1 Kings 6

1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year that Solomon was king of Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, the building of the Lord's house was started.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD.

2 The house which Solomon made for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.

The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

3 The covered way before the Temple of the house was twenty cubits long, as wide as the house, and ten cubits wide in front of the house.

The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.

4 And for the house he made windows, with network across.

He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.

5 And against the walls all round, and against the walls of the Temple and of the inmost room, he put up wings, with side rooms all round:

Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.

6 The lowest line of them being five cubits wide, the middle six cubits wide and the third seven cubits; for there was a space all round the outside walls of the house so that the boards supporting the rooms did not have to be fixed in the walls of the house.

The bottom floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits, and the third floor seven cubits. He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple, so that nothing would be inserted into its walls.

7 (And the stones used in the building of the house were squared at the place where they were cut out; there was no sound of hammer or axe or any iron instrument while they were building the house.)

The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

8 The door to the lowest side rooms was in the right side of the house; and they went up by twisting steps into the middle rooms, and from the middle into the third.

The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.

9 So he put up the house and made it complete, roofing it with boards of cedar-wood.

So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.

10 And he put up the line of side rooms against the walls of the house, fifteen cubits high, resting against the house on boards of cedar-wood.

He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.

11 (And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,

Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying:

12 About this house which you are building: if you will keep my laws and give effect to my decisions and be guided by my rules, I will give effect to my word which I gave to David your father.

“As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.

13 And I will be ever among the children of Israel, and will not go away from my people.

And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”

14 So Solomon made the building of the house complete.)

So Solomon built the temple and finished it.

15 The walls of the house were covered inside with cedar-wood boards; from the floor to the roof of the house they were covered inside with wood; and the floor was covered with boards of cypress-wood.

He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards.

16 And at the back of the house a further space of twenty cubits was shut in with boards of cedar-wood, for the inmost room.

He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.

17 And the house, that is, the Temple, in front of the holy place was forty cubits long.

And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.

18 (All the inside of the house was cedar-wood, ornamented with designs of buds and flowers; no stonework was to be seen inside.)

The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

19 And he made ready an inmost room in the middle of the house, in which to put the ark of the agreement of the Lord.

Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.

20 And the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with gold.

The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.

21 Solomon had all the inside of the house covered with gold, and he put chains of gold across in front of the inmost room, which itself was covered with gold.

So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.

22 Plates of gold were put all through the house till it was covered completely (and the altar in the inmost room was all covered with gold).

So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

23 In the inmost room he made two winged beings of olive-wood, ten cubits high;

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.

24 With outstretched wings five cubits wide; the distance from the edge of one wing to the edge of the other was ten cubits.

One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits.

25 The two winged ones were ten cubits high, of the same size and form.

The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,

26 The two of them were ten cubits high.

and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.

27 These were placed inside the inner house, their outstretched wings touching the walls of the house, one touching one wall and one the other, while their other wings were touching in the middle.

And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched.

28 These winged ones were plated over with gold.

He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 And all the walls of the house inside and out were ornamented with forms of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers.

Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

30 And the floor of the house was covered with gold, inside and out.

And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

31 For the way into the inmost room he made doors of olive-wood, the arch and the door supports forming a five-sided opening.

For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.

32 On the olive-wood doors were cut designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, all of them, with the doors, plated with gold.

The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.

33 Then he made pillars of olive-wood for the way into the Temple; the pillars were square:

In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.

34 And two folding doors of cypress-wood, with two leaves.

The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.

35 These were ornamented with designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, plated over with gold.

He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold, hammered evenly over the carvings.

36 And the inner space was walled with three lines of squared stones and a line of cedar-wood boards.

Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.

37 In the fourth year the base of the house was put in its place, in the month Ziv.

The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv.

38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the building of the house was complete in every detail, as it had been designed. So he was seven years building it.

In his eleventh year and eighth month, the month of Bul, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.