1 Kings 6

1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Jehovah.

480 years after the Israeli people left Egypt, during the fourth year that Solomon ruled Israel, early in May, Solomon’s workers began to build the temple.

2 And the house which king Solomon built for Jehovah, the length of it was sixty cubits, and the breadth of it twenty, and the height of it thirty cubits,

Inside, [the main part of] the temple was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

3 and the porch in front of the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, and ten cubits was the breadth of it in front of the house.

The entrance room was 15 feet long and 30 feet wide, just as wide as the main part of the temple.

4 And he made windows of fixed lattice-work for the house.

There were windows in [the walls of] the temple. The windows were narrower on the outside than on the inside.

5 And against the wall of the house he built stories round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle. And he made side-chambers round about.

Against the two sides and against the back of the temple walls, they built a structure/building that had rooms in it. [This structure had three levels/stories and each was 7-1/2 feet high].

6 The lowest story was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad, for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

[Each room in] the lowest level/story was 7-1/2 feet wide. [Each room in] the middle level/story was nine feet wide. [The rooms in] the top level/story were 10-1/2 feet wide. The wall of the temple at the top level/story was thinner than the wall at the middle level/story, and the wall of the middle level/story was thinner than the wall at the bottom level/story. The result was that the rooms could be supported by the wall underneath them, and did not require wooden beams to support them.

7 And the house, when it was being built, was built of stone made ready at the quarry. And there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was being built.

The huge stones for [the foundation of] the temple were cut and shaped at the quarry [to become very smooth]. The result was that while the workers were building the temple there was no noise, because they did not use hammers or chisels or any other iron tools there.

8 The door for the middle side-chambers was in the right side of the house. And they went up by winding stairs into the middle story, and out of the middle into the third.

The entrance to the bottom level/story [of that attached structure] was on the south side of the temple. There were stairs from the bottom level/story to the middle and top level/story.

9 So he built the house, and finished it. And he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.

So Solomon’s [workers] finished building the [framework of the] temple. They made the ceiling from cedar beams and boards.

10 And he built the stories against all the house, each five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

They built the structure that had three levels/stories, that was against the walls of the temple. Each level/story was 7-1/2 feet high, and was joined to the temple with cedar beams.

11 And the word of Jehovah came to Solomon, saying,

Then Yahweh said this to Solomon:

12 Concerning this house that thou are building, if thou will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my word with thee, which I spoke to David thy father.

“[I want to tell you] about this temple that you are building. If you continually obey all my statutes and laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised to your father David.

13 And I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

I will live among the Israeli people, [in this temple, ] and I will never abandon them.”

14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

Solomon’s [workers] finished building the temple.

15 And he built the walls of the house inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood. And he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir.

On the inside, they lined/covered the walls with cedar boards. They lined/covered them from the floor to the ceiling. They made the floor from cypress boards.

16 And he built twenty cubits on the hinder part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls of the ceiling. He built them for it inside, for an oracle, even for the most holy place.

Inside the back part of the temple they built an inner room, called the Very Holy Place. It was 30 feet long. All the walls of this room were lined with cedar boards.

17 And the house, that is, the temple in front of the oracle, was forty cubits long.

In front of the Very Holy Place there was a room that was 60 feet long.

18 And there was cedar on the house inside, carved with knops and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone seen.

The cedar [boards on the walls] inside the temple were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers. [The walls were] completely covered with cedar boards, with the result that the stones [of the walls behind them] could not be seen.

19 And he prepared an oracle in the midst of the house inside, to set there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah.

At the back of the temple they made the Very Holy Place, where the Sacred Chest would be put.

20 And inside the oracle was a space of twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height of it. And he overlaid it with pure gold. And he covered the altar with cedar.

That room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. They covered the walls with [very thin sheets of] pure gold. [For burning incense] they also made an altar of cedar [boards].

21 So Solomon overlaid the house inside with pure gold. And he drew chains of gold across before the oracle, and he overlaid it with gold.

Solomon told them to cover the other walls inside the temple with [very thin sheets of] pure gold and to fasten gold chains across the entrance to the Very Holy Place.

22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the oracle he overlaid with gold.

They covered all the walls of the temple and the altar that was outside the Very Holy Place with [very thin sheets of] gold.

23 And in the oracle he made two cherubim of olive-wood, each ten cubits high.

Inside the Very Holy Place, they made from olive tree wood [large statues of] two creatures with wings. Each one was 15 feet tall.

24 And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub. From the outermost part of the one wing to the outermost part of the other were ten cubits.

They each were the same size and had the same shape. They each had two wings [which were spread out]. Each wing was 7-1/2 feet long, with the result that the distance between the outer ends of the two wings was 15 feet.

25 And the other cherub was ten cubits; both of the cherubim were of one measure and one form.

26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so it was of the other cherub.

27 And he set the cherubim inside the inner house. And the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each another in the middle of the house.

They put those statues next to each other in the Very Holy Place so that the wing of the one touched the one wing of the other in the center of the room, and the outer wings touched the walls.

28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

They covered the statues with [very thin sheets of] gold.

29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, inside and outside.

[Solomon told them to] decorate the walls of the main room and the Very Holy Place by carving representations of winged creatures and palm trees and flowers.

30 And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, inside and outside.

They also covered the floor of both rooms with [very thin sheets of] gold.

31 And for the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive-wood. The lintel and door-posts were a fifth part of the wall.

They made a set of doors from olive tree wood, and placed them at the entrance to the Very Holy Place. The doorposts joined at the top to form a pointed arch.

32 So he made two doors of olive-wood. And he carved upon them carvings of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. And he spread the gold upon the cherubim, and upon the palm trees.

The doors were decorated by carving on them representations of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers. All of these things were covered with [very thin sheets of] gold.

33 So he also made for the entrance of the temple door-posts of olive-wood out of a fourth part of the wall,

They made a rectangular door frame from olive tree wood, and put it [between the entrance room and] the main room.

34 and two doors of fir-wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

They made two folding doors from cypress wood [and fastened them to the door frame].

35 And he carved thereon cherubim and palm trees and open flowers. And he overlaid them with gold fitted upon the graven work.

The doors were also decorated with wood carvings of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers, and they were also covered evenly with [very thin sheets of] gold.

36 And he built the inner court with three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams.

They built a courtyard in front of the temple. The walls around the courtyard were made of cedar and stone; to make the walls, between each layer of cedar beams they put down two layers of stone.

37 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid, in the month Ziv.

They laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh in early May, in the fourth year [that Solomon ruled].

38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all the parts of it, and according to all the fashion of it. So he was seven years in building it.

In the eleventh year [that he ruled], in the middle of October, they finished building the temple and all of its parts, doing exactly what Solomon told them to do. It required seven years to build it.