1 Kings 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 Jehovah.

Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of King Solomon's reign, in the month of Ziv, Solomon began building the Temple of the Lord.

2 And the house that king Solomon built for Jehovah was sixty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, and thirty cubits in height.

The Temple King Solomon built for the Lord measured sixty cubits long by twenty cubits wide by thirty cubits high.

3 And the porch, in front of the temple of the house, was twenty cubits in length, in front of the house broadways, [and] ten cubits was its breadth, in front of the house.

The entrance room at the front of the Temple was twenty cubits wide. It ran the whole width of the Temple and projected out ten cubits in front of the Temple.

4 And for the house he made closed windows with fixed lattices.

He had latticed windows made to be placed high up in the Temple.

5 And against the wall of the house he built floors round about, [against] the walls of the house, round about the temple and the oracle; and he made side-chambers round about.

He also had a structure built against the outer wall of the Temple, both the outer and the inner sanctuary, to provide a series of side rooms.

6 The lowest floor was five cubits broad, and the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for in the [thickness of the wall of] the house he made resets round about outside, that nothing should be fastened in the walls of the house.

The ground floor measured five cubits wide, the first floor six cubits, and the second floor seven cubits. In addition he had offset ledges placed all the way around the outside, so that beams would not have to be inserted into the Temple walls.

7 And the house, when it was being built, was built of stone entirely made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was being built.

When the Temple was built the stones were finished at the quarry so that no noise from any hammer, ax, or any iron tool was heard in the Temple during construction.

8 The entrance to the side-chambers of the middle [floor] was in the right side of the house; and they went up by winding stairs into the middle [floor], and out of the middle into the third.

The entrance to the ground floor was on the south side of the Temple. Stairs led to the first floor, and then on to the second floor.

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

So Solomon finished building the Temple, covering it with a roof made of cedar rafters and planks.

10 And he built the floors against all the house, five cubits high; and they held to the house by the timbers of cedar.

He built the external structure along the whole of the Temple. It was five cubits high, joined to the Temple with cedar joists.

11 And the word of Jehovah came to Solomon saying,

The Lord sent this message to Solomon, telling him,

12 As to this house which thou art building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and practise mine ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then will I perform my word as to thee which I spoke unto David thy father;

“About this Temple you are building: if you follow what I have said, fulfilling my requirements and keeping my commandments in what you do, I will keep the promise I made to your father David through you.

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

I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon Israel, my people.”

14 And Solomon built the house and finished it.

Solomon finished building the Temple.

15 And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the walls of the roof; he overlaid [them] on the inside with wood, and overlaid the floor of the house with boards of cypress.

He lined the walls with cedar panels from floor to ceiling and he covered the floor of the Temple with cypress boards.

16 And he built twenty cubits of the innermost part of the house, both floor and walls, with boards of cedar; and he built [them] for it within, to [be] the oracle, the most holy place.

He sectioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the Temple with boards of cedar from floor to ceiling, making an inner sanctuary as the Most Holy Place.

17 And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits [long].

The main Temple in front of this room measured forty cubits long.

18 And the cedar of the house within was carved with colocynths and half-open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.

The cedar panels inside the Temple were decorated with carvings of gourds and open flowers. Everything was lined with cedar—none of the stone was visible.

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

He also had the inner sanctuary made within the Temple where the Ark of the Lord's Agreement would be placed.

20 And the oracle within was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he overlaid the cedar-wood altar —

The inner sanctuary measured twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He had the interior covered with a coating with pure gold, as well as the altar of cedar.

21 and Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold, and shut off the oracle in front with chains of gold, and overlaid it with gold.

Solomon had the whole of the inside of the Temple covered with pure gold, He had gold chains stretched across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was also covered with gold.

22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, the whole house entirely; also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

He covered the whole inside of the Temple with a coating of gold until it was all finished. He also covered with gold the entire altar for the inner sanctuary.

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

He had two cherubim made out of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, each one ten cubits tall.

24 and one wing of the cherub was five cubits, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub, ten cubits from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing;

Both wings of the cherub measured five cubits, making a total wingspan of ten cubits.

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

The other cherub was also ten cubits tall, since they were identical both in size and shape.

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

Both cherubs were ten cubits tall.

27 And he set the cherubim in the midst of the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched, wing to wing, in the midst of the house.

He had the cherubim placed inside the inner sanctuary of the Temple. Since their wings were fully spread, a wing of the first cherub touched one wall, a wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the Temple their wings touched.

28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

The cherubim were also covered with a gold coating.

29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved sculptures of cherubim, and palm-trees, and half-open flowers, within and without.

He had all the Temple walls, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, carved with designs of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

30 And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.

He also had the floor of the Temple floor covered with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

31 And for the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive-wood: the lintel [and] side posts were the fifth part [of the breadth of the house].

He had doors of olive wood made for the entrance to the inner sanctuary, together with a lintel and doorposts that had five sides.

32 The two doors were of olive-wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, and palm-trees and half-open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm-trees.

These olive wood double doors had carved into them designs of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. The cherubim and palm trees carvings were covered with beaten gold.

33 And he also made for the doorway of the temple posts of olive-wood, of the fourth part [of the breadth of the house].

Similarly he had four-sided doorposts of olive wood made for the entrance to the sanctuary.

34 And the two folding-doors were of cypress-wood: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

Its doors were made of cypress wood, each with two hinged panels.

35 And he carved on them cherubim, and palm-trees, and half-open flowers; and overlaid them with gold fitted on the carved work.

He had them carved with designs of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and covered them with gold beaten evenly over the carvings.

36 And he built the inner court of three rows of hewn stone, and a row of cedar-beams.

Solomon had the inner courtyard built with three courses of dressed stone and one of cedar beams.

37 In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of Jehovah laid, in the month Zif;

The foundation of the Lord's Temple 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, was the house finished in all its parts, and according to all the fashion of it. So he was seven years in building it.

The Temple was finished exactly as specified and planned in Solomon's eleventh year, in the eighth month, the month of Bul. So it took him seven years to build the Temple.