Solomon also made a bronze altar 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high.
Then he cast a large round tank, 15 feet across from rim to rim; it was called the Sea. It was 7 1/2 feet deep and about 45 feet in circumference.
The Sea was encircled just below its rim by two rows of figures that resembled oxen. There were about six oxen per foot all the way around, and they had been cast as part of the tank.
The Sea rested on a base of twelve bronze oxen, all facing outward. Three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east.
The walls of the Sea were about three inches thick, and its rim flared out like a cup and resembled a lily blossom. It could hold about 16,500 gallons of water.
He also made ten basins for water to wash the offerings, five to the south of the Sea and five to the north. The priests used the Sea itself, and not the basins, for their own washing.
Solomon then cast ten gold lampstands according to the specifications that had been given and put them in the Temple. Five were placed against the south wall, and five were placed against the north wall.
He also built ten tables and placed them in the Temple, five along the south wall and five along the north wall. Then he molded one hundred gold basins.
Solomon also built a courtyard for the priests and the large outer courtyard. He made doors for the courtyard entrances and overlaid them with bronze.
The Sea was placed near the southeast corner of the Temple.
Huram-abi also made the necessary pots, shovels, and basins. So at last Huram-abi completed everything King Solomon had assigned him to make for the Temple of God:
two pillars, two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, two networks of chains that decorated the capitals,
four hundred pomegranates that hung from the chains on the capitals (two rows of pomegranates for each of the chain networks that were hung around the capitals on top of the pillars),
the water carts holding the basins,
the Sea and the twelve oxen under it,
the pots, the shovels, the meat hooks, and all the related utensils. Huram-abi made all these things out of burnished bronze for the Temple of the LORD, just as King Solomon had requested.
The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan.
Such great quantities of bronze were used that its weight could not be determined.
So Solomon made all the furnishings for the Temple of God: the gold altar; the tables for the Bread of the Presence;
the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold to burn in front of the Most Holy Place as prescribed;
the flower decorations, lamps, and tongs, all of pure gold;
the lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and firepans, all of pure gold; the doors for the entrances to the Most Holy Place and the main room of the Temple, overlaid with gold.