1 Kings 7:15-39

1 Kings 7:15-39 NCV

He made two bronze pillars, each one twenty-seven feet tall and eighteen feet around. He also made two bronze capitals that were seven and one-half feet tall, and he put them on top of the pillars. Then he made a net of seven chains for each capital, which covered the capitals on top of the two pillars. He made two rows of bronze pomegranates to go on the nets. These covered the capitals at the top of the pillars. The capitals on top of the pillars in the porch were shaped like lilies, and they were six feet tall. The capitals were on top of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped section and next to the nets. At that place there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around the capitals. Huram put these two bronze pillars at the porch of the Temple. He named the south pillar He Establishes and the north pillar In Him Is Strength. The capitals on top of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work on the pillars was finished. Then Huram 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. Around the outer edge of the bowl was a rim. Under this rim were two rows of bronze plants which surrounded the bowl. There were ten plants every eighteen inches, and these plants were made in one piece with the bowl. 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. The sides of the bowl were four inches thick, and it held about eleven thousand gallons. The rim of the bowl was like the rim of a cup or like a lily blossom. Then Huram made ten bronze stands, each one six feet long, six feet wide, and four and one-half feet high. The stands were made from square sides, which were put on frames. On the sides were bronze lions, bulls, and creatures with wings. On the frames above and below the lions and bulls were designs of flowers hammered into the bronze. Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. At the corners there were bronze supports for a large bowl, and the supports had designs of flowers. There was a frame on top of the bowls, eighteen inches high above the bowls. The opening of the bowl was round, twenty-seven inches deep. Designs were carved into the bronze on the frame, which was square, not round. The four wheels, placed under the frame, were twenty-seven inches high. The axles between the wheels were made as one piece with the stand. The wheels were like a chariot’s wheels. Everything on the wheels—the axles, rims, spokes, and hubs—were made of bronze. The four supports were on the four corners of each stand. They were made as one piece with the stand. A strip of bronze around the top of each stand was nine inches deep. It was also made as one piece with the stand. The sides of the stand and the frames were covered with carvings of creatures with wings, as well as lions, palm trees, and flowers. This is the way Huram made the ten stands. The bronze for each stand was melted and poured into a mold, so all the stands were the same size and shape. Huram also made ten bronze bowls, one bowl for each of the ten stands. Each bowl was six feet across and could hold about two hundred thirty gallons. Huram put five stands on the south side of the Temple and five on the north side. He put the large bowl in the southeast corner of the Temple.

Read 1 Kings 7