2 Chronicles 3
1 Then Solomon’s workers started to build the temple for Yahweh in Jerusalem. They built it on Moriah Hill, where [an angel from] Yahweh had appeared to his father David. They built it on the ground that Araunah, a descendant of the Jebus people-group, had sold to David and where David said that it should be built.
Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2 They began the work in April, when Solomon had been ruling almost four years.
Solomon began construction on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
3 The foundation of the temple was about 90 feet long and 30 feet wide.
The foundation that Solomon laid for the house of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, according to the old standard.
4 The entrance room across the front of the temple was 30 feet wide and 30 feet high.
The portico at the front, extending across the width of the temple, was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.
5 Solomon’s workers used [panels/boards of] pine [wood] to line the main hall of the temple. Then they covered those panels with [very thin sheets of] pure gold. Then they decorated the walls with [carved images of] palm trees and designs that resembled chains.
He paneled the main room with cypress, which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains.
6 They decorated the temple with very valuable stones. The gold that they used was from [the land of] Parvaim.
He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and its gold was from Parvaim.
7 They covered the ceiling beams, the door frames, the walls and the doors of the temple with [very thin sheets of] gold. They also carved [statues of] winged creatures on the walls.
He overlaid its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.
8 They also built the Very Holy Place [inside the temple]. It was 30 feet wide and 30 feet long. They covered its walls with sheets of pure gold that altogether weighed 23 tons.
Then he made the Most Holy Place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of fine gold.
9 They used 1-1/4 pounds of gold to [cover the heads of] the nails. They also covered the walls of the upper rooms with sheets of gold.
The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid the upper area with gold.
10 Solomon’s workers made two statues of creatures with wings to put inside the Very Holy Place. They covered those statues with [very thin sheets of] gold.
In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of sculptured work, and he overlaid them with gold.
11 [Each statue had two long wings]. One wing of each statue touched one of the walls of the Temple. The other wing of each statue touched a wing of the other statue. It was 7-1/2 feet from the outer tip of one wing to the outer tip of the other wing. The inner wings of the two statues touched each other.
The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and touched the wall of the temple, and its other wing was five cubits long and touched the wing of the other cherub.
The wing of the second cherub also measured five cubits and touched the wall of the temple, while its other wing measured five cubits and touched the wing of the first cherub.
13 It was 30 feet from the outer wing of the one statue to the outer wing of the other statue. The statues faced the doorway to the main room.
So the total wingspan of these cherubim was twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main room.
14 Solomon’s workers made a curtain [to separate the main room from the Very Holy Place]. It was made of blue, purple, and red thread and fine linen. There were figures of winged creatures that were embroidered on the curtain.
He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim woven into it.
15 They made two [bronze] pillars and put them at the entrance of the temple. They were each 27 feet high. Each had a top over it that was 7-1/2 feet high.
In front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits high, each with a capital on top measuring five cubits.
16 The workers made [carvings that resembled] chains and put them on top of the pillars. They made [carvings that resembled] pomegranates and attached them to the chains.
He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork.
17 They set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south side [of the entrance] and the other on the north side. The one on the south side was named Jakin and the one on the north side was named Boaz.
Then he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south and one on the north. The pillar on the south he named Jachin, and the pillar on the north he named Boaz.
