Kings III 6
1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which [is] the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
So Solomon began to build the temple of Yahweh. This happened in the 480th year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month.
2 And the house which the king built to the Lord [was] forty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and its height five and twenty cubits.
The temple that King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
3 And the porch in front of the temple—twenty cubits [was] its length according to the breadth of the house in front of the house: and he built the house, and finished it.
The portico in front of the temple's main hall was twenty cubits in length, equal to the width of the temple, and ten cubits deep in front of the temple.
4 And he made to the house secret windows inclining inward.
For the house he made windows with frames that made them more narrow at the outside than on the inside.
5 And against the wall of the house he set chambers round about the temple and the ark.
Against the walls of the main chamber he built rooms around it, around both the outer room and the inner room. He built rooms all around the sides.
6 The under side [was] five cubits broad, and the middle [part] six, and the third [was] seven cubits broad; for he formed an interval to the house round about without the house, that they might not touch the walls of the house.
The lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide. For on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around so that the beams would not be inserted in the walls of the house.
7 And the house was built in the construction of it with rough hewn stones: and there was not heard in the house in the building of it hammer or axe, or any iron tool.
The house was built of stones prepared at the quarry. No hammer, ax, or any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.
8 And the porch of the under side [was] below the right wing of the house, and [there was] a winding ascent into the middle [chamber], and from the middle to the third story.
On the south side of the temple there was an entrance at the ground level, then one went up by stairs to the middle level, and from the middle to the third level.
9 So he built the house and finished it; and he made the ceiling of the house with cedars.
So Solomon built the temple and finished it; he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.
10 And he made the partitions through all the house, each five cubits high, and enclosed each partition with cedar boards.
He built the side rooms against the inner chambers of the temple, each side five cubits high; they were joined to the house with timbers of cedar.
The word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying,
“Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in my statutes and do justice, keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will confirm my promise with you that I had made to David your father.
I will live among the people of Israel and will not forsake them.”
So Solomon built the house and finished it.
15 And he framed the walls of the house within with cedar boards, from the floor of the house and on to the inner walls and to the beams: he lined the parts enclosed with boards within, and compassed the inward parts of the house with planks of fir.
Then he built the interior walls of the house with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with cypress boards.
16 And he built the twenty cubits from the top of the wall, one side from the floor to the beams, and he made it from the oracle to the most holy place.
He built twenty cubits onto the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built this room to be the inner room, the most holy place.
17 And the temple was forty cubits [in extent],
The main hall, that is, the holy place that was in front of the most holy place, was forty cubits long.
There was cedar inside the house, carved in the shape of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar inside. No stonework was visible on the inside.
19 in front of the oracle in the midst of the house within, [in order] to put there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
Solomon prepared the inner room inside the house in order to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there.
20 The length [was] twenty cubits, and the breadth [was] twenty cubits, and the height of it was twenty cubits. And he covered it with perfect gold, and he made an altar in front of the oracle, and covered it with gold.
The inner room was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height. Solomon overlaid the walls with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar wood.
21 And he covered the whole house with gold, till he had finished [gilding] the whole house.
Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he placed chains of gold across the front of the inner room, and overlaid the front with gold.
He overlaid the entire interior with gold until all the temple was finished. He also overlaid with gold the whole altar that belonged to the inner room.
23 And he made in the oracle two cherubs of ten cubits measured size.
Solomon made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high, for the inner room.
24 And the wing of one cherub was five cubits, and his other wing was five cubits; ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other wing.
One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and its other wing was also five cubits long. So from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other there was a distance of ten cubits.
25 Thus it was with the other cherub, both were alike finished with one measure.
The other cherub also had a wingspan ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of the same dimensions and shape.
26 And the height of the one cherub [was] ten cubits, and so [was it] with the second cherub.
The height of one cherub was ten cubits and the other cherub was the same.
27 And both the cherubs [were] in the midst of the innermost part of the house; and they spread out their wings, and one wing touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings in the midst of the house touched each other.
Solomon placed the cherubim in the innermost room. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out so that the wing of one touched one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. Their wings touched one another in the middle of the most holy place.
28 And he covered the cherubs with gold.
Solomon overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 He graved all the walls of the house round about with the graving of cherubs, and [he sculptured] palm trees within and without [the house].
He carved all the walls of the house around about with figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, in the outer and inner rooms.
30 And he covered the floor of the house within and without with gold.
Solomon overlaid the floor of the house with gold, in both the outer and inner rooms.
31 And for the door-way of the oracle he made doors of juniper wood, [there were] porches in a four-fold way.
Solomon made doors of olivewood for the entrance to the inner room. The lintel and doorposts had five indented sections.
So he made two doors of olivewood, and he made on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and he spread the gold on the cherubim and palm trees.
In this way, Solomon also made for the temple entrance doorposts of olive wood having four indented sections
34 In both the doors [were] planks of fir; the one door had two leaves and their hinges, and the other door had two leaves and turned [on hinges],
and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding and the two leaves of the other door were folding.
35 being carved with cherubs, and [there were] palm-trees and open flower-leaves, and it [was] overlaid with gold gilt upon the engraving.
He carved on them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he evenly overlaid gold on the carved work.
36 And he built the inner court, three rows of hewn stones, and a row of wrought cedar round about, and he made the curtain of the court of the porch of the house that was in front of the temple.
He built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.
The foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv.
In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and conforming to all its specifications. Solomon took seven years to build the temple.
