Genesis to Revelation
Bible Reading Plan
March 31
1 Kings 5-7
Chapter 5
Alliance with King Hiram
1 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, when he heard that
they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been
a friend of David.
2 Then Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying,
3 “You know that David my father was unable to build a house for the
name of the Lord his God because of the wars which surrounded him, until the
Lord put them under the soles of his feet.
4 “But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is
neither adversary nor misfortune.
5 “Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God,
as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set
on your throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.’
6 “Now therefore, command that they cut for me cedars from Lebanon, and
my servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants
according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who
knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”
7 When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed
be the Lord today, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.”
8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which
you have sent me; I will do what you desire concerning the cedar and cypress
timber.
9 “My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; and I will
make them into rafts to go by sea to the place where you direct me, and I
will have them broken up there, and you shall carry them away. Then you shall
accomplish my desire by giving food to my household.”
10 So Hiram gave Solomon as much as he desired of the cedar and cypress
timber.
11 Solomon then gave Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat as food for his household,
and twenty kors of beaten oil; thus Solomon would give Hiram year by year.
12 The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, just as He promised him; and there was
peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant.
Conscription of Laborers
13 Now King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced
laborers numbered 30,000 men.
14 He sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in relays; they were in Lebanon a
month and two months at home. And Adoniram was over the forced laborers.
15 Now Solomon had 70,000 transporters, and 80,000 hewers of stone in the
mountains,
16 besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief deputies who were over the project
and who ruled over the people who were doing the work.
17 Then the king commanded, and they quarried great stones, costly stones,
to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones.
18 So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites
cut them, and prepared the timbers and the stones to build the house.
Chapter
6
The Building of the Temple
1 Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons
of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign
over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to
build the house of the Lord.
2 As for the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty
cubits and its width twenty cubits and its height thirty cubits.
3 The porch in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits in length,
corresponding to the width of the house, and its depth along the front
of the house was ten cubits.
4 Also for the house he made windows with artistic frames.
5 Against the wall of the house he built stories encompassing the walls of
the house around both the nave and the inner sanctuary; thus he made side
chambers all around.
6 The lowest story was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide,
and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in
the wall of the house all around in order that the beams would not be inserted
in the walls of the house.
7 The house, while it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the
quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the
house while it was being built.
8 The doorway for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the house;
and they would go up by winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle
to the third.
9 So he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams
and planks of cedar.
10 He also built the stories against the whole house, each five cubits high;
and they were fastened to the house with timbers of cedar.
11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying,
12 “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in
My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking
in them, then I will carry out My word with you which I spoke to David your father.
13 “I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake My
people Israel.”
14 So Solomon built the house and finished it.
15 Then he built the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar;
from the floor of the house to the ceiling he overlaid the walls on the inside
with wood, and he overlaid the floor of the house with boards of cypress.
16 He built twenty cubits on the rear part of the house with boards of cedar
from the floor to the ceiling; he built them for it on the inside as an inner
sanctuary, even as the most holy place.
17 The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty
cubits long.
18 There was cedar on the house within, carved in the shape of gourds and
open flowers; all was cedar, there was no stone seen.
19 Then he prepared an inner sanctuary within the house in order to place there
the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width,
and twenty cubits in height, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid
the altar with cedar.
21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. And he drew
chains of gold across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it
with gold.
22 He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished.
Also the whole altar which was by the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.
23 Also in the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten
cubits high.
24 Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub and five cubits the other wing
of the cherub; from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing were ten
cubits.
25 The other cherub was ten cubits; both the cherubim were of the same measure
and the same form.
26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub.
27 He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and the wings
of the cherubim were spread out, so that the wing of the one was touching the
one
wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall. So their
wings were touching each other in the center of the house.
28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 Then he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved engravings
of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inner and outer sanctuaries.
30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inner and outer sanctuaries.
31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood, the
lintel and five-sided doorposts.
32 So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim,
palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the
gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
33 So also he made for the entrance of the nave four-sided doorposts of olive
wood
34 and two doors of cypress wood; the two leaves of the one door turned on
pivots, and the two leaves of the other door turned on pivots.
35 He carved on it cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid
them with gold evenly applied on the engraved work.
36 He built the inner court with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar
beams.
37 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in
the month of Ziv.
38 In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the
house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its plans.
So he was seven years in building it.
Chapter 7
Solomon’s Palace
1 Now Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished
all his house.
2 He built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was 100 cubits
and its width 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars
with cedar beams on the pillars.
3 It was paneled with cedar above the side chambers which were on the 45 pillars,
15 in each row.
4 There were artistic window frames in three rows, and window was opposite
window in three ranks.
5 All the doorways and doorposts had squared artistic frames, and window was
opposite window in three ranks.
6 Then he made the hall of pillars; its length was 50 cubits and its width
30 cubits, and a porch was in front of them and pillars and a threshold in
front of them.
7 He made the hall of the throne where he was to judge, the hall of judgment,
and it was paneled with cedar from floor to floor.
8 His house where he was to live, the other court inward from the hall, was
of the same workmanship. He also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s
daughter, whom Solomon had married.
9 All these were of costly stones, of stone cut according to measure, sawed
with saws, inside and outside; even from the foundation to the coping, and
so on the
outside to the great court.
10 The foundation was of costly stones, even large stones, stones of ten cubits
and stones of eight cubits.
11 And above were costly stones, stone cut according to measure, and cedar.
12 So the great court all around had three rows of cut stone and a row of
cedar beams even as the inner court of the house of the Lord, and the porch
of the
house.
Hiram’s Work in the Temple
13 Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre.
14 He was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was
a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding
and skill for doing any work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and performed
all his work.
15 He fashioned the two pillars of bronze; eighteen cubits was the height
of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of
both.
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.
17 There were nets of network and twisted threads of chainwork for the capitals
which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for
the other capital.
18 So he made the pillars, and two rows around on the one network to cover
the capitals which were on the top of the pomegranates; and so he did for the
other
capital.
19 The capitals which were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily
design, four cubits.
20 There were capitals on the two pillars, even above and close to the rounded
projection which was beside the network; and the pomegranates numbered two
hundred in rows around both capitals.
21 Thus he set up the pillars at the porch of the nave; and he set up the
right pillar and named it Jachin, and he set up the left pillar and named
it Boaz.
22 On the top of the pillars was lily design. So the work of the pillars was
finished.
23 Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular
in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference.
24 Under its brim gourds went around encircling it ten to a cubit, completely
surrounding the sea; the gourds were in two rows, cast with the rest.
25 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three
facing south, and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them, and
all their
rear parts turned inward.
26 It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup,
as a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths.
27 Then he made the ten stands of bronze; the length of each stand was four
cubits and its width four cubits and its height three cubits.
28 This was the design of the stands: they had borders, even borders between
the frames,
29 and on the borders which were between the frames were lions, oxen and
cherubim; and on the frames there was a pedestal above, and beneath the lions
and oxen
were wreaths of hanging work.
30 Now each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and its four feet
had supports; beneath the basin were cast supports with wreaths at each side.
31 Its opening inside the crown at the top was a cubit, and its opening was
round like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its opening
there
were engravings, and their borders were square, not round.
32 The four wheels were underneath the borders, and the axles of the wheels
were on the stand. And the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.
33 The workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel.
Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.
34 Now there were four supports at the four corners of each stand; its supports
were part of the stand itself.
35 On the top of the stand there was a circular form half a cubit high, and
on the top of the stand its stays and its borders were part of it.
36 He engraved on the plates of its stays and on its borders, cherubim, lions
and palm trees, according to the clear space on each, with wreaths all around.
37 He made the ten stands like this: all of them had one casting, one measure
and one form.
38 He made ten basins of bronze, one basin held forty baths; each basin was
four cubits, and on each of the ten stands was one basin.
39 Then he set the stands, five on the right side of the house and five on
the left side of the house; and he set the sea of cast metal on the right side
of
the house eastward toward the south.
40 Now Hiram made the basins and the shovels and the bowls. So Hiram finished
doing all the work which he performed for King Solomon in the house of the
Lord:
41 the two pillars and the two bowls of the capitals which were on the top
of the two pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals
which were on the top of the pillars;
42 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates
for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the tops
of the pillars;
43 and the ten stands with the ten basins on the stands;
44 and the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea;
45 and the pails and the shovels and the bowls; even all these utensils which
Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the Lord were of polished bronze.
46 In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between
Succoth and Zarethan.
47 Solomon left all the utensils unweighed, because they were too many; the
weight of the bronze could not be ascertained.
48 Solomon made all the furniture which was in the house of the Lord: the
golden altar and the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence;
49 and the lampstands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front
of the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers and the lamps and the
tongs, of gold;
50 and the cups and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and the firepans,
of pure gold; and the hinges both for the doors of the inner house, the most
holy place, and for the doors of the house, that is, of the nave, of gold.
51 Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the house of the Lord
was finished. And Solomon brought in the things dedicated by his father David,
the silver and the gold and the utensils, and he put them in the treasuries
of
the house of the Lord.
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)