1 Kings 6
6
The Building of the Temple
1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, during the month Ziv#sn During the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning. (the second month), he began building the Lord’s temple. 2 The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet#tn Heb “sixty cubits.” A cubit was a unit of measure roughly equivalent to 18 inches or 45 cm. Measurements in vv. 2-10 have been converted to feet in the translation for clarity. long, 30 feet#tn Heb “twenty cubits.” wide, and 45 feet#tn Heb “thirty cubits.” high. 3 The porch in front of the main hall of the temple was 30 feet#tn Heb “twenty cubits.” long, corresponding to the width of the temple. It was 15 feet#tn Heb “ten cubits.” wide, extending out from the front of the temple. 4 He made framed windows for the temple. 5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and holy place and constructed side rooms in it.#tn Heb “and he built on the wall of the temple an extension all around, the walls of the temple all around, for the main hall and for the holy place, and he made side rooms all around.” 6 The bottom floor of the extension was seven and a half feet#tn Heb “five cubits.” wide, the middle floor nine feet#tn Heb “six cubits.” wide, and the third floor ten and a half#tn Heb “seven cubits.” feet wide. He made ledges#tn Or “offsets” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “offset ledges.” on the temple’s outer walls so the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls.#tn Heb “so that [the beams] would not have a hold in the walls of the temple.” 7 As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry#tn Heb “finished stone of the quarry,” i.e., stones chiseled and shaped at the time they were taken out of the quarry. were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built. 8 The entrance to the bottom#tc The Hebrew text has “middle,” but the remainder of the verse suggests this is an error. level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple; stairs went up#tn Heb “by stairs they went up.” The word translated “stairs” occurs only here. Other options are “trapdoors” or “ladders.” to the middle floor and then on up to the third#tc The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate הַשְּׁלִשִׁית (hashÿlishit, “the third”) rather than MT הַשְּׁלִשִׁים (hashÿlishim, “the thirty”). floor. 9 He finished building the temple#tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.” and covered it#tn Heb “the house.” with rafters#tn The word occurs only here; the precise meaning is uncertain. and boards made of cedar.#tn Heb “and rows with cedar wood.” 10 He built an extension all around the temple; it was seven and a half feet high#tn Heb “five cubits.” This must refer to the height of each floor or room. and it was attached to the temple by cedar beams.
11#tc The LXX lacks vv. 11-14. The Lord said#tn Heb “the word of the Lord was.” to Solomon: 12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow#tn Heb “walk in.” my rules, observe#tn Heb “do.” my regulations, and obey all my commandments,#tn Heb “and keep all my commandments by walking in them.” I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.#tn Heb “I will establish my word with you which I spoke to David your father.” 13 I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”
14 So Solomon finished building the temple.#tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.” 15 He constructed the walls inside the temple with cedar planks; he paneled the inside with wood from the floor of the temple to the rafters#tc The MT reads קִירוֹת (qirot, “walls”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה. of the ceiling. He covered the temple floor with boards made from the wood of evergreens. 16 He built a wall 30 feet in from the rear of the temple as a partition for an inner sanctuary that would be the most holy place.#tn Heb “He built twenty cubits from the rear areas of the temple with cedar planks from the floor to the walls, and he built it on the inside for an inner sanctuary, for a holy place of holy places.” He paneled the wall with cedar planks from the floor to the rafters.#tc The MT has קְלָעִים (qÿla’im, “curtains”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה. 17 The main hall in front of the inner sanctuary was 60 feet long.#tn Heb “and the house was forty cubits, that is, the main hall before it.” 18 The inside of the temple was all cedar and was adorned with carvings of round ornaments and of flowers in bloom. Everything was cedar; no stones were visible.#tn Heb “Cedar was inside the temple, carvings of gourds (i.e., gourd-shaped ornaments) and opened flowers; the whole was cedar, no stone was seen.”
19 He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord could be placed there. 20 The inner sanctuary was 30 feet#tn Heb “twenty cubits” (this measurement occurs three times in this verse). long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He plated it with gold,#tn Heb “with plated gold” (or perhaps, “with pure gold”). as well as the cedar altar.#tn Heb “he plated [the] altar of cedar.” 21 Solomon plated the inside of the temple with gold.#tn Heb “with plated gold” (or perhaps, “with pure gold”). He hung golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary and plated the inner sanctuary#tn Heb “it.” with gold. 22 He plated the entire inside of the temple with gold, as well as the altar inside the inner sanctuary.#tn Heb “all the temple he plated with gold until all the temple was finished; and the whole altar which was in the inner sanctuary he plated with gold.”
23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubs of olive wood; each stood 15 feet#tn Heb “ten cubits” (a cubit was a unit of measure roughly equivalent to 18 inches or 45 cm). high. 24 Each of the first cherub’s wings was seven and a half feet long; its entire wingspan was 15 feet.#tn Heb “The first wing of the [one] cherub was five cubits, and the second wing of the cherub was five cubits, ten cubits from the tips of his wings to the tips of his wings.” 25 The second cherub also had a wingspan of 15 feet; it was identical to the first in measurements and shape.#tn Heb “and the second cherub was ten cubits, the two cherubs had one measurement and one shape.” 26 Each cherub stood 15 feet high.#tn Heb “the height of the first cherub was ten cubits; and so was the second cherub.” 27 He put the cherubs in the inner sanctuary of the temple.#tn Heb “in the midst of the inner house,” i.e., in the inner sanctuary. Their wings were spread out. One of the first cherub’s wings touched one wall and one of the other cherub’s wings touched the opposite wall. The first cherub’s other wing touched the second cherub’s other wing in the middle of the room.#tn Heb “and their wings were in the middle of the room, touching wing to wing.” 28 He plated the cherubs with gold.
29 On all the walls around the temple, inside and out,#sn Inside and out probably refers to the inner and outer rooms within the building. he carved#tn Heb “carved engravings of carvings.” cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom. 30 He plated the floor of the temple with gold, inside and out.#sn Inside and out probably refers to the inner and outer rooms within the building. 31 He made doors of olive wood at the entrance to the inner sanctuary; the pillar on each doorpost was five-sided.#tn Heb “the pillar, doorposts, a fifth part” (the precise meaning of this description is uncertain). 32 On the two doors made of olive wood he carved#tn Heb “carved carvings of.” cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom, and he plated them with gold.#tn Heb “he plated [with] gold” (the precise object is not stated). He plated the cherubs and the palm trees with hammered gold.#tn Heb “and he hammered out the gold on the cherubs and the palm trees.” 33 In the same way he made doorposts of olive wood for the entrance to the main hall, only with four-sided pillars.#tn Heb “and so he did at the entrance of the main hall, doorposts of olive wood, from a fourth.” 34 He also made#tn The words “he also made” are added for stylistic reasons. two doors out of wood from evergreens; each door had two folding leaves.#tc Heb “two of the leaves of the first door were folding, and two of the leaves of the second door were folding.” In the second half of the description, the MT has קְלָעִים (qÿla’im, “curtains”), but this is surely a corruption of צְלָעִים (tsÿla’im, “leaves”) which appears in the first half of the statement. 35 He carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom and plated them with gold, leveled out over the carvings. 36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of chiseled stones and a row of cedar beams.
37 In the month Ziv#sn In the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning. of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign#tn The words “of Solomon’s reign” are added for clarification. See v. 1. the foundation was laid for the Lord’s temple. 38 In the eleventh year, in the month Bul#sn In the month Bul. This would be October-November 959 b.c. in modern reckoning. (the eighth month) the temple was completed in accordance with all its specifications and blueprints. It took seven years to build.#tn Heb “he built it in seven years.”
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1 Kings 6
6
Solomon Builds the Temple for Yahweh
1It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule#Literally “Solomon to rule” over Israel, the month of Ziv (that is the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh. 2Now the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits in its length and twenty cubits in its width and thirty cubits in its height. 3The vestibule on the face of the main hall of the temple#Or “house” was twenty cubits in its length, and the width of the temple#Or “house” was ten cubits wide on the face of the temple.#Or “house” 4And he made for the temple#Or “house” specially designed framed windows, 5and he built a structure against the wall of the temple#Or “house” running all along the walls of the house, for the outer sanctuary and for the inner sanctuary, and made side rooms all around. 6The lower structure was five cubits in its width and the middle was six cubits in its width and the third was seven cubits in its width, for he made niches for the temple#Or “house” all around to the outside, so that beams would not attach to the walls of the temple.#Or “house” 7Now while the temple#Or “house” was being built, it was built with stones finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or stone shaping tool or any instrument of iron was heard in the temple#Or “house” as it was being built. 8The doorway of the side room in the middle of the side of the temple#Or “house” was on the south; they went up with a stairway to the middle and from the middle to the third floor. 9So he built the house and finished it. He covered the temple#Or “house” with rafters and wood planks and with the cedars. 10He also built the structure against all of the temple#Or “house” five cubits in height and fastened it to the temple#Or “house” with beams of cedar.
11Then the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying, 12“Regarding this temple#Or “house” that you are building: if you walk in my ordinances and if you do my judgments and you keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my promise with you which I made to David your father. 13And I will dwell among#Literally “in the middle of” the Israelites,#Literally “sons/children of Israel” and I will not forsake my people Israel.”
14So Solomon built the temple#Or “house” and finished it. 15He lined the walls of the inside of the house#Literally “the house from house” with boards of cedar; from the floor of the temple#Or “house” up to the rafters of the ceiling he covered them with wood on the inside.#Literally “from house” He also covered the floor of the temple#Or “house” with cypress boards. 16He built twenty cubits from the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor up to the ceiling, and he built for it an inner sanctuary on the inside, as the most holy place.#Literally “as the holy place of the holy places.” Often referred to as the Holy of Holies 17The main hall of the temple#Or “house” was forty cubits in front of the inner sanctuary,#So LXX supported by the Vulgate. MT has “before me” 18with the cedar within the inner house having carvings of gourds and buds of flowers. It was entirely of cedar; there was not a stone visible. 19Now in the inner sanctuary in the middle of the temple#Or “house” he prepared the inside to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there. 20In front, the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar. 21Solomon overlaid the temple#Or “house” on the inside with pure gold, and he drew across it with golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary, which he overlaid with gold.
22All of the temple#Or “house” he overlaid with gold until all of the temple#Or “house” was finished; all of the altar which belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. 23He made two cherubim of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, ten cubits high. 24Five cubits was the first wing of the cherub, and five cubits the second wing of the cherub, from the tip of his one wing up to the tip of his other wing. 25The second cherub was ten cubits according to the same#Literally “one” measurement, and there was one shape for the two cherubim. 26The height of the first cherub was ten cubits and so was the second cherub.
27He placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner house, and they spread out the wings of the cherubim; the wing of the first cherub touched against the wall and the wing of the second cherub was touching against the second wall; their wings spread to the middle of the house and were touching wing to wing. 28He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29On all of the walls around the house, he carved engravings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers both inside and out. 30He overlaid the floor of the house with gold both inside and out. 31He made doors of olive wood for the doorway of the inner sanctuary, as well as for the doorpost of the fifth doorframe. 32On the two doors of olive wood he made carvings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers, and he overlaid them with gold by beating#Literally “and he beat out” out the gold on the cherubim and the palm tree images. 33Thus he made doorframes of olive wood on four sides for the doorway of the main hall 34and two doors of cypress wood; one door with two folding panels and the second door with two folding panels. 35He carved cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers and overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36Then he built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and a row of cedar beams. 37In the fourth year,#That is, the fourth year of Solomon’s reign the house of Yahweh was founded in the month of Ziv. 38In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished according to all his specifications and according to all his plans. He had built it in seven years.
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