1 Kings 6

1 And so it came to pass, in the four hundred and eightieth year, by the coming forth of the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year (in the month of Zif, the same, being the second month) of the reign of Solomon over Israel, that he began to build the house unto Yahweh.

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 Now, the house which King Solomon built unto Yahweh, was sixty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, —and thirty cubits in height.

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

3 And, the porch in front of the temple of the house, was twenty cubits in length, according to the breadth of the house, —ten cubits in breadth, 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 he made to the house windows, with closed bars.

He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.

5 And he built—by the wall of the house—a gallery, round about, against the walls of the house, round about, both to the temple, and to the shrine, —and he made side chambers round about.

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 gallery, was five cubits broad, and, the middle, six cubits broad, and, the third, seven cubits broad, —for he put, ledges, against the house round about, on the outer side, so as not to make fastenings 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 Now, the house, when it was in building, with whole quarry-stones, was built, —neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tools of iron, was heard in the house, when it was in building.

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 entrance of the lowest story, was on the right side of the house, —and, by winding stairs, went they up unto the middle [story], and, out of 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 built the house, and finished it, —and ceiled the house with planks and beams of cedar;

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

10 and built the gallery against all the house, five cubits in height, —and so fastened the house, with timber of cedar.

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

11 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Solomon, saying:

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

12 Concerning this house, which thou art building, If thou wilt walk in my statutes, and, my regulations, wilt practise, and so observe all my commandments, by walking in them, Then will I establish my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy 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 will make my habitation in the midst of the sons of Israel, —and will not forsake my people Israel.

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

14 Thus Solomon built the house, and finished it;

So Solomon built the temple and finished it.

15 and he built the walls of the house on the inside, with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house, unto the cross-beams of the ceiling, he overlaid it with wood, on the inside, —and he overlaid the floor of the house with boards of fir.

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 he built twenty cubits, at the hinder part of the house, with boards of cedar, from the floor as far as the cross-beams, —and he built it within, for a shrine, even for the holy of holies;

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 but, forty cubits, was the house itself, —the same, was the temple, before the oracle.

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

18 And, the cedar for the house within, was carved with colocynths, and with festoons of flowers, —the whole, was cedar, there was no stone to be seen.

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

19 And, the shrine in the midst of the house within, made he ready, —for placing there, the ark of the covenant of Yahweh.

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

20 And, the interior of the shrine, was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height, and he overlaid it, with pure gold, —and overlaid the altar with cedar.

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 Thus then did Solomon overlay the house within, with pure gold, —and he drew chains of gold across the front of the shrine, and overlaid it 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 yea, all the house, overlaid he with gold, until he had made all the house into one whole, —even all the altar that was by the shrine, overlaid he 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 And he made, within the shrine, two cherubim of wild olive wood, —ten cubits in height;

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

24 and, five cubits, was the one wing of the cherub, and, five cubits, the second wing of the cherub, —ten cubits, from the one end of his wings unto the other end of his wings.

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 Ten cubits, also was the second cherub, —of one size and one shape, were the two cherubim.

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

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

and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.

27 And he placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and the cherubim stretched forth their wings, —so that the wing of the one touched the [one] wall, and the wing of the other cherub, was touching the other wall, —and, their wings in the midst of the house, were touching, wing to wing.

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 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 And, all the walls of the house round about, carved he with figures of cherubim, and palm-trees, and festoons of flowers, —within and without.

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 Even the floor of the house, overlaid he with gold, —within and without.

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

31 And, the entrance of the shrine, made he with doors, of wild olive-wood, the pillars and posts being a fifth.

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

32 The two doors, also were of olive-wood, and he carved upon them carvings of cherubim, and palm-trees, and festoons of flowers, and overlaid them with gold, —yea he spread out, over the cherubim and over the palm-trees, the 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 So, also, made he for the entrance of the temple, with posts of wild olive-wood, —a fourth part.

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

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

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

35 And he carved cherubim, and palm-trees, and festoons of flowers, and overlaid them with gold, smoothed out on the carved work.

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

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

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

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

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—the same, is the eighth month, was the house finished, as to all the particulars thereof, and as to all the appointments thereof, —so then he built it in seven years.

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.