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The entire inside, from floor to ceiling, was paneled with wood. He paneled the walls and ceilings with cedar, and he used planks of cypress for the floors.

For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, he made double doors of wild olive wood with five-sided doorposts.

Then he made four-sided doorposts of wild olive wood for the entrance to the Temple.

Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him thirteen years to complete the construction.

Solomon's living quarters surrounded a courtyard behind this hall, and they were constructed the same way. He also built similar living quarters for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married.

King Solomon then asked for a man named Huram to come from Tyre.

He was half Israelite, since his mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a craftsman in bronze from Tyre. Huram was extremely skillful and talented in any work in bronze, and he came to do all the metal work for King Solomon.

For the tops of the pillars he cast bronze capitals, each 7 1⁄2 feet tall.

Each of these carts had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. There were supporting posts for the bronze basins at the corners of the carts; these supports were decorated on each side with carvings of wreaths.

The top of each cart had a rounded frame for the basin. It projected 1 1⁄2 feet above the cart's top like a round pedestal, and its opening was 2 1⁄4 feet across; it was decorated on the outside with carvings of wreaths. The panels of the carts were square, not round.

All ten water carts were the same size and were made alike, for each was cast from the same mold.

Huram also made ten smaller bronze basins, one for each cart. Each basin was six feet across and could hold 220 gallons of water.

He also made the necessary washbasins, shovels, and bowls. So at last Huram completed everything King Solomon had assigned him to make for the Temple of the Lord :

the 400 pomegranates that hung from the chains on the capitals (two rows of pomegranates for each of the chain networks that decorated the capitals on top of the pillars);

the ash buckets, the shovels, and the bowls. Huram made all these things of burnished bronze for the Temple of the Lord , just as King Solomon had directed.

Solomon also made all the furnishings of the Temple of the Lord : the gold altar; the gold table for the Bread of the Presence;

the small bowls, lamp snuffers, bowls, ladles, and incense burners—all of solid gold; the doors for the entrances to the Most Holy Place and the main room of the Temple, with their fronts overlaid with gold.

The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of the Lord .

Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place where you can live forever!"

"Praise the Lord , the God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father, David. For he told my father,