Through My Bible Yr 1 – September 29

Through My Bible – September 29

Bible reading based on 1 Kings 7:13-8:11 (NIV84)

See series: Through My Bible

The Temple’s Furnishings

¹³ King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram, ^[a]14whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was a man of Tyre and a craftsman in bronze. Huram was highly skilled and experienced in all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.

¹⁵ He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits around, ^[b] by line. ¹⁶ He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits ^[c] high. ¹⁷ A network of interwoven chains festooned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. ¹⁸ He made pomegranates in two rows ^[d] encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. ^[e] He did the same for each capital. ¹⁹ The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits ^[f] high. ²⁰ On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. ²¹ He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin ^[g] and the one to the north Boaz. ^[h]22The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.

²³ He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits ^[i] from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits ^[j] to measure around it. ²⁴Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

²⁵ The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. ²⁶ It was a handbreadth ^[k] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths. ^[l]

²⁷ He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high. ^[m]28 This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. ²⁹ On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim—and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. ³⁰ Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. ³¹ On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit ^[n] deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half. ^[o] Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. ³² The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.

³⁴ Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. ³⁵ At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit ^[p] deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. ³⁶ He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. ³⁷This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape.

³⁸ He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths ^[q] and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple. ⁴⁰ He also made the basins and shovels and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the LORD :

⁴¹ the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;

⁴²the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars

⁴³the ten stands with their ten basins;

⁴⁴the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;

⁴⁵ the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.
All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the LORD were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the LORD’s temple:
the golden altar;
the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence;

⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary
the gold floral work and lamps and tongs;

⁵⁰ the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers;
and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

⁵¹When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple.

1 Kings 8

The Ark Brought to the Temple

¹ Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. ²All the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

³ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, ⁴ and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, ⁵and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

⁶ The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. ⁸ These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. ⁹There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. ¹¹ And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.