Daily Text and Bible Reading: Saturday, April 18 [Press play below]

6.1 In the 480th year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year after Solomon became king over Israel, in the month of Ziv (that is, the second month), he began to build the house of Jehovah.
6.2 The house that King Solomon built for Jehovah was 60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.
6.3 The porch in front of the temple was 20 cubits long, corresponding to the width of the house. Its depth was ten cubits from the front of the house.
6.4 He made windows of narrowing frames for the house.
6.5 Further, he built a side structure against the wall of the house; it went around the walls of the house, those of the temple and the innermost room, and he made side chambers all around.
6.6 The lowest level of the side chambers was five cubits wide, the middle level was six cubits wide, and the third level was seven cubits wide, for he made offsets all around the house, so that nothing was attached to the walls of the house.
6.7 The house was built with quarry stone that had already been prepared, so that no hammers or axes or any iron tools were heard in the house while it was being built.
6.8 The entrance of the lowest side chamber was on the south side of the house, and a winding staircase led up to the middle floor, and from the middle floor up to the third floor.
6.9 He continued building the house and finished it and covered the house with cedar beams and rows of cedar planks.
6.10 He built the side chambers all around the house, each five cubits high, and they were joined to the house by cedar timbers.
6.11 Meanwhile, the word of Jehovah came to Solomon, saying:
6.12 “As for this house that you are building, if you walk in my statutes and carry out my judgments and observe all my commandments by walking in them, I will also carry out with you my promise that I made to David your father,
6.13 and I will reside in the midst of the Israelites, and I will not forsake my people Israel.”
6.14 Solomon continued building the house to finish it.
6.15 He built the inside walls of the house with cedar boards. He paneled the inside walls with timber, from the floor of the house up to the rafters of the ceiling, and he overlaid the floor of the house with juniper boards.
6.16 And he built a section of 20 cubits at the rear of the house with cedar boards, from the floor up to the rafters, and he built inside of it the innermost room, the Most Holy.
6.17 And the temple—the part of the house in front of it—was 40 cubits.
6.18 The cedar inside the house was carved with gourds and flowers in bloom. All of it was cedar; no stone was seen.
6.19 And he prepared the innermost room inside the house to put there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah.
6.20 The innermost room was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high; and he overlaid it with pure gold; he overlaid the altar with cedar.
6.21 Solomon overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold, and he stretched gold chains in front of the innermost room, which was overlaid with gold.
6.22 He overlaid the whole house with gold until all the house was completed; he also overlaid with gold the entire altar near the innermost room.
6.23 In the innermost room he made two cherubs of pinewood, each ten cubits high.
6.24 One wing of the cherub measured five cubits, and the other wing was five cubits. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other wing was ten cubits.
6.25 The second cherub was also ten cubits. The two cherubs had the same size and shape.
6.26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, as was that of the other cherub.
6.27 Then he put the cherubs inside the inner house. The wings of the cherubs were extended so that the wing of the one cherub reached to one wall and the wing of the other cherub reached to the other wall, and their wings extended toward the middle of the house, so that the wings touched.
6.28 And he overlaid the cherubs with gold.
6.29 And on all the walls of the house all around both the inner and outer rooms, he carved figures of cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom.
6.30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold in the inner and outer rooms.
6.31 And for the entrance of the innermost room he made doors of pinewood, side pillars, and doorposts, as a fifth part.
6.32 The two doors were of pinewood, and he carved on them cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom, and he overlaid them with gold; and he hammered the gold down over the cherubs and the palm trees.
6.33 For the entrance of the temple, that was how he made the doorposts of pinewood, belonging to a fourth part.
6.34 And he made two doors of juniper wood. The one door had two leaves that turned on pivots, and the other door had two leaves that turned on pivots.
6.35 He carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom, and overlaid gold foil on the carvings.
6.36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.
6.37 In the 4th year, in the month of Ziv, the house of Jehovah had its foundation laid;
6.38 and in the 11th year, in the month of Bul (that is, the eighth month), the house was finished in all its details and according to its plan. So he spent seven years building it.

7.1 And it took Solomon 13 years to build his own house, until his whole house was completed.
7.2 And he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon 100 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high on four rows of cedar pillars; and there were cedar beams on the pillars.
7.3 It was paneled above with cedar on the girders that rested on the pillars; they numbered 45, with 15 to a row.
7.4 There were three rows of framed windows, and each window was opposite another window in three tiers.
7.5 All the entrances and the doorposts had square frames, as did the front of the windows that were opposite each other in three tiers.
7.6 And he built the Hall of Pillars 50 cubits long and 30 cubits wide, and there was a porch in front of it with pillars and a canopy.
7.7 He also built the Hall of the Throne, where he would judge—the Hall of Judgment—and they paneled it with cedar from the floor to the rafters.
7.8 The house where he was to live, at the other courtyard, was set back from the Hall, and it was similar in workmanship. He also built a house similar to this Hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had taken as a wife.
7.9 All of these were made of expensive stones hewn according to measure, trimmed with stonesaws inside and out, from the foundation up to the coping, and outside as far as the great courtyard.
7.10 And the foundation was laid with very large, expensive stones; some stones measured ten cubits, and other stones, eight cubits.
7.11 And above these were expensive stones, hewn according to measure, as well as cedar.
7.12 Around the great courtyard were three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams, like that for the inner courtyard of the house of Jehovah and the porch of the house.
7.13 King Solomon sent for Hiram and brought him from Tyre.
7.14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a Tyrian coppersmith; and he had great skill, understanding, and experience for all kinds of work in copper. So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.
7.15 He cast the two pillars of copper; each pillar was 18 cubits high, and it took a measuring cord 12 cubits long to encircle each of the two pillars.
7.16 And he made two capitals cast in copper to put on the tops of the pillars. One capital was five cubits high, and the other capital was five cubits high.
7.17 The capital on top of each pillar had mesh network with wreathed chains; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital.
7.18 And he made pomegranates in two rows around the one network to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; he did the same for both capitals.
7.19 The capitals on top of the pillars at the porch were of a lily pattern four cubits high.
7.20 The capitals were on the two pillars, just above the rounded portion adjoining the network; and there were 200 pomegranates in rows all around on each capital.
7.21 He set up the pillars of the porch of the temple. He set up the right-hand pillar and named it Jachin, and then he set up the left-hand pillar and named it Boaz.
7.22 And the top of the pillars were of a lily pattern. So the work of the pillars was completed.
7.23 Then he made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, 10 cubits from brim to brim and 5 cubits high, and it took a measuring line 30 cubits long to encircle it.
7.24 And there were ornamental gourds below its brim, completely encircling it, ten to a cubit all around the Sea, with two rows of the gourds cast in one piece with it.
7.25 It stood on 12 bulls, 3 facing north, 3 facing west, 3 facing south, and 3 facing east; and the Sea rested on them, and all their hindquarters were toward the center.
7.26 And its thickness was a handbreadth; and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It would hold 2,000 bath measures.
7.27 Then he made the ten carriages of copper. Each carriage was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
7.28 And this was how the carriages were constructed: They had side panels, and the side panels were between the crossbars.
7.29 And on the side panels between the crossbars were lions, bulls, and cherubs, and the same design was on the crossbars. Above and beneath the lions and the bulls were wreaths in relief.
7.30 And each carriage had four copper wheels and copper axles, and its four cornerpieces served as supports for them. Beneath the basin were the supports, cast with wreaths at the side of each.
7.31 Its opening was inside the crown, extending upward one cubit; and its opening was round, making up a stand of one and a half cubits, and on its mouth were engravings. And their side panels were square, not round.
7.32 The four wheels were below the side panels, and the supports of the wheels were attached to the carriage, and the height of each wheel was one and a half cubits.
7.33 And the wheels were made like chariot wheels. Their supports, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.
7.34 There were four supports on the four corners of each carriage; its supports were cast as part of the carriage.
7.35 On top of the carriage was a circular band half a cubit high, and on the top of the carriage, its framing pieces and its side panels were cast as part of it.
7.36 On the surfaces of its framing pieces and on its side panels he engraved cherubs, lions, and palm trees according to the amount of space on each, with wreaths all around.
7.37 This is how he made the ten carriages; they were all cast alike, with the same measure and shape.
7.38 He made ten copper basins; each could hold 40 bath measures. Each basin measured four cubits. There was one basin for each of the ten carriages.
7.39 Then he put five carriages on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house, and he placed the Sea on the right side of the house, toward the southeast.
7.40 Hiram also made the basins, the shovels, and the bowls. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of Jehovah:
7.41 the two pillars and the bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the pillars;
7.42 the 400 pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on the two pillars;
7.43 the ten carriages and the ten basins on the carriages;
7.44 the Sea and the 12 bulls beneath the Sea;
7.45 and the cans, the shovels, the bowls, and all the utensils, which Hiram made of polished copper for King Solomon for the house of Jehovah.
7.46 The king cast them in clay molds in the district of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zarethan.
7.47 Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because they were in such great quantities. The weight of the copper was not ascertained.
7.48 Solomon made all the utensils for the house of Jehovah: the altar of gold; the gold table on which to put the showbread;
7.49 the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right and five on the left before the innermost room; and the blossoms, the lamps, and the snuffers, of gold;
7.50 the basins, the extinguishers, the bowls, the cups, and the fire holders, of pure gold; and the sockets for the doors of the inner house, that is, the Most Holy, and for the doors of the house of the temple, of gold.
7.51 So King Solomon completed all the work he had to do for the house of Jehovah. Solomon then brought in the things that David his father had made holy, and he put the silver, the gold, and the articles into the treasuries of the house of Jehovah.