Overhead were highly priced stones cut to measure, and cedar-wood.
12 The great court had three courses of dressed stone to one layer of cedar beams all around; so had the inner court of the house of the Lord, and the vestibule of the house.
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The great outer square all round was walled with three lines of squared stones and a line of cedar-wood boards, round about the open square inside the house of the Lord and the covered room of the king's house.
13 Now King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre.
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Then King Solomon sent and got Hiram from Tyre.
14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, whose father, a man of Tyre, had been an artisan in bronze; he was full of skill, intelligence, and knowledge in working bronze. He came to King Solomon, and did all his work.
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He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; he was full of wisdom and knowledge and an expert worker in brass. He came to King Solomon and did all his work for him.
15 He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of the one, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle it; the second pillar was the same.
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He it was who made the two brass pillars; the first pillar was eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits went round it; and the second was the same.
16 He also made two capitals of molten bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.
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And he made the two crowns to be put on the tops of the pillars, of brass made soft in the fire; the crowns were five cubits high.
17 There were nets of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.
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There were nets of open-work for the crowns on the tops of the pillars, a net of open-work for one and a net of open-work for the other.
18 He made the columns with two rows around each latticework to cover the capitals that were above the pomegranates; he did the same with the other capital.
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And he made ornaments of apples; and two lines of apples all round over the network, covering the crowns of the pillars, the two crowns in the same way.
19 Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits high.
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The crowns on the tops of the pillars were ornamented with a design of flowers, and were four cubits across.
20 The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection that was beside the latticework; there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around; and so with the other capital.
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And there were crowns on the two pillars near the round part by the network, and there were two hundred apples in lines round every crown.
21 He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple; he set up the pillar on the south and called it Jachin; and he set up the pillar on the north and called it Boaz.
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He put up the pillars at the doorway of the Temple, naming the one on the right Jachin, and that on the left Boaz.
22 On the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.
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The tops of the pillars had a design of flowers; and the work of making the pillars was complete.
23 Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would encircle it completely.
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And he made a great metal water-vessel ten cubits across from edge to edge, five cubits high and thirty cubits round.
24 Under its brim were panels all around it, each of ten cubits, surrounding the sea; there were two rows of panels, cast when it was cast.
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And under the edge of it, circling it all round for ten cubits, were two lines of flower buds, made together with it from liquid metal.
25 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them. The hindquarters of each were toward the inside.
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It was supported on twelve oxen, with their back parts turned to the middle of it, three of them facing to the north, three to the west, three to the south, and three to the east; the vessel was resting on top of them.
26 Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.
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It was as thick as a man's open hand, and was curved like the edge of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it would take two thousand baths.
27 He also made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
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And he made ten wheeled bases of brass; every one four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
28 This was the construction of the stands: they had borders; the borders were within the frames;
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And the bases were made in this way; their sides were square, fixed in a framework;
29 on the borders that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work.
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And on the square sides between the frames were lions, oxen, and winged ones; and the same on the frame; and over and under the lions and the oxen and the winged ones were steps.
30 Each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each.
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Every base had four wheels of brass, turning on brass rods, and their four angles had angle-plates under them; the angle-plates under the base were of metal, and there were ornaments at the side of every one.
31 Its opening was within the crown whose height was one cubit; its opening was round, as a pedestal is made; it was a cubit and a half wide. At its opening there were carvings; its borders were four-sided, not round.
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The mouth of it inside the angle-plate was one cubit across; it was round like a pillar, a cubit and a half across; it had designs cut on it; the sides were square, not round.
32 The four wheels were underneath the borders; the axles of the wheels were in the stands; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.
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The four wheels were under the frames, and the rods on which the wheels were fixed were in the base; the wheels were a cubit and a half high.
33 The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.
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The wheels were made like carriage-wheels, the rods on which they were fixed, the parts forming their edges, their rods and the middle points of them, were all formed out of liquid metal.
34 There were four supports at the four corners of each stand; the supports were of one piece with the stands.
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And there were four angle-plates at the four angles of every base, forming part of the structure of the base.
35 On the top of the stand there was a round band half a cubit high; on the top of the stand, its stays and its borders were of one piece with it.
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And at the top of the base there was a round vessel, half a cubit high;
36 On the surfaces of its stays and on its borders he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, where each had space, with wreaths all around.
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In the spaces of the flat sides and on the frames of them, he made designs of winged ones, lions, and palm-trees, with ornamented edges all round.
37 In this way he made the ten stands; all of them were cast alike, with the same size and the same form.
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All the ten bases were made in this way, after the same design, of the same size and form.
38 He made ten basins of bronze; each basin held forty baths, each basin measured four cubits; there was a basin for each of the ten stands.
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And he made ten brass washing-vessels, everyone taking forty baths, and measuring four cubits; one vessel was placed on every one of the ten bases.
39 He set five of the stands on the south side of the house, and five on the north side of the house; he set the sea on the southeast corner of the house.
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And he put the bases by the house, five on the right side and five on the left; and he put the great water-vessel on the right side of the house, to the east, facing south.
40 Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the Lord:
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And Hiram made the pots and spades and the basins. So Hiram came to the end of all the work he did for King Solomon in the house of the Lord:
41 the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars;
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The two pillars and the two cups of the crowns which were on the tops of the two pillars; and the network covering the two cups of the crowns on the tops of the pillars,
42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;
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And the four hundred apples for the network, two lines of apples for every network, covering the two cups of the crowns on the pillars;
43 the ten stands, the ten basins on the stands;
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And the ten bases, with the ten washing-vessels on them;
44 the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath the sea.
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And the great water-vessel, with the twelve oxen under it;
45 The pots, the shovels, and the basins, all these vessels that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze.
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And the pots and the spades and the basins; all the vessels which Hiram made for King Solomon, for the house of the Lord, were of polished brass.
46 In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.
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He made them of liquid metal in the lowland of Jordan, at the way across the river, at Adama, between Succoth and Zarethan.
47 Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not determined.
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The weight of all these vessels was not measured, because there was such a number of them; it was not possible to get the weight of the brass.
48 So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence,
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And Solomon had all the vessels made for use in the house of the Lord: the altar of gold and the gold table on which the holy bread was placed;
49 the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, in front of the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;
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And the supports for the lights, five on the right side and five on the left before the inmost room, of clear gold; and the flowers and the lights and all the instruments of gold;
50 the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans, of pure gold; the sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple, of gold.
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And the cups and the scissors and the basins and the spoons and the fire-trays, all of gold; and the pins on which the doors were turned, the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and the doors of the Temple, all of gold.
51 Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was finished. Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.
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So all the work King Solomon had done in the house of the Lord was complete. Then Solomon took the holy things which David his father had given, the silver and the gold and all the vessels, and put them in the store-houses of the house of the Lord.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.