1 Kings 6
1 480 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.
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 Inside, [the main part of] the temple was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
The Temple King Solomon built for the Lord measured sixty cubits long by twenty cubits wide by thirty cubits high.
3 The entrance room was 15 feet long and 30 feet wide, just as wide as the main part of the temple.
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 There were windows in [the walls of] the temple. The windows were narrower on the outside than on the inside.
He had latticed windows made to be placed high up in the Temple.
5 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].
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 [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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 So Solomon’s [workers] finished building the [framework of the] temple. They made the ceiling from cedar beams and boards.
So Solomon finished building the Temple, covering it with a roof made of cedar rafters and planks.
10 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.
He built the external structure along the whole of the Temple. It was five cubits high, joined to the Temple with cedar joists.
11 Then Yahweh said this to Solomon:
The Lord sent this message to Solomon, telling him,
12 “[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.
“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 I will live among the Israeli people, [in this temple, ] and I will never abandon them.”
I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon Israel, my people.”
14 Solomon’s [workers] finished building the temple.
Solomon finished building the Temple.
15 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.
He lined the walls with cedar panels from floor to ceiling and he covered the floor of the Temple with cypress boards.
16 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.
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 In front of the Very Holy Place there was a room that was 60 feet long.
The main Temple in front of this room measured forty cubits long.
18 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.
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 At the back of the temple they made the Very Holy Place, where the Sacred Chest would be put.
He also had the inner sanctuary made within the Temple where the Ark of the Lord's Agreement would be placed.
20 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].
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 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.
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 They covered all the walls of the temple and the altar that was outside the Very Holy Place with [very thin sheets of] 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 Inside the Very Holy Place, they made from olive tree wood [large statues of] two creatures with wings. Each one was 15 feet tall.
He had two cherubim made out of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, each one ten cubits tall.
24 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.
Both wings of the cherub measured five cubits, making a total wingspan of ten cubits.
The other cherub was also ten cubits tall, since they were identical both in size and shape.
Both cherubs were ten cubits tall.
27 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.
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 They covered the statues with [very thin sheets of] gold.
The cherubim were also covered with a gold coating.
29 [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.
He had all the Temple walls, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, carved with designs of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
30 They also covered the floor of both rooms with [very thin sheets of] gold.
He also had the floor of the Temple floor covered with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
31 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.
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 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.
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 They made a rectangular door frame from olive tree wood, and put it [between the entrance room and] the main room.
Similarly he had four-sided doorposts of olive wood made for the entrance to the sanctuary.
34 They made two folding doors from cypress wood [and fastened them to the door frame].
Its doors were made of cypress wood, each with two hinged panels.
35 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.
He had them carved with designs of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and covered them with gold beaten evenly over the carvings.
36 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.
Solomon had the inner courtyard built with three courses of dressed stone and one of cedar beams.
37 They laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh in early May, in the fourth year [that Solomon ruled].
The foundation of the Lord's Temple was laid in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, in the month of Ziv.
38 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.
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.
