Bible in Basic English

1st KINGS , 1
Solomon made king

1:1     Now King David was old and far on in years ; and though they put covers over him, his body was cold. 2 So his servants said to him, Let search be made for a young virgin for my lord the king, to take care of him and be waiting on him; and you may take her in your arms, and so my lord the king will be warm. 3 So after searching through all the land of Israel for a fair young girl, they saw Abishag the Shunammite, and took her to the king. 4 Now she was very beautiful ; and she took care of the king, waiting on him at all times ; but the king had no connection with her. 1:5     Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, lifting himself up in pride, said, I will become king ; and he made ready his carriages of war and his horsemen, with fifty runners to go before him. 6 Now all his life his father had never gone against him or said to him, Why have you done so ? and he was a very good-looking man, and younger than Absalom. 7 And he had talk with Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest ; and they were on his side and gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Rei, and David's men of war did not take the side of Adonijah.
1:9     Then Adonijah put to death sheep and oxen and fat beasts by the stone of Zoheleth, by En-rogel ; and he sent for all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah, the king's servants, to come to him: 10 But he did not send for Nathan the prophet and Benaiah and the other men of war and Solomon his brother.
1:11     Then Nathan said to Bath-sheba, the mother of Solomon, Has it not come to your ears that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has made himself king without the knowledge of David our lord? 12 So now, let me make a suggestion, so that you may keep your life safe and the life of your son Solomon. 13 Come now, go to King David and say to him, Did you not, O my lord, take an oath to me, your servant, saying, Truly Solomon your son will be king after me, seated on the seat of my kingdom ? why then is Adonijah acting as king? 14 And while you are still talking there with the king, see, I will come in after you and say that your story is true.
1:15     Then Bath-sheba went into the king's room ; now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was waiting on him. 16 And Bath-sheba went down on her face on the earth before the king giving him honour. And he said, What is your desire? 17 And she said to him, My lord, you took an oath by the Lord your God and gave your word to your servant, saying, Truly, Solomon your son will be king after me, seated on the seat of my kingdom. 18 And now, see, Adonijah has made himself king without my lord's knowledge ; 19 And has put to death oxen and fat beasts and sheep in great numbers, and has sent for all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab, the captain of the army ; but he has not sent for Solomon your servant. 20 And now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, waiting for you to say who is to take the place of my lord the king after him. 21 For as things are, it will come about, when my lord the king is sleeping with his fathers, that I and Solomon my son will be made outlaws.
1:22     And while she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. 23 And they said to the king, Here is Nathan the prophet. And when he came in before the king, he went down on his face on the earth. 24 And Nathan said, O my lord king, have you said, Adonijah is to be king after me, seated on the seat of my kingdom? 25 Because today he has gone down and has put to death oxen and fat beasts and sheep in great numbers, and has sent for all the king's sons to come to him, with the captains of the army and Abiathar the priest ; and they are feasting before him and crying, Long life to King Adonijah! 26 But me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, he has not sent for. 27 Has this thing been done by my lord the king, without giving word to your servants who was to be placed on my lord the king's seat after him?
1:28     Then King David in answer said, Send for Bath-sheba to come to me. And she came in and took her place before the king. 29 And the king took an oath, and said, By the living Lord, who has been my saviour from all my troubles, 30 As I took an oath to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, Certainly Solomon your son will become king after me, seated on my seat in my place ; so will I do this day. 31 Then Bath-sheba went down on her face on the earth before the king giving him honour, and said, May my lord King David go on living for ever.
1:32     And King David said, Send for Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. 33 And the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and put Solomon my son on my beast, yes, mine, and take him down to Gihon ; 34 And there let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet put the holy oil on him to make him king over Israel ; and sounding the horn say, Long life to King Solomon ! 35 Then come up after him and he will come in and take his place on the seat of my kingdom ; for he is to be king in my place, and I have given orders that he is to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. 36 And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, answering the king, said, So be it : and may the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say so. 37 As the Lord has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon and make the seat of his authority greater than that of my lord King David.
1:38     So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down and put Solomon on King David's beast and took him to Gihon. 39 And Zadok the priest took the vessel of oil out of the Tent, and put the holy oil on Solomon. And when the horn was sounded, all the people said, Long life to King Solomon! 40 And all the people came up after him, piping with pipes, and they were glad with great joy, so that the earth was shaking with the sound.
41     And it came to the ears of Adonijah and all the guests who were with him, when their meal was ended. And Joab, hearing the sound of the horn, said, What is the reason of this noise as if the town was worked up? 42 And while the words were on his lips, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest, came ; and Adonijah said, Come in ; for you are a man of good faith and the news which you have for us will be good. 43 And Jonathan, answering, said to Adonijah, Not so, but our lord King David has made Solomon king: 44 And he sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites ; and they put him on the king's beast: 45 And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet put the holy oil on him and made him king in Gihon ; and they came back from there with joy, and the town was all worked up. This is the noise which has come to your ears. 46 And now Solomon is seated on the seat of the kingdom. 47 And the king's servants came to our lord King David, blessing him and saying, May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and the seat of his authority greater than your seat ; and the king was bent low in worship on his bed. 48 Then the king said, May the God of Israel be praised, who has given one of my seed to be king in my place this day and has let my eyes see it.
1:49     And all the guests of Adonijah got up in fear and went away, every man to his place. 50 And Adonijah himself was full of fear because of Solomon ; and he got up and went to the altar, and put his hands on its horns. 51 And they gave Solomon word of it, saying, See, Adonijah goes in such fear of King Solomon, that he has put his hands on the horns of the altar, saying, Let King Solomon first give me his oath that he will not put his servant to death with the sword. 52 And Solomon said, If he is seen to be a man of good faith, not a hair of him will be touched ; but if any wrongdoing is seen in him, he is to be put to death. 53 So King Solomon sent, and they took him down from the altar. And he came and gave honour to King Solomon ; and Solomon said to him, Go to your house.

1st KINGS , 2
Death of David

2:1     Now the time of David's death came near ; and he gave orders to Solomon his son, saying, 2 I am going the way of all the earth : so be strong and be a man ; 3 And keep the orders of the Lord your God, walking in his ways, keeping his laws and his orders and his rules and his words, as they are recorded in the law of Moses ; so that you may do well in all you do and wherever you go, 4 So that the Lord may give effect to what he said of me, If your children give attention to their ways, living uprightly before me with all their heart and their soul, you will never be without a man to be king in Israel.
2:5     Now you have knowledge of what Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me, and to the two captains of the army of Israel, Abner, the son of Ner, and Amasa, the son of Jether, whom he put to death, taking payment for the blood of war in time of peace, and making the band of my clothing and the shoes on my feet red with the blood of one put to death without cause. 6 So be guided by your wisdom, and let not his white head go down to the underworld in peace. 7 But be good to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be guests at your table ; for so they came to me when I went in flight from Absalom your brother. 8 Now you have with you Shimei, the son of Gera the Benjamite of Bahurim, who put a bitter curse on me on the day when I went to Mahanaim ; but he came down to see me at Jordan, and I gave him my oath by the Lord, saying, I will not put you to death by the sword. 9 But do not let him be free from punishment, for you are a wise man ; and it will be clear to you what you have to do with him ; see that his white head goes down to the underworld in blood.
2:10     Then David went to rest with his fathers, and his body was put into the earth in the town of David. 11 David was king over Israel for forty years : for seven years he was king in Hebron and for thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12 And Solomon took his place on the seat of David his father, and his kingdom was made safe and strong.
2:13     Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, came to Bath-sheba, the mother of Solomon. And she said, Come you in peace ? And he said, Yes, in peace. 14 Then he said, I have something to say to you. And she said, Say on. 15 And he said, You saw how the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had the idea that I would be their king ; but now the kingdom is turned about, and has become my brother's, for it was given to him by the Lord. 16 Now I have one request to make to you, and do not say, No, to me. And she said to him, Say on. 17 Then he said, Will you go to Solomon the king (for he will not say, No, to you) and put before him my request that he will give me Abishag the Shunammite for a wife? 18 And Bath-sheba said, Good ! I will make your request to the king.
2:19     So Bath-sheba went to King Solomon to have talk with him on Adonijah's account. And the king got up to come to her, and went down low to the earth before her ; then he took his place on the king's seat and had a seat made ready for the king's mother and she took her place at his right hand. 20 Then she said, I have one small request to make to you ; do not say, No, to me. And the king said, Say on, my mother, for I will not say, No, to you. 21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother for a wife. 22 Then King Solomon made answer and said to his mother, Why are you requesting me to give Abishag the Shunammite to Adonijah ? Take the kingdom for him in addition, for he is my older brother, and Abiathar the priest and Joab, the son of Zeruiah, are on his side. 23 Then King Solomon took an oath by the Lord, saying, May God's punishment be on me if Adonijah does not give payment for these words with his life. 24 Now by the living Lord, who has given me my place on the seat of David my father, and made me one of a line of kings, as he gave me his word, truly Adonijah will be put to death this day. 25 And King Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and he made an attack on him and put him to death.
2:26     And to Abiathar the priest the king said, Go to Anathoth, to your fields ; for death would be your right reward ; but I will not put you to death now, because you took up the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and you were with him in all his troubles. 27 So Solomon let Abiathar be priest no longer, so that he might make the word of the Lord come true which he said about the sons of Eli in Shiloh.
2:28     And news of this came to Joab ; for Joab had been one of Adonijah's supporters, though he had not been on Absalom's side. Then Joab went in flight to the Tent of the Lord, and put his hands on the horns of the altar. 29 And they said to King Solomon, Joab has gone in flight to the Tent of the Lord and is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, make an attack on him. 2:30 And Benaiah came to the Tent of the Lord and said to him, The king says, Come out. And he said, No ; but let death come to me here. And Benaiah went back to the king and gave him word of the answer which Joab had given. 31 And the king said, Do as he has said and make an attack on him there, and put his body into the earth ; so that you may take away from me and from my family the blood of one put to death by Joab without cause. 32 And the Lord will send back his blood on his head, because of the attack he made on two men more upright and better than himself, putting them to the sword without my father's knowledge ; even Abner, the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah. 33 So their blood will be on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed for ever ; but for David and his seed and his family and the seat of his kingdom, there will be peace for ever from the Lord. 34 So Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went up, and falling on him, put him to death ; and his body was put to rest in his house in the waste land. 35 And the king put Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, in his place over the army ; and Zadok the priest he put in the place of Abiathar.
2:36     Then the king sent for Shimei, and said to him, Make a house for yourself in Jerusalem and keep there and go to no other place. 37 For be certain that on the day when you go out and go over the stream Kidron, death will overtake you : and your blood will be on your head. 38 And Shimei said to the king, Very well ! as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do. And for a long time Shimei went on living in Jerusalem.
2:39     But after three years, two of the servants of Shimei went in flight to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. And word was given to Shimei that his servants had gone to Gath. 40 Then Shimei got up, and making ready his ass, he went to Gath, to Achish, in search of his servants ; and he sent and got them from Gath. 41 And news was given to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back again. 42 Then the king sent for Shimei, and said to him, Did I not make you take an oath by the Lord, protesting to you and saying, Be certain that on the day when you go out from here, wherever you go, death will overtake you ? and you said to me, Very well! 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the order which I gave you? 44 And the king said to Shimei, You have knowledge of all the evil which you did to David my father ; and now the Lord has sent back your evil on yourself. 45 But a blessing will be on King Solomon, and the kingdom of David will keep its place before the Lord for ever. 46 So the king gave orders to Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada ; and he went out and, falling on him, put him to death.
    And Solomon's authority over the kingdom was complete.

1st KINGS , 3
Solomon's wise judgment

3:1     Solomon became the son-in-law of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter as his wife, keeping her in the town of David, till the house he was building for himself, and the house of the Lord and the wall round Jerusalem, were complete. 2 But all this time the people were making their offerings in the high places, because no house had been put up to the name of the Lord till those days.
3:3     And Solomon, in his love for the Lord, kept the laws of David his father ; but he made offerings and let them go up in smoke on the high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to make an offering there, because that was the chief high place : it was Solomon's way to make a thousand burned offerings on that altar. 5 In Gibeon, Solomon had a vision of the Lord in a dream by night ; and God said to him, Say what I am to give you. 6 And Solomon said, Great was your mercy to David my father, as his life before you was true and upright and his heart was true to you; and you have kept for him this greatest mercy, a son to take his place this day. 7 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in the place of David my father ; and I am only a young boy, with no knowledge of how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant has round him the people of your selection, a people so great that they may not be numbered, and no account of them may be given. 9 Give your servant, then, a wise heart for judging your people, able to see what is good and what evil ; for who is able to be the judge of this great people?
3:10     Now these words and Solomon's request were pleasing to the Lord. 11 And God said to him, Because your request is for this thing, and not for long life for yourself or for wealth or for the destruction of your haters, but for wisdom to be a judge of causes ; 12 I have done as you said: I have given you a wise and far-seeing heart, so that there has never been your equal in the past, and never will there be any like you in the future. 13 And with this I have given you what you made no request for : wealth and honour, so that no king was ever your equal. 14 And if you go on in my ways, keeping my laws and my orders as your father David did, I will give you a long life.
3:15     And Solomon, awakening, saw that it was a dream; then he came to Jerusalem, where he went before the ark of the agreement of the Lord, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings ; and he made a feast for all his servants.
3:16     Then two loose women of the town came and took their places before the king ; 17 And one of them said, O my lord, I and this woman are living in the same house ; and I gave birth to a child by her side in the house. 18 And three days after the birth of my child, this woman had a child : we were together, no other-person was with us in the house but we two only. 19 In the night, this woman, sleeping on her child, was the cause of its death. 20 And she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was sleeping ; and she took it in her arms and put her dead child in my arms. 21 And when I got up to give my child the breast, I saw that it was dead ; but in the morning, looking at it with care, I saw that it was not my son. 22 And the other woman said, No ; but the living child is my son and the dead one yours. But the first said, No ; the dead child is your son and the living one mine. So they kept on talking before the king.
3:23     Then the king said, One says, The living child is my son, and yours is the dead : and the other says, Not so ; but your son is the dead one and mine is the living. 24 Then he said, Get me a sword. So they went and put a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, Let the living child be cut in two and one half given to one woman and one to the other. 26 Then the mother of the living child came forward, for her heart went out to her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the child ; do not on any account put it to death. But the other woman said, It will not be mine or yours ; let it be cut in two. 27 Then the king made answer and said, Give her the child, and do not put it to death ; she is the mother of it. 28 And news of this decision which the king had made went through all Israel ; and they had fear of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to give decisions.

1st KINGS , 4

4:1     Now Solomon was king over all Israel. 2 And these were his chief men : Azariah, the son of Zadok, was the priest ; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were scribes ; Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was the recorder ; 4 Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was head of the army ; Zadok and Abiathar were priests ; 5 Azariah, the son of Nathan, was over those in authority in the different divisions of the country ; Zabud, the son of Nathan, was priest and the king's friend ; 6 Ahishar was controller of the king's house ; Adoniram, the son of Abda, was overseer of the forced work.
4:7     And Solomon put twelve overseers over all Israel, to be responsible for the stores needed for the king and those of his house ; every man was responsible for one month in the year. 8 And these are their names : . . . the son of Hur in the hill country of Ephraim ; 9 ... the son of Deker in Makaz and Shaalbim and Beth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan ; 10 ... the son of Hesed in Arubboth ; Socoh and all the land of Hepher were under his control ; 11 ... the son of Abinadab in all Naphath-dor ; his wife was Taphath, the daughter of Solomon. 12 Baana, the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is by the side of Zarethan, under Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the far side of Jokmeam ; 13 ... the son of Geber in Ramoth-gilead ; he had the towns of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and the country of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great towns with walls and locks of brass. 14 Ahinadab, the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim ; 15 Ahimaaz in Naphtali ; he took Basemath, the daughter of Solomon, as his wife ; 16 Baana, the son of Hushai, in Asher and Aloth ; 17 Jehoshaphat, the son of Paruah, in Issachar ; 18 Shimei, the son of Ela, in Benjamin ; 19 Geber, the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan ; and one overseer had authority over all the overseers who were in the land.
4:20     Judah and Israel were as great in number as the sand by the seaside, and they took their food and drink with joy in their hearts. 21 And Solomon was ruler over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the edge of Egypt ; men gave him offerings and were his servants all the days of his life.
4:22     And the amount of Solomon's food for one day was thirty measures of crushed grain and sixty measures of meal ; 23 Ten fat oxen and twenty oxen from the fields, and a hundred sheep, in addition to harts and gazelles and roes and fat fowls. 24 For he had authority over all the country on this side of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the River ; and he had peace round him on every side. 25 So Judah and Israel were living safely, every man under his vine and his fig-tree, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 And Solomon had four thousand boxed-off spaces for horses for his carriages, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those overseers, every man in his month, saw that food was produced for Solomon and all his guests, they took care that nothing was overlooked. 28 And they took grain and dry grass for the horses and the carriage-horses, to the right place, every man as he was ordered.
4:29     And God gave Solomon a great store of wisdom and good sense, and a mind of wide range, as wide as the sand by the seaside. 30 And Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all men, even than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman and Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol ; and he had a great name among all the nations round about. 32 He was the maker of three thousand wise sayings, and of songs to the number of a thousand and five. 33 He made sayings about all plants, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop hanging on the wall ; and about all beasts and birds and fishes and the small things of the earth. 34 People came from every nation to give ear to the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had word of his wisdom.

1st KINGS , 5
Solomon's request of Hiram

5:1     Now Hiram, king of Tyre, hearing that Solomon had been made king in place of his father, sent his servants to him ; for Hiram had ever been a friend to David. 2 And Solomon sent back word to Hiram, saying, 3 You have knowledge that David my father was not able to make a house for the name of the Lord his God, because of the wars which were round him on every side, till the Lord put all those who were against him under his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; no one is making trouble, and no evil is taking place. 5 And so it is my purpose to make a house for the name of the Lord my God, as he said to David my father, Your son, whom I will make king in your place, will be the builder of a house for my name. 6 So now, will you have cedar-trees from Lebanon cut down for me, and my servants will be with your servants ; and I will give you payment for your servants at whatever rate you say ; for it is common knowledge that we have no such wood-cutters among us as the men of Zidon.
5:7     And these words of Solomon made Hiram glad, and he said, Now may the Lord be praised who has given to David a wise son to be king over this great people. 8 Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying; The words you sent have been given to me : I will do all your desire in the question of cedar-wood and cypress-wood. 9 My men will take them down from Lebanon to the sea, where I will have them corded together to go by sea to whatever place you say, and I will have them cut up there so that you may take them away ; as for payment, it will be enough if you give me food for my people. 10 So Hiram gave Solomon all the cedar-wood and cypress-wood he had need of ; 11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of grain, as food for his people, and twenty measures of clear oil ; this he did every year. 12 Now the Lord had given Solomon wisdom, as he had said to him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made an agreement together.
5:13     Then King Solomon got together men for the forced work through all Israel, thirty thousand men in number; 14 And sent them to Lebanon in bands of ten thousand every month : for a month they were working in Lebanon and for two months in their country, and Adoniram was in control of them. 15 Then he had seventy thousand for the work of transport, and eighty thousand stone-cutters in the mountains ; 16 In addition to the chiefs of the responsible men put by Solomon to oversee the work, three thousand and three hundred in authority over the workmen. 17 By the king's orders great stones, stones of high price, were cut out, so that the base of the house might be made of squared stone. 18 Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did the work of cutting them, and put edges on them, and got the wood and the stone ready for the building of the house.

1st KINGS , 6
Building the house of God

6:1     In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year that Solomon was king of Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, the building of the Lord's house was started. 2 The house which Solomon made for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. 3 The covered way before the Temple of the house was twenty cubits long, as wide as the house, and ten cubits wide in front of the house. 4 And for the house he made windows, with network across. 5 And against the walls all round, and against the walls of the Temple and of the inmost room, he put up wings, with side rooms all round: 6 The lowest line of them being five cubits wide, the middle six cubits wide and the third seven cubits ; for there was a space all round the outside walls of the house so that the boards supporting the rooms did not have to be fixed in the walls of the house.
6:7     (And the stones used in the building of the house were squared at the place where they were cut out ; there was no sound of hammer or axe or any iron instrument while they were building the house.)
6:8     The door to the lowest side rooms was in the right side of the house ; and they went up by twisting steps into the middle rooms, and from the middle into the third. 9 So he put up the house and made it complete, roofing it with boards of cedar-wood. 10 And he put up the line of side rooms against the walls of the house, fifteen cubits high, resting against the house on boards of cedar-wood.
6:11     (And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, 12 About this house which you are building : if you will keep my laws and give effect to my decisions and be guided by my rules, I will give effect to my word which I gave to David your father.
6:13     And I will be ever among the children of Israel, and will not go away from my people.
6:14     So Solomon made the building of the house complete.) 15 The walls of the house were covered inside with cedar-wood boards ; from the floor to the roof of the house they were covered inside with wood ; and the floor was covered with boards of cypress-wood. 16 And at the back of the house a further space of twenty cubits was shut in with boards of cedar-wood, for the inmost room. 17 And the house, that is, the Temple, in front of the holy place was forty cubits long. 18 (All the inside of the house was cedar-wood, ornamented with designs of buds and flowers ; no stonework was to be seen inside.) 19 And he made ready an inmost room in the middle of the house, in which to put the ark of the agreement of the Lord. 20 And the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with gold. 21 Solomon had all the inside of the house covered with gold, and he put chains of gold across in front of the inmost room, which itself was covered with gold. 22 Plates of gold were put all through the house till it was covered completely (and the altar in the inmost room was all covered with gold).
6:23     In the inmost room he made two winged beings of olive-wood, ten cubits high ; 24 With outstretched wings five cubits wide ; the distance from the edge of one wing to the edge of the other was ten cubits. 25 The two winged ones were ten cubits high, of the same size and form. 26 The two of them were ten cubits high. 27 These were placed inside the inner house, their outstretched wings touching the walls of the house, one touching one wall and one the other, while their other wings were touching in the middle. 28 These winged ones were plated over with gold.
6:29     And all the walls of the house inside and out were ornamented with forms of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers. 30 And the floor of the house was covered with gold, inside and out.
6:31     For the way into the inmost room he made doors of olive-wood, the arch and the door supports forming a five-sided opening. 32 On the olive-wood doors were cut designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, all of them, with the doors, plated with gold.
6:33     Then he made pillars of olive-wood for the way into the Temple ; the pillars were square: 34 And two folding doors of cypress-wood, with two leaves. 35 These were ornamented with designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, plated over with gold. 36 And the inner space was walled with three lines of squared stones and a line of cedar-wood boards.
6:37     In the fourth year the base of the house was put in its place, in the month Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the building of the house was complete in every detail, as it had been designed. So he was seven years building it.

1st KINGS , 7
Work of Hiram of Tyre

7:1     Solomon was thirteen years building a house for himself till it was complete.
7:2     And he made the house of the Woods of Lebanon,which was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, resting on four lines of cedar-wood pillars with cedar-wod supports on the pillars. 3 And it was covered with cedar over the forty-five supports which were on the pillars, fifteen in a line. 4 There were three lines of window-frames, window facing window in every line. 5 And all the doors and windows had square frames, with the windows facing one another in three lines.
7:6     And he made a covered room of pillars, fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, and ... with steps before it. 7 Then he made a covered room for his high seat when he gave decisions ; this was the covered room of judging ; it was covered with cedar-wood from floor to roof.
7:8     And the house for his living-place, the other open square in the covered room, was made in the same way. And then he made a house like it for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had taken as his wife.
7:9     All these buildings were made, inside and out, from base to crowning stone, and outside to the great walled square, of highly priced stone, cut to different sizes with cutting-instruments. 10 And the base was of great masses of highly priced stone, some ten cubits and some eight cubits square. 11 Overhead were highly priced stones cut to measure, and cedar-wood. 12 The great outer square all round was walled with three lines of squared stones and a line of cedar-wood boards, round about the open square inside the house of the Lord and the covered room of the king's house.
7:13     Then King Solomon sent and got Hiram from Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass ; he was full of wisdom and knowledge and an expert worker in brass. He came to King Solomon and did all his work for him.
7:15     He it was who made the two brass pillars ; the first pillar was eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits went round it ; and the second was the same. 16 And he made the two crowns to be put on the tops of the pillars, of brass made soft in the fire ; the crowns were five cubits high. 17 There were nets of open-work for the crowns on the tops of the pillars, a net of open-work for one and a net of open-work for the other. 18 And he made ornaments of apples ; and two lines of apples all round over the network, covering the crowns of the pillars, the two crowns in the same way. 19 The crowns on the tops of the pillars were ornamented with a design of flowers, and were four cubits across. 20 And there were crowns on the two pillars near the round part by the network, and there were two hundred apples in lines round every crown. 21 He put up the pillars at the doorway of the Temple, naming the one on the right Jachin, and that on the left Boaz. 22 The tops of the pillars had a design of flowers ; and the work of making the pillars was complete.
7:23     And he made a great metal water-vessel ten cubits across from edge to edge, five cubits high and thirty cubits round. 24 And under the edge of it, circling it all round for ten cubits, were two lines of flower buds, made together with it from liquid metal. 25 It was supported on twelve oxen, with their back parts turned to the middle of it, three of them facing to the north, three to the west, three to the south, and three to the east ; the vessel was resting on top of them. 26 It was as thick as a man's open hand, and was curved like the edge of a cup, like the flower of a lily : it would take two thousand baths.
7:27     And he made ten wheeled bases of brass ; every one four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. 28 And the bases were made in this way ; their sides were square, fixed in a framework ; 29 And on the square sides between the frames were lions, oxen, and winged ones ; and the same on the frame ; and over and under the lions and the oxen and the winged ones were steps. 30 Every base had four wheels of brass, turning on brass rods, and their four angles had angle-plates under them ; the angle-plates under the base were of metal, and there were ornaments at the side of every one. 31 The mouth of it inside the angle-plate was one cubit across ; it was round like a pillar, a cubit and a half across ; it had designs cut on it ; the sides were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were under the frames, and the rods on which the wheels were fixed were in the base ; the wheels were a cubit and a half high. 33 The wheels were made like carriage-wheels, the rods on which they were fixed, the parts forming their edges, their rods and the middle points of them, were all formed out of liquid metal. 34 And there were four angle-plates at the four angles of every base, forming part of the structure of the base. 35 And at the top of the base there was a round vessel, half a cubit high ; 36 In the spaces of the flat sides and on the frames of them, he made designs of winged ones, lions, and palm-trees, with ornamented edges all round. 37 All the ten bases were made in this way, after the same design, of the same size and form. 38 And he made ten brass washing-vessels, everyone taking forty baths, and measuring four cubits ; one vessel was placed on every one of the ten bases. 39 And he put the bases by the house, five on the right side and five on the left ; and he put the great water-vessel on the right side of the house, to the east, facing south.
7:40     And Hiram made the pots and spades and the basins. So Hiram came to the end of all the work he did for King Solomon in the house of the Lord: 41 The two pillars and the two cups of the crowns which were on the tops of the two pillars ; and the network covering the two cups of the crowns on the tops of the pillars, 42 And the four hundred apples for the network, two lines of apples for every network, covering the two cups of the crowns on the pillars ; 43 And the ten bases, with the ten washing-vessels on them ; 44 And the great water-vessel, with the twelve oxen under it ;
7:45     And the pots and the spades and the basins ; all the vessels which Hiram made for King Solomon, for the house of the Lord, were of polished brass. 46 He made them of liquid metal in the lowland of Jordan, at the way across the river, at Adama, between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 The weight of all these vessels was not measured, because there was such a number of them ; it was not possible to get the weight of the brass.
7:48     And Solomon had all the vessels made for use in the house of the Lord : the altar of gold and the gold table on which the holy bread was placed ; 49 And the supports for the lights, five on the right side and five on the left before the inmost room, of clear gold ; and the flowers and the lights and all the instruments of gold ; 50 And the cups and the scissors and the basins and the spoons and the fire-trays, all of gold ; and the pins on which the doors were turned, the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and the doors of the Temple, all of gold.
7:51     So all the work King Solomon had done in the house of the Lord was complete. Then Solomon took the holy things which David his father had given, the silver and the gold and all the vessels, and put them in the store-houses of the house of the Lord.
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