1 Kings 6

1 So Solomon began to build the temple of Yahweh. This happened in the 480th year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year that Solomon was king of Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, the building of the Lord's house was started.

2 The temple that King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

The house which Solomon made for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.

3 The portico in front of the temple's main hall was twenty cubits in length, equal to the width of the temple, and ten cubits deep in front of the temple.

The covered way before the Temple of the house was twenty cubits long, as wide as the house, and ten cubits wide in front of the house.

4 For the house he made windows with frames that made them more narrow at the outside than on the inside.

And for the house he made windows, with network across.

5 Against the walls of the main chamber he built rooms around it, around both the outer room and the inner room. He built rooms all around the sides.

And against the walls all round, and against the walls of the Temple and of the inmost room, he put up wings, with side rooms all round:

6 The lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide. For on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around so that the beams would not be inserted in the walls of the house.

The lowest line of them being five cubits wide, the middle six cubits wide and the third seven cubits; for there was a space all round the outside walls of the house so that the boards supporting the rooms did not have to be fixed in the walls of the house.

7 The house was built of stones prepared at the quarry. No hammer, ax, or any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.

(And the stones used in the building of the house were squared at the place where they were cut out; there was no sound of hammer or axe or any iron instrument while they were building the house.)

8 On the south side of the temple there was an entrance at the ground level, then one went up by stairs to the middle level, and from the middle to the third level.

The door to the lowest side rooms was in the right side of the house; and they went up by twisting steps into the middle rooms, and from the middle into the third.

9 So Solomon built the temple and finished it; he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.

So he put up the house and made it complete, roofing it with boards of cedar-wood.

10 He built the side rooms against the inner chambers of the temple, each side five cubits high; they were joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

And he put up the line of side rooms against the walls of the house, fifteen cubits high, resting against the house on boards of cedar-wood.

11 The word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying,

(And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,

12 “Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in my statutes and do justice, keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will confirm my promise with you that I had made to David your father.

About this house which you are building: if you will keep my laws and give effect to my decisions and be guided by my rules, I will give effect to my word which I gave to David your father.

13 I will live among the people of Israel and will not forsake them.”

And I will be ever among the children of Israel, and will not go away from my people.

14 So Solomon built the house and finished it.

So Solomon made the building of the house complete.)

15 Then he built the interior walls of the house with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with cypress boards.

The walls of the house were covered inside with cedar-wood boards; from the floor to the roof of the house they were covered inside with wood; and the floor was covered with boards of cypress-wood.

16 He built twenty cubits onto the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built this room to be the inner room, the most holy place.

And at the back of the house a further space of twenty cubits was shut in with boards of cedar-wood, for the inmost room.

17 The main hall, that is, the holy place that was in front of the most holy place, was forty cubits long.

And the house, that is, the Temple, in front of the holy place was forty cubits long.

18 There was cedar inside the house, carved in the shape of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar inside. No stonework was visible on the inside.

(All the inside of the house was cedar-wood, ornamented with designs of buds and flowers; no stonework was to be seen inside.)

19 Solomon prepared the inner room inside the house in order to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there.

And he made ready an inmost room in the middle of the house, in which to put the ark of the agreement of the Lord.

20 The inner room was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height. Solomon overlaid the walls with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar wood.

And the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with gold.

21 Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he placed chains of gold across the front of the inner room, and overlaid the front with gold.

Solomon had all the inside of the house covered with gold, and he put chains of gold across in front of the inmost room, which itself was covered with gold.

22 He overlaid the entire interior with gold until all the temple was finished. He also overlaid with gold the whole altar that belonged to the inner room.

Plates of gold were put all through the house till it was covered completely (and the altar in the inmost room was all covered with gold).

23 Solomon made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high, for the inner room.

In the inmost room he made two winged beings of olive-wood, ten cubits high;

24 One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and its other wing was also five cubits long. So from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other there was a distance of ten cubits.

With outstretched wings five cubits wide; the distance from the edge of one wing to the edge of the other was ten cubits.

25 The other cherub also had a wingspan ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of the same dimensions and shape.

The two winged ones were ten cubits high, of the same size and form.

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

The two of them were ten cubits high.

27 Solomon placed the cherubim in the innermost room. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out so that the wing of one touched one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. Their wings touched one another in the middle of the most holy place.

These were placed inside the inner house, their outstretched wings touching the walls of the house, one touching one wall and one the other, while their other wings were touching in the middle.

28 Solomon overlaid the cherubim with gold.

These winged ones were plated over with gold.

29 He carved all the walls of the house around about with figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, in the outer and inner rooms.

And all the walls of the house inside and out were ornamented with forms of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers.

30 Solomon overlaid the floor of the house with gold, in both the outer and inner rooms.

And the floor of the house was covered with gold, inside and out.

31 Solomon made doors of olivewood for the entrance to the inner room. The lintel and doorposts had five indented sections.

For the way into the inmost room he made doors of olive-wood, the arch and the door supports forming a five-sided opening.

32 So he made two doors of olivewood, and he made on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and he spread the gold on the cherubim and palm trees.

On the olive-wood doors were cut designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, all of them, with the doors, plated with gold.

33 In this way, Solomon also made for the temple entrance doorposts of olive wood having four indented sections

Then he made pillars of olive-wood for the way into the Temple; the pillars were square:

34 and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

And two folding doors of cypress-wood, with two leaves.

35 He carved on them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he evenly overlaid gold on the carved work.

These were ornamented with designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, plated over with gold.

36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.

And the inner space was walled with three lines of squared stones and a line of cedar-wood boards.

37 The foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv.

In the fourth year the base of the house was put in its place, in the month Ziv.

38 In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and conforming to all its specifications. Solomon took seven years to build the temple.

And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the building of the house was complete in every detail, as it had been designed. So he was seven years building it.