Part 200 (2/2)
5:7. Now when Hiram had heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced exceedingly, and said: Blessed be the Lord G.o.d this day, who hath given to David a very wise son over this numerous people.
5:8. And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have heard all thou hast desired of me; and I will do all thy desire concerning cedar trees, and fir trees.
5:9. My servants shall bring them down from Liba.n.u.s to the sea: and I will put them together in floats, on the sea, and convey them to the place, which thou shalt signify to me, and will land them there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt allow me necessaries to furnish food for my household.
5:10. So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees, and fir trees, according to all his desire.
5:11. And Solomon allowed Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat, for provision for his house, and twenty measures of the purest oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram every year.
5:12. And the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they two made a league together.
5:13. And king Solomon chose workmen out of all Israel, and the levy was of thirty thousand men.
5:14. And he sent them to Liba.n.u.s, ten thousand every month, by turns, so that two months they were at home: and Adoniram was over this levy.
5:15. And Solomon had seventy thousand to carry burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountain:
5:16. Besides the overseers who were over every work, in number three thousand and three hundred, that ruled over the people, and them that did the work.
5:17. And the king commanded that they should bring great stones, costly stones, for the foundation of the temple, and should square them:
5:18. And the masons of Solomon, and the masons of Hiram, hewed them: and the Giblians prepared timber and stones to build the house.
3 Kings Chapter 6
The building of Solomon's temple.
6:1. And it came to pa.s.s in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month Zio, (the same is the second month) he began to build a house to the Lord.
6:2. And the house, which king Solomon built to the Lord, was threescore cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height.
6:3. And there was a porch before the temple, of twenty cubits in length, according to the measure of the breadth of the temple: and it was ten cubits in breadth, before the face of the temple.
6:4. And he made in the temple oblique windows.
6:5. And upon the wall of the temple, he built floors round about, in the walls of the house, round about the temple and the oracle, and he made chambers in the sides round about.
Upon the wall, i. e., joining to the wall.-Ibid. He built floors round about... Chambers or cells adjoining to the temple, for the use of the temple and of the priests, so contrived as to be between the inward and outward wall of the temple, in three stories, one above another.-Ibid.
The oracle... The inner temple or holy of holies, where G.o.d gave his oracles.
6:6. The floor that was underneath was five cubits in breadth, and the middle floor was six cubits in breadth, and the third floor was seven cubits in breadth. And he put beams in the house round about on the outside, that they might not be fastened in the walls of the temple.
6:7. And the house, when it was in building, was built of stones, hewed and made ready: so that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house when it was in building.
Made ready, etc... So the stones for the building of G.o.d's eternal temple in the heavenly Jerusalem, (who are the faithful,) must first be hewn and polished here by many trials and sufferings, before they can be admitted to have a place in that celestial structure.
6:8. The door, for the middle side, was on the right hand of the house: and by winding stairs they went up to the middle room, and from the middle to the third.
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