1 Kings 6

1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build Yahweh’s house.

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 The house which King Solomon built for Yahweh had a length of sixty cubits, and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.

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

3 The porch in front of the temple of the house had a length of twenty cubits, which was along the width of the house. Ten cubits was its width in front 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 He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house.

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

5 Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary; and he made side rooms all around.

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 lowest floor was five cubits wide, and 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, that the beams should not be inserted into 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 The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or ax or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was under construction.

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 side rooms was in the right side of the house. They went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, 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 he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.

So Solomon’s [workers] finished building the [framework of the] temple. They made the ceiling from cedar beams and boards.

10 He built the floors all along the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timbers 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 Yahweh’s word came to Solomon, saying,

Then Yahweh said this to Solomon:

12 “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your 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 I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.”

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

14 So Solomon built the house and finished it.

Solomon’s [workers] finished building the temple.

15 He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood. He covered the floor of the house with cypress boards.

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 He built twenty cubits of the back part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built this within, for an inner sanctuary, even for the most holy place.

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 In front of the temple sanctuary was forty cubits long.

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

18 There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible.

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 He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of Yahweh’s covenant there.

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

20 Within the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height. He overlaid it with pure gold. He covered the altar with cedar.

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 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across before the inner sanctuary, 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 He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary 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 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive 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 Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits was the length of the other wing of the cherub. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits.

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 The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of one measure and one form.

26 One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other cherub.

27 He set the cherubim within the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, 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 touched one another in the middle of the house.

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 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

They covered the statues with [very thin sheets of] gold.

29 He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside.

[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 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside.

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

31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall.

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 So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold on the cherubim and on 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 He also made the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall,

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

They made two folding doors from cypress wood [and fastened them to the door frame].

35 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved 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 He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course 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 The foundation of Yahweh’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv.

They laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh in early May, in the fourth year [that Solomon ruled].

38 In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its specifications. So he spent seven years building it.

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.