1 Kings 6

1 And it came to pass, in the four hundred and eightieth year after the going forth of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, of the reign of Solomon over Israel, that he built the house unto the Lord.

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 unto the Lord, was sixty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, and thirty cubits in height.

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

3 And the porch before the temple of the house, was twenty cubits in length, in front of the breadth of the house; and ten cubits in breadth at the east side 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 for the house windows wide without and narrow within.

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

5 And he built on the wall of the house a gallery round about, on the walls of the house round about, of the temple and of the most holy place: 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 nethermost gallery was five cubits in breadth, and the middle was six cubits in breadth, and the third was seven cubits in breadth; for projections had he made to the house round about on the outside, so as to fasten nothing 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 in building, was built of entire stones as they had been prepared at the quarry: so that neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron was heard in the house, while it was in building.

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 [gallery] sidechamber was in the right side of the house: and with winding stairs they went up into the middle chamber, 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 covered the house with hollow tiles, and with boards 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 gallery against all the house, [each] five cubits in height; and it was fastened on to 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 the Lord came to Solomon, saying,

Then Yahweh said this to Solomon:

12 This house which thou art building—if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them: then will I perform my word with thee, which I have spoken unto 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 in the midst of the children of Israel, and I will not forsake my people Israel.

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

14 So did Solomon build the house, and finish it.

Solomon’s [workers] 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 where the walls touched the ceiling did he overlay it on the inside with wood; and he overlaid 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 the twenty cubits on the lower side of the house with boards of cedar, from the floor to the battlements; and he built it within, for the debir, for the holy of holies.

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 before it, was forty cubits long.

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

18 And the cedar on the house within was carved with colocynths and opening flowers; all was cedar, no stone was 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 the debir in the house within did he prepare, to set therein the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

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

20 And the interior of the debir was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits was its height: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he overlaid the altar with cedar-wood.

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 And Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he barred by means of chains of gold the front of the debir; 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 was before the debir did he overlay 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 within the debir he made two cherubims of oleaster-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: [there were] ten cubits from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other.

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 also ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one form.

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

27 And he set the cherubim within the innermost part of the house: and they spread forth the wings of the cherubim, 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 toward the middle of the house touched one another.

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 on all the wall of the house round about he carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and opening flowers, in the debir and in the temple.

[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 for the debir and for the temple.

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

31 And for the entrance of the debir he made doors of oleaster-wood: the lintel with the side-posts forming five sides.

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 And also upon the two doors of oleaster-wood he carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and opening flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread the gold, by beating, 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 also made he for the entrance of the temple door-posts of oleaster-wood in shape of a square;

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 one door having two leaves which were folding, and the other door having two leaves which 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 opening flowers: and he overlaid them with gold fitting upon the carved 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 of three rows of hewn stone, and one row 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 was the foundation of the house of the Lord 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, was the house finished throughout all its parts, and according to all its requirements. So was he building it seven years.

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.