1Depois Salomão mandou edificar o seu próprio palácio que levou 13 anos a construir.2Uma das salas do palácio chamava-se Salão da Floresta do Líbano. Era uma sala enorme que media 50 metros de comprimento por 25 metros de largura e 15 metros de altura.3Enormes vigas de cedro saíam do teto e repousavam sobre quarenta e cinco colunas também de cedro, distribuídas em três séries de quinze cada uma.4Tinha três ordens de janelas que ficavam umas em frente das outras.5As portas da sala estavam emolduradas em retângulos, ficando umas em frente das outras, em três filas.6O Salão dos Pilares media 25 metros de comprimento e 15 metros de largura, com um pórtico à entrada e uma abóbada suportada por pilares.7Havia também a Sala do Trono ou Sala de Julgamento, onde o rei se sentava para ouvir os processos jurídicos, que era revestida de cedro do chão até ao teto.8Os seus aposentos pessoais eram igualmente em cedro e dispunham-se em volta de um pátio, na retaguarda desta última sala. Reservou, aliás, apartamentos idênticos, com as mesmas medidas, no palácio que mandou construir para a filha do Faraó, uma das suas mulheres.9Todas estas construções foram feitas com enormes blocos de pedra cortados à medida. O custo de cada um desses blocos ficou, por isso, muito elevado.10As pedras para os alicerces tinham 5 e 4 metros de largura.11Os grandes blocos das paredes, cortados à medida exata da largura, juntavam-se no alto com as vigas de cedro.12O Grande Pátio tinha três correntezas de pedras lavradas, intercaladas com vigas de cedro, como acontecia no templo e no pórtico do palácio.
Mobiliário do templo
13O rei Salomão pediu a um homem de Tiro, chamado Hurão,14que viesse fazer aquelas obras, porque era um artista inteligente e hábil a trabalhar em bronze. Ele era meio judeu, sendo filho de uma viúva de Naftali, e o seu pai fora operário de fundição em Tiro. Esse homem veio trabalhar para o rei Salomão.15Fez então duas grandes colunas de bronze, cada uma com 9 metros de altura e 6 metros de perímetro.16No topo desses pilares fez dois capitéis em forma de lírios, em bronze fundido, cada um com 2,5 metros de altura.17Cada capitel era decorado com sete conjuntos de rosáceas.18-22Cada capitel tinha também duas filas com duzentas romãs em bronze, esculpidas em cadeia. Hurão mandou colocar esses pilares à entrada do templo. Ao do lado sul deu o nome de Jaquim, ao outro, a norte, deu o nome de Boaz.[1]23Depois mandou forjar um enorme tanque redondo, também chamado mar de fundição, com um diâmetro de 5 metros. A borda dessa grande bacia ficava 2,5 metros do chão; a sua circunferência media 15 metros.24Por baixo da borda, do lado de fora, havia duas filas de ornamentos, separadas por alguns centímetros e fundidos juntamente com o tanque.25Este assentava sobre doze bois de metal com as partes traseiras viradas para o interior; três voltados para o norte, três para o sul, três para o este e três para o oeste.26As paredes do tanque mediam 8 centímetros de espessura. O seu rebordo era como o de uma taça em forma de lírio. Tinha capacidade para 44 000 litros.27Depois fez dez bases de bronze, com quatro rodas. Cada base era quadrada com 2 metros de lado e 1,5 metros de altura.28Estavam montadas sobre um suporte rodado feito de peças cruzadas.29Tinham como decoração leões incrustados, bois e querubins; acima e abaixo dos leões e dos bois pendiam grinaldas.30Cada uma destas bases tinha quatro rodas de bronze e eixos também em bronze; em cada canto das bases havia postes de bronze decorados com figuras em espiral nos lados.31A parte de cima destas bases consistia numa peça redonda de 50 centímetros de altura. O seu centro era côncavo, com 75 centímetros de fundo, decorado no exterior com espirais. As paredes do revestimento eram quadradas, não redondas.32Estas bases andavam sobre quatro rodas ligadas a eixos fundidos com as próprias bases. As rodas tinham 75 centímetros de altura.33Eram semelhantes às rodas de um carro. Todas as partes das bases eram feitas de bronze fundido, incluindo os eixos, os raios, os arcos e o centro.34Havia suportes em cada um dos quatro cantos das bases, também eles fundidos com as bases.35Estas tinham uma cercadura com 25 centímetros, na parte superior, de que saíam umas pegas; tudo fundido numa só peça com a base.36Nos espaços que podiam ser decorados, viam-se querubins, leões e palmeiras rodeadas por figuras em espiral.37As dez bases eram todas do mesmo tamanho e tinham as mesmas decorações, visto terem sido feitas no mesmo molde.38Depois mandou fazer dez tinas de bronze e colocou-as sobre as bases. Eram quadradas, com 2 metros de lado, e tinham a capacidade para 900 litros de água.39Cinco destas tinas foram postas num dos lados do templo e as outras cinco no outro. O tanque ficava no canto sul, no lado direito.40Hurão fez também o resto dos utensílios necessários: bacias, pás e tinas. Por fim, Hurão terminou toda a obra para o templo do SENHOR, que Salomão lhe encomendara. Esta é a lista dos trabalhos feitos:41dois pilares; um capitel para o cimo de cada pilar; rosáceas para cobrir as bases dos capitéis de cada pilar;42quatrocentas romãs, em duas filas, no trabalho das rosáceas, para cobrir as bases dos dois capitéis;43dez bases para dez pias;44um grande tanque e doze bois para o suportar;45recipientes; pás; bacias. Todos estes utensílios foram feitos por este hábil artífice, Hurão, para o rei Salomão, usando bronze polido.46Tudo foi feito em bronze fundido e preparado nas planícies do Jordão, num sítio entre Sucote e Zaretã.47Foram usadas grandes quantidades de bronze, cujo peso era tal, que Salomão nem sequer registou o seu valor.48No entanto, Salomão recomendou que todos os utensílios e o mobiliário da casa do SENHOR fossem feitos de ouro puro. Isto incluía o altar, a mesa onde se encontrava exposto o pão da Presença de Deus;49o candelabro, com cinco luzes à direita e cinco à esquerda, em frente do lugar santíssimo, as decorações florais, as lâmpadas e os espevitadores;50as taças, os apagadores, as bacias, os perfumadores, os braseiros; tudo foi feito em ouro puro; também as dobradiças das portas do lugar santíssimo e as da entrada principal do templo. Todos estes objetos eram feitos de ouro puro.51Quando o templo acabou de ser construído, Salomão colocou no tesouro do templo a prata, o ouro e todos os recipientes consagrados por seu pai, David.
1Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house. (1 Rs 3:1; 1 Rs 9:10; 2 Cr 8:1)2He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits[1] and its breadth fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits, and it was built on four[2] rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. (1 Rs 10:17; 1 Rs 10:21)3And it was covered with cedar above the chambers that were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row.4There were window frames in three rows, and window opposite window in three tiers.5All the doorways and windows[3] had square frames, and window was opposite window in three tiers.6And he made the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them. (1 Rs 7:12; Ez 41:25)7And he made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, even the Hall of Judgment. It was finished with cedar from floor to rafters.[4] (1 Rs 6:15)8His own house where he was to dwell, in the other court back of the hall, was of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter whom he had taken in marriage. (1 Rs 3:1; 2 Cr 8:11)9All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, even from the foundation to the coping, and from the outside to the great court.10The foundation was of costly stones, huge stones, stones of eight and ten cubits.11And above were costly stones, cut according to measurement, and cedar.12The great court had three courses of cut stone all around, and a course of cedar beams; so had the inner court of the house of the Lord and the vestibule of the house. (1 Rs 6:36; 1 Rs 7:6)
The Temple Furnishings
13And King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. (2 Cr 2:14)14He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. And he was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill for making any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work. (Ex 31:3; Ex 35:31)15He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference. It was hollow, and its thickness was four fingers. The second pillar was the same.[5] (1 Rs 7:41; 2 Rs 25:17; 1 Cr 18:8; 2 Cr 3:15; 2 Cr 4:12; Jr 52:21)16He also made two capitals of cast 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. (1 Rs 7:15)17There were lattices of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars, a lattice[6] for the one capital and a lattice for the other capital.18Likewise he made pomegranates[7] in two rows around the one latticework to cover the capital that was on the top of the pillar, and he did the same with the other capital.19Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits.20The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection which was beside the latticework. There were two hundred pomegranates in two rows all around, and so with the other capital. (1 Rs 7:42; 2 Cr 3:16; 2 Cr 4:13; Jr 52:23)21He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple. He set up the pillar on the south and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz. (2 Cr 3:17)22And on the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.23Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. (Ex 30:18; 2 Rs 16:17; 2 Rs 25:13; 1 Cr 18:8; 2 Cr 4:2; Jr 52:17)24Under its brim were gourds, for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast. (1 Rs 6:18)25It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward. (Jr 52:20)26Its thickness was a handbreadth,[8] and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.[9]27He also made the ten stands of bronze. Each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. (2 Rs 25:13; 2 Cr 4:14; Jr 52:17)28This was the construction of the stands: they had panels, and the panels were set in the frames,29and on the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work.30Moreover, each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each.31Its opening was within a crown that projected upward one cubit. Its opening was round, as a pedestal is made, a cubit and a half deep. At its opening there were carvings, and its panels were square, not round.32And the four wheels were underneath the panels. The axles of the wheels were of one piece with the stands, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.33The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.34There were four supports at the four corners of each stand. The supports were of one piece with the stands.35And on the top of the stand there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the stand its stays and its panels were of one piece with it.36And on the surfaces of its stays and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.37After this manner he made the ten stands. All of them were cast alike, of the same measure and the same form. (1 Rs 7:27)38And he made ten basins of bronze. Each basin held forty baths, each basin measured four cubits, and there was a basin for each of the ten stands. (Ex 30:18; 2 Cr 4:6)39And he set the stands, five on the south side of the house, and five on the north side of the house. And he set the sea at the southeast corner of the house.40Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the Lord: (Ex 27:3; Ex 38:3; 2 Cr 4:11)41the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars; (1 Rs 7:17)42and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; (1 Rs 7:20)43the ten stands, and the ten basins on the stands;44and the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath the sea. (1 Rs 7:23; 1 Rs 7:25)45Now the pots, the shovels, and the basins, all these vessels in the house of the Lord, which Hiram made for King Solomon, were of burnished bronze. (Ex 27:3; Ex 38:3)46In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. (Js 3:16; Js 13:27)47And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not ascertained. (1 Cr 22:3; 1 Cr 22:14)48So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence, (Ex 25:30; Ex 37:10; Ex 37:25; Lv 24:5; 2 Cr 4:8)49the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; (Ex 25:31; 2 Cr 4:7)50the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold; and the sockets of gold, for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple. (Ex 27:3; 1 Rs 6:16)51Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord. (2 Sm 8:11)