Chapter four continues with the description of the Temple. Some of this is lifted from 1 Kings 7, notably the "sea," (including the fact that pi=3) but it's followed by other material. Whether the Chronicler created this pastiche himself, or was copying from some earlier patchwork, is unknowable. Note that he skipped over Ch. 6, in which Solomon builds his own palace which for your information was far larger and grander than the Temple of Yahweh. I also can't say why all these details matter, since by the time this was written the First Temple had been destroyed about 200 years earlier.
4 He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.[a] 2 He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits[b] high. It took a line of thirty cubits[c] to measure around it. 3 Below the rim, figures of bulls encircled it—ten to a cubit.[d] The bulls were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.
4 The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 5 It was a handbreadth[e] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held three thousand baths.[f]
6 He then made ten basins for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. In them the things to be used for the burnt offerings were rinsed, but the Sea was to be used by the priests for washing.
7 He made ten gold lampstands according to the specifications for them and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north.
8 He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made a hundred gold sprinkling bowls.
9 He made the courtyard of the priests, and the large court and the doors for the court, and overlaid the doors with bronze. 10 He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner.
11 And Huram also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of God:
12 the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
13 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);
14 the stands with their basins;
15 the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;
16 the pots, shovels, meat forks and all related articles.
All the objects that Huram-Abi made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of polished bronze. 17 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan.[g] 18 All these things that Solomon made amounted to so much that the weight of the bronze could not be calculated.
19 Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in God’s temple:
the golden altar;
the tables on which was the bread of the Presence;
20 the lampstands of pure gold with their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed;
21 the gold floral work and lamps and tongs (they were solid gold);
22 the pure gold wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and the doors of the main hall.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 4:1 That is, about 30 feet long and wide and 15 feet high or about 9 meters long and wide and 4.5 meters high
- 2 Chronicles 4:2 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
- 2 Chronicles 4:2 That is, about 45 feet or about 14 meters
- 2 Chronicles 4:3 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
- 2 Chronicles 4:5 That is, about 3 inches or about 7.5 centimeters
- 2 Chronicles 4:5 That is, about 18,000 gallons or about 66,000 liters
- 2 Chronicles 4:17 Hebrew Zeredatha, a variant of Zarethan
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