The Molten Sea and Bronze Bases

23

He made the cast metal "Sea" circular, seventeen-and-a-half feet from rim to rim, eight-and-three quarter feet high and fifty-two-and-a-half feet in circumference.

24

Under its rim, three hundred gourds encircled it in two rows; they were cast when the Sea was cast.

25

It rested on twelve oxen, three looking north, three looking west, three looking south and three looking east, all with their hindquarters toward the center. The Sea was set on top of them.

26

It was a handbreadth thick, its rim was made like the rim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; and its capacity was 11,000 gallons.

27

He made ten bronze trolleys, each one seven feet long, seven feet wide, and five-and-a-quarter feet high.

28

They were designed with panels that were set between the corner-posts,

29

and on the panels between the corner-posts were lions, oxen and k'ruvim. The corner-posts above were similarly designed. Below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hammered work.

30

Every trolley had four bronze wheels and bronze axles, and its four legs each had cast supports which were under the basin, with wreaths next to each.

31

The opening of the stand into which the basin was inserted was eighteen inches high; the stand was round, resembling a pedestal, and it was two-and-a-half feet in diameter. On the stand were carvings, and the outside was square, not round.

32

The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles for the wheels were attached to the trolleys; each wheel was two-and-a-half feet.

33

The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all cast metal.

34

There were four supports at the four corners of each trolley; the supports were attached to the trolley itself.

35

In the top of the trolley was a circular support ten-and-a-half inches high, and the trolley's corner-posts and panels were attached to its top.

36

On the sides of the panels and on its corners he carved k'ruvim, lions and palm trees, according to the amount of space each required, with wreaths surrounding.

37

According to this design he made the ten trolleys; all of them were cast from a single mold, so that they had the same size and shape.

38

He made ten bronze basins; each basin's capacity was 220 gallons and had a diameter of seven feet; there was a basin for each of the ten trolleys.

39

He arranged five of the trolleys on the right side of the house and five on the left side. The Sea he placed on the right side of the house, toward the southeast.

40

Hiram made the ash pots, shovels and sprinkling basins. With that, Hiram completed all the work he had done for King Shlomo in the house of ADONAI -

41

the two columns, the two moldings of the capitals on top of the columns, the two nettings covering the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns,

42

the 400 pomegranates for the two nettings, two rows of pomegranates for each netting, to cover the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns,

43

the ten trolleys, the ten basins on the trolleys,

44

the one Sea, the twelve oxen under the Sea,

45

the ash pots, the shovels and the sprinkling basins. All these articles that Hiram made for King Shlomo in the house of ADONAI were of burnished bronze.

46

The king cast them in the plain of the Yarden, in the clay ground between Sukkot and Tzartan.

47

Shlomo did not weigh any of these objects, because there were so many of them; thus the total weight of the bronze could not be determined.

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