Read the Bible

The Bronze Altar and Molten Sea

Verse1He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

Verse2He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.

Verse3Below the rim, figures of oxen encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.

Verse4The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.

Verse5It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold three thousand baths.

The Ten Basins, Lampstands, and Tables

Verse6He also made ten basins for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. The parts of the burnt offering were rinsed in them, but the priests used the Sea for washing.

Verse7He made ten gold lampstands according to their specifications and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north.

Verse8Additionally, he made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made a hundred gold bowls.

The Courts

Verse9He made the courtyard of the priests and the large court with its doors, and he overlaid the doors with bronze.

Verse10He put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner.

Completion of the Bronze Works

Verse11Additionally, Huram made the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of God:

Verse12the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars; the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars;

Verse13the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network covering both the bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars);

Verse14the stands; the basins on the stands;

Verse15the Sea; the twelve oxen underneath the Sea;

Verse16and the pots, shovels, meat forks, and all the other articles. All these objects that Huram-abi made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of polished bronze.

Verse17The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredah.

Verse18Solomon made all these articles in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

Verse19Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of God: the golden altar; the tables on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;

Verse20the lampstands of pure gold and their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed;

Verse21the flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold—of purest gold;

Verse22the wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers of pure gold; and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place as well as the doors of the main hall.