1 Kings 7:13-45

13King Solomon sent men to Tyre to fetch a man called Hiram.

14Hiram was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father was a worker who knew how to use bronze to make things. He lived in Tyre. Hiram also had special skills. He knew how to use bronze to make many kinds of things. So he came to work for King Solomon. He did all the work that Solomon asked him to do.

15Hiram made two bronze pillars. Each pillar was 8.2 metres high and 5.5 metres around the outside. The metal itself was about 7 centimetres thick.

16He also used bronze to make a top for each pillar. Each piece was 2.3 metres high.

17Each piece had pictures like rows of chains that joined together. There were seven pictures like this on the top of each pillar.

18Hiram also made pictures of two rows of pomegranates around the chains. They covered the tops of the pillars.

19The tops of the two pillars were in the shape of flowers called lilies. Each one was 1.8 metres high.

20There were pictures of 200 pomegranates in two rows all around the top of each pillar. They were next to the chains above the round shape at the top of the pillar.

21Hiram put these two pillars at the entrance room of the temple, in front of the big hall, the hall of pillars in the temple. He called the pillar on the south side ‘Jakin’. He called the pillar on the north side ‘Boaz’.

22The tops of the pillars were in the shape of flowers called lilies. Hiram finished the work on the two bronze pillars.

23Hiram also used bronze to make a big bath which they called ‘the Sea’. It was in the shape of a circle 4.5 metres across. It was 2.3 metres deep. It was 14 metres around the outside.

24All around its edge, below the top, there were two rows of round shapes. They were pictures of fruits called gourds. They were all part of the same piece of bronze as ‘the Sea’. There were 20 gourds for every metre around the edge.

25Hiram fixed ‘the Sea’ on top of 12 bronze bulls. Three pointed north, three pointed west, three pointed south and three pointed east. Their backs were towards the middle of ‘the Sea’.

26The walls of ‘the Sea’ were 7½ centimetres thick. Its top edge was like a cup in the shape of a lily flower. ‘The Sea’ contained about 40,000 litres of water.

27Hiram also made ten bronze carts to carry water. Each one was 1.8 metres long, 1.8 metres wide and 1.3 metres deep.

28This is how he made the water carts: He made them with bronze sides, which he fixed to bronze bars at the edges.

29There were pictures of lions, bulls and cherubs on the bars and on the edges. There were shapes like leaves above and below the lions and the bulls.

30Each cart had four bronze wheels fixed to bronze axles. The axles were fixed under each cart at four places. These places had shapes like leaves on each side.

31On the top of the cart there was a round piece which held a bowl. This piece was 50 centimetres deep and 75 centimetres across. Hiram cut pictures into the metal all around it. The bronze sides of the carts were square. They were not round.

32There were four wheels under each cart. They were fixed to axles. The axles and the cart joined together in one piece. Each wheel was 70 centimetres high.

33The wheels were like the wheels of a chariot. Hiram used bronze to make the axles and all the parts of the wheels.

34Each cart had four handles. There was one handle on each side, joined to the cart as one piece.

35There was a piece of metal round the top of each cart. It was 23 centimetres deep. It was fixed at each corner of the cart with pieces of bronze. These pieces and the sides of each cart were all joined together.

36Hiram cut pictures of cherubs, lions and palm trees on the sides of each cart and on the handles. He cut pictures where there was a space for them. There were also shapes of leaves all around.

37Hiram used bronze to make the ten carts so that they all had the same size and shape.

38And Hiram also made ten bronze buckets. Each bucket contained about 800 litres. Each bucket was 1.8 metres across. There was one bucket for each of the ten carts.

39Hiram put five of the carts on the south side of the temple. He put the other five carts on the north side of the temple. He put ‘the Sea’ on the south side of the temple, at the south-east corner.

40Hiram also made dishes to carry ashes, small tools and bowls. So Hiram finished all the work in the Lord's temple that King Solomon had asked him to do. He made these things:

41Two pillars. Two pieces for the top of each pillar, with the shape of big bowls. Rows of chains on the tops of the pillars.

42400 images of pomegranates for the two groups of chains. (There were two rows of these images around the piece at the top of each pillar, which had the shape of a bowl.)

43Ten carts with the ten buckets that were on them.

44The big bath called ‘the Sea’ and the 12 bulls under it.

45The dishes, small tools and bowls. King Solomon asked Hiram to make all these things for the Lord's temple. Hiram used bright bronze to make all these things.