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
Solomon Builds the Temple
1So in the month of Ziv, the second month of the year, during Solomon’s fourth year as king, he began work on the Temple. This was 480 years after the Israelites left Egypt.#6:1 480 years … Egypt This was about 960 B.C. 2The Temple was 60 cubits#6:2 60 cubits 102' 3/8" (31.1 m). long, 20 cubits#6:2 20 cubits 34' 1/8" (10.37 m). Also in verses 16, 20. wide, and 30 cubits#6:2 30 cubits 51' 3/16" (15.55 m). The ancient Greek version has “25 cubits.” high. 3The porch of the Temple was 20 cubits long and 10 cubits#6:3 10 cubits 17' 1/16" (5.18 m). Also in verses 23, 24-26. wide. The porch ran along the front of the main part of the Temple itself. Its length was equal to the width of the Temple. 4There were narrow windows in the Temple. These windows were smaller on the inside of the wall than on the outside.#6:4 These windows … outside Or “These windows had lattice work over them.” 5Then Solomon built a row of rooms around the main part of the Temple. This row of rooms was three stories tall with the rooms built one above the other. 6The rooms touched the Temple wall, but their beams were not built into that wall. The Temple wall became thinner at the top, so the rooms on the upper floors were larger than the ones below them. The rooms on the bottom floor were 5 cubits#6:6 5 cubits 8' 6" (2.6 m). Also in verses 10, 24-26. wide. The rooms on the middle floor were 6 cubits#6:6 6 cubits 10' 2 7/16" (3.11 m). wide. The rooms above that were 7 cubits#6:6 7 cubits 11' 10 13/16" (3.63 m). wide. 7The stones were completely finished before they were brought into the Temple area, so there was no noise of hammers, axes, or any other iron tools in the Temple.
8The entrance to these rooms was on bottom floor at the south side of the Temple. Inside there were stairs that went up to the second floor and from there to the third floor.
9Solomon finished building the main part of the Temple and then covered it inside with cedar boards. 10Then he finished building the rooms around the Temple. Each story was 5 cubits tall. The cedar beams in these rooms rested on a ledge of the Temple wall.
11The Lord said to Solomon, 12“If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David. 13I will live among the children of Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never leave the people of Israel.”
14When Solomon finished the stonework on the Temple, 15the stone walls inside the Temple were covered with cedar boards from floor to ceiling. Then the stone floor was covered with pine boards. 16They built an inner room 20 cubits long in the back part of the Temple. This room was called the Most Holy Place. They covered the walls in this room with cedar boards, from floor to ceiling. 17In front of the Most Holy Place was the main part of the Temple. This room was 40 cubits#6:17 40 cubits 68' 1/4" (20.73 m). long. 18They covered the walls in this room with cedar boards—none of the stones in the walls could be seen. They carved pictures of flowers and gourds into the cedar.
19Solomon finished the inner room in the back part of the Temple. This room was for the Box of the Lord’s Agreement. 20This room was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high. Solomon covered this room with pure gold. He also covered the cedar altar with gold. 21He covered the inside of the Temple with pure gold and wrapped gold chains around it. 22The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and the altar in front of the Most Holy Place was covered with gold.
23The workers made two statues of Cherub angels with wings. They made the statues from olive wood and put them in the Most Holy Place. Each angel was 10 cubits tall. 24-26Both Cherub angels were the same size and built the same way. Each one had two wings. Each wing was 5 cubits long. From the end of one wing to the end of the other wing was 10 cubits. And each Cherub angel was 10 cubits tall. 27They put the Cherub angels beside one another in the Most Holy Place. Their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. The other two wings touched each side wall. 28The two Cherub angels were covered with gold.
29The walls around the main room and the inner room were carved with pictures of Cherub angels, palm trees, and flowers. 30The floor of both rooms was covered with gold.
31The workers made two doors from olive wood. They put these doors at the entrance of the Most Holy Place. The frame around the doors was made with five sides.#6:31 The frame … sides This probably means there were three sections that formed an arch at the top of the door. 32They made the two doors from olive wood. The workers carved pictures of Cherub angels, palm trees, and flowers on the doors. Then they covered the doors with gold.
33They also made doors for the entrance to the main room. They used olive wood to make a square doorframe. 34There were two doors made from pine. Each door had two parts that folded together. 35They carved pictures of Cherub angels, palm trees, and flowers on the doors. Then they covered them with gold.
36Then they built a wall around the inner yard. Each wall was made from three rows of cut stones and one row of cedar timbers.
37They started working on the Lord’s Temple in the month of Ziv, the second month of the year. This was during Solomon’s fourth year as king of Israel. 38The Temple was finished in the month of Bul, the eighth month of the year, in Solomon’s eleventh year as king. It took seven years to build the Temple. It was built exactly as planned.
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