1 Kings 6
6
Solomon Builds the Temple
1Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord. It was 480 years after the Israelites came out of Egypt. It was in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel. He started in the second month. That was the month of Ziv.
2The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long. It was 30 feet wide. And it was 45 feet high. 3The temple had a porch in front of the main hall. The porch was as wide as the temple itself. It was 30 feet wide. It came out 15 feet from the front of the temple. 4Solomon made narrow windows high up in the temple walls. 5He built side rooms around the temple. They were built against the walls of the main hall and the Most Holy Room. 6On the first floor the side rooms were seven and a half feet wide. On the second floor they were nine feet wide. And on the third floor they were ten and a half feet wide. Solomon made the walls of the temple thinner as they went up floor by floor. The result was ledges along the walls. So the floor beams of the side rooms rested on the ledges. The beams didn’t go into the temple walls.
7All the stones used for building the temple were shaped where they were cut. So hammers, chisels and other iron tools couldn’t be heard where the temple was being built.
8The entrance to the first floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the second floor. From there it went on up to the third floor. 9So Solomon built the temple and finished it. He made its roof out of beams and cedar boards. 10He built side rooms all along the temple. Each room was seven and a half feet high. They were joined to the temple by cedar beams.
11A message came to Solomon from the Lord. The Lord said, 12“You are now building this temple. Follow my orders. Keep my rules. Obey all my commands. Then I will make the promise I gave your father David come true. I will do it through you. 13I will live among my people Israel. I will not desert them.”
14So Solomon built the temple and finished it. 15He put cedar boards on its inside walls. He covered them from floor to ceiling. He covered the temple floor with juniper boards. 16He put up a wall 30 feet from the back of the temple. He made it with cedar boards from floor to ceiling. That formed a room inside the temple. It was the Most Holy Room. 17The main hall in front of the room was 60 feet long. 18The inside of the temple was covered with cedar wood. Gourds and open flowers were carved on the wood. Everything was cedar. There wasn’t any stone showing anywhere.
19Solomon prepared the Most Holy Room inside the temple. That’s where the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be placed. 20The Most Holy Room was 30 feet long. It was 30 feet wide. And it was 30 feet high. Solomon covered the inside of it with pure gold. He prepared the cedar altar for burning incense. He covered it with gold. 21Solomon covered the inside of the main hall with pure gold. He placed gold chains across the front of the Most Holy Room. That room was covered with gold. 22So Solomon covered the inside of the whole temple with gold. He also covered the altar for burning incense with gold. It was right in front of the Most Holy Room.
23For the Most Holy Room Solomon made a pair of cherubim. He made them out of olive wood. Each cherub was 15 feet high. 24One wing of the first cherub was seven and a half feet long. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long. So the wings measured 15 feet from tip to tip. 25The second cherub’s wings also measured 15 feet from tip to tip. The two cherubim had the same size and shape. 26Each cherub was 15 feet high. 27Solomon placed the cherubim inside the Most Holy Room in the temple. Their wings were spread out. The wing tip of one cherub touched one wall. The wing tip of the other touched the other wall. The tips of their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28Solomon covered the cherubim with gold.
29On the walls all around the temple he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. He carved them on the walls of the Most Holy Room and the main hall. 30He also covered the floors of those two rooms with gold.
31For the entrance to the Most Holy Room he made two doors out of olive wood. Each door was one-fifth of the width of the Most Holy Room. 32On the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. He covered the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. 33In the same way he made olive wood doorposts for the entrance to the main hall. Each doorpost was one-fourth of the width of the hall. 34He also made two doors out of juniper wood. Each door had two parts. They turned in bases shaped like cups. 35He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on the doors. He covered the doors with gold. He hammered the gold evenly over the carvings.
36He used blocks of stone to build a wall around the inside courtyard. The first three layers of the wall were made out of stone. The top layer was made out of beautiful cedar wood.
37The foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid in Solomon’s fourth year. It was in the month of Ziv. 38The temple was finished in his 11th year. It was in the month of Bul. That was the eighth month. Everything was finished just as the plans required. Solomon had spent seven years building the temple.
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1 Kings 6: NIrV
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1 Kings 6
6
Building the Temple
1Solomon began to build the temple for the Lord in the four hundred eightieth year#Ac 13:20 after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month.#6:1 April–May#1Kg 6:37; 2Ch 3:1–2; Ezr 3:8 2The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord#Ezr 5:11 was ninety feet#6:2 Lit 60 cubits long, thirty feet#6:2 Lit 20 cubits, also in vv. 3,16,20 wide, and forty-five feet#6:2 Lit 30 cubits high.#2Ch 3:3; Ezk 41:1 3The portico in front of the temple sanctuary was thirty feet long extending across the temple’s width, and fifteen feet deep#6:3 Lit 10 cubits wide in front of the temple.#2Ch 3:4; Ezk 40:49 4He also made windows with beveled frames#6:4 Hb obscure for the temple.#Ezk 41:16
5He then built a chambered structure#6:5 Lit built the temple of chamber along the temple wall, encircling the walls of the temple, that is, the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary.#1Kg 6:16,19–21 And he made side chambers#6:5 Lit made ribs or sides all around.#Jr 35:2; Ezk 41:5–6 6The lowest chamber was 7½ feet#6:6 Lit five cubits, also in vv. 10,24 wide, the middle was 9 feet#6:6 Lit six cubits wide, and the third was 10½ feet#6:6 Lit seven cubits wide. He also provided offset ledges for the temple all around the outside so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls. 7The temple’s construction used finished stones cut at the quarry so that no hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.#1Kg 5:17
8The door for the lowest#6:8 LXX, Tg; MT reads middle side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They#6:8 = People went up a stairway#6:8 Hb obscure to the middle chamber, and from the middle to the third. 9When he finished building the temple,#1Kg 6:1,14,38 he paneled it with boards and planks of cedar. 10He built the chambers along the entire temple, joined to the temple with cedar beams;#1Kg 5:6,8,10 each story was 7½ feet high.
11The word of the Lord came to Solomon:#1Kg 3:5,11–15; 9:2 12“As for this temple you are building — if you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep all my commands by walking in them,#1Kg 11:10 I will fulfill my promise to you, which I made to your father David.#2Sm 7:12–16; 1Kg 9:5 13I will dwell among the Israelites and not abandon my people Israel.”#Lv 26:11; Jos 1:5–6; Heb 13:5
14When Solomon finished building the temple,#6:11–14 LXX omits these vv.#1Kg 6:1,38 15he paneled the interior temple walls with cedar boards; from the temple floor to the surface of the ceiling he overlaid the interior with wood. He also overlaid the floor with cypress boards.#1Kg 5:8,10; 7:7; Ezk 41:16 16Then he lined thirty feet of the rear of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the surface of the ceiling,#6:16 LXX; MT omits of the ceiling; 1Kg 6:15 and he built the interior as an inner sanctuary, the most holy place.#Ex 26:33–34; 1Kg 8:6; Heb 9:3 17The temple, that is, the sanctuary in front of the most holy place,#6:17 Lit front of me; Hb obscure was sixty feet#6:17 Lit 40 cubits long. 18The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with ornamental gourds#1Kg 7:24 and flower blossoms. Everything was cedar;#1Kg 5:8,10 not a stone could be seen.
19He prepared the inner sanctuary#Ezk 41:3–4 inside the temple to put the ark of the Lord’s covenant#Dt 10:16; Jos 3:11 there. 20The interior of the sanctuary was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high; he overlaid it with pure gold.#2Ch 3:8–9 He also overlaid the cedar altar. 21Next, Solomon overlaid the interior of the temple with pure gold, and he hung#6:21 Lit he caused to pass across gold chains#2Ch 3:14; Mt 27:51 across the front of the inner sanctuary#2Ch 3:16 and overlaid it with gold. 22So he added the gold overlay to the entire temple until everything was completely finished, including the entire altar#1Kg 7:48; Heb 9:3–4 that belongs to the inner sanctuary.
23In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim#Ex 25:18–22; 2Ch 3:10–13 15 feet#6:23 Lit 10 cubits, also in vv. 24,25,26 high out of olive wood. 24One wing of the first cherub was 7½ feet long, and the other wing was 7½ feet long. The wingspan was 15 feet from tip to tip. 25The second cherub also was 15 feet; both cherubim had the same size and shape. 26The first cherub’s height was 15 feet and so was the second cherub’s. 27Then he put the cherubim inside the inner temple. Since their wings were spread out, the first one’s wing touched one wall while the second cherub’s wing touched the other#6:27 Lit the second wall, and in the middle of the temple their wings were touching wing to wing.#2Ch 5:8 28He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29He carved all the surrounding temple walls with carved engravings — cherubim,#Ezk 41:18,25 palm trees, and flower blossoms — in the inner and outer sanctuaries. 30He overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and the outer sanctuaries.
31For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made olive wood doors.#Ezk 41:23 The pillars of the doorposts were five-sided.#6:31 Hb obscure 32The two doors were made of olive wood. He carved cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold, hammering gold over the cherubim and palm trees. 33In the same way, he made four-sided#6:33 Hb obscure olive wood doorposts for the sanctuary entrance. 34The two doors#Ezk 41:23–25 were made of cypress wood; the first door had two folding sides, and the second door had two folding panels. 35He carved cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold applied evenly over the carving. 36He built the inner courtyard#2Ch 4:9; Jr 36:10 with three rows of dressed stone#1Kg 7:12; Ezr 6:4 and a row of trimmed cedar beams.
37The foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid in Solomon’s fourth year in the month of Ziv. 38In his eleventh year in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month,#6:38 = October–November the temple was completed in every detail and according to every specification.#1Kg 6:1,14 So he built it in seven years.#1Kg 7:1
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