PRESIDENT'S ESSAY
Translation, 1 Kings 7:23-51
POSTED
September 22, 2004

And he made the cast-metal sea
Ten in cubit from from
its lip until its lip
Round all around
And five in cubit its height
And a cord thirty in cubit
Surrounded it all around.
Now gourds from below to its lip all around surrounding it
Ten in cubit caused-to-go-round the sea all around
Two rows the cast-metal gourds in its casting.
Standing on two and ten herd-animals
Three faces north
And three faces west
And three faces south
And three faces east.
Now the sea on them from-toward the rising
Now all their after-quarters housed (inwards).
Its thickness a handbreadth
And its lip according to the making of a lip of a cup
Bud of a lily
Two thousand bat it held.

And he made ten bronze wheeled-stands
Four in a cubit the length of the one wheeled-stand
And four in a cubit its width
And three in a cubit its height.
Not this (is) the making of the stand:
Rims (were) to them
And the rims (were) between the crossbars
Now on the rims which (were) between the crossbars
Lions
Herd-animals
And cherubim
And on the crossbeams a stand from above
And from beneath
To the lions
And to the herd-animals
Joined-making of a slope (??)
Now four wheels of bronze (were) to one wheeled-stand
And axles of bronze
And four of its feet, shoulders (were) to them
From beneath for the basin (were) cast-metal shoulders
From the other side each joined
Now its mouth from the house toward the crown-capital
And from the rising in a cubit
And its opening (was) round, making-stand a cubit and half a cubit
Also on the opening carvings
And their crossbeams (were) square not round.
Not four wheels from underneath to the crossbeams
And the hands of the wheels on the wheeled-stands
Now the height of one wheel a cubit and half the cubit.
Now the making of the wheels as the making of the wheel of a chariot
Their hands
and their arches
and their binders
and their hubs
the all cast-metal.
Now four shoulders to the four corners of the one wheeled-stand
From the wheeled stand its shoulder.
Now on the head of the wheeled-stand
Half of the cubit high
Round all around
And on the head of the wheeled-stand
Its hands
And its crossbeams away from it (?).
And he opened on the tablets of its hands
And on its crossbeams
Cherubim
Lions
And palm trees
According to the nakedness of each (= man)
And joined all around.
According to this he made ten wheeled-stands:
One cast-metal
One measure
One form
For all.

And he made ten bronze basins
Forty bat held the one basin
Four in a cubit the one basin
One basin on one wheeled-stand
To ten of the wheeled-stands.
And he gave the wheeled-stands
Five on the wing of the house from the right
And five on the wing of the house from the left
Now the sea he gave from the wing of the house,
the right side, eastward
toward the Negeb/south.

And made Hiram the basins
And the fire-shovels
And the sprinkling-basins
And finished Hiram to make all the world
Which he did for the king Shlomoh
House of Yahweh
(That is,)
Standing-pillars, two
And pans of the crown-capitals which (were) on the heads of the standing-pillars, two
And the nettings, two, to cover
The two pans of the crown-capitals
Which (were) on the head of the standing-pillars
And the pomegranates four hundred
For the two nettings
Two rows of pomegranates for the one netting
To cover the two pans of the crown-capitals
Which (were) on the face of the standing-pillars.

And the wheeled-stands,
ten
And the basins,
ten,
on the wheeled-stands.

And the sea,
one
And the herd-animals,
two and ten,
Beneath the sea.

And the pots
And the fire shovels
And the sprinkling-basins
And all these instruments which made Hiram
For the king Shlomoh
House of Yahweh
Bronze burnished.

In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them
In the thick-clay of the ground
Between Sukkot and between Tzartan.

And Shlomoh caused to rest all the instruments.
From very very (great) abundance he did not search out from weight of the bronze.
And made Shlomoh all the instruments which (were for) the house of Yahweh, i.e.,
The altar, gold
And the table which on it (was) the bread of the faces, gold
And the Menorot
Five from the right
And five from the left
Before the Debir
Gold hammered
And the blossoms
And the lamps
And the snuffers
Gold
And the cups
And the trimmers
And the sprinkling-basins
And the palm-cups
And the censers
Gold hammered
And the foreheads for the doors of the house
The inner, toward the holy of the holies
And for the doors of the house for the palace.
Gold.

And completed all the work which the king Shlomoh did
House of Yahweh
And Shlomoh caused to enter the holy things of David his father
The silver
And the gold
And the instruments.
And he gave into the treasuries of the house of Yahweh.

To download Theopolis Lectures, please enter your email.

CLOSE