1 Kings 7:15-32

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.