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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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
1 Kings 6
6
Solomon Builds the Temple
1480 years after the people of Israel left Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the second month, the month of Ziv, Solomon began work on the Temple. 2Inside it was 27 metres long, nine metres wide, and 13.5 metres high. 3The entrance room was 4.5 metres deep and nine metres wide, as wide as the sanctuary itself. 4The walls of the Temple had openings in them, narrower on the outside than on the inside. 5Against the outside walls, on the sides and the back of the Temple, a three-storied annexe was built, each storey 2.2 metres high. 6Each room in the lowest storey was 2.2 metres wide, in the middle storey 2.7 metres wide, and in the top storey 3.1 metres wide. The temple wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below so that the rooms could rest on the wall without having their beams built into it.
7The stones with which the Temple was built had been prepared at the quarry, so that there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools as the Temple was being built.
8The entrance to the lowest#6.8 Some ancient translations lowest; Hebrew middle. storey of the annexe was on the south side of the Temple, with stairs leading up to the second and third storeys. 9So King Solomon finished building the Temple. He put in a ceiling made of beams and boards of cedar. 10The three-storied annexe, each storey#6.10 Probable text three-storied annexe, each storey; Hebrew three-storied annexe. 2.2 metres high, was built against the outside walls of the Temple, and was joined to them by cedar beams.
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 my people Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never abandon them.”
14So Solomon finished building the Temple.
The Interior Furnishings of the Temple
(2 Chr 3.8–14)
15The inside walls were covered with cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling, and the floor was made of pine. 16#Ex 26.33–34An inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was built in the rear of the Temple. It was nine metres long and was partitioned off by cedar boards reaching from the floor to the ceiling.#6.16 One ancient translation ceiling; Hebrew walls. 17The room in front of the Most Holy Place was eighteen metres long. 18The cedar panels were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers; the whole interior was covered with cedar, so that the stones of the walls could not be seen.
19In the rear of the Temple an inner room was built, where the LORD's Covenant Box was to be placed. 20This inner room was nine metres long, nine metres wide, and nine metres high, all covered with pure gold. The altar was covered with cedar panels.#6.20 Verse 20 in Hebrew is unclear. 21The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and gold chains were placed across the entrance of the inner room, which was also covered with gold. 22#Ex 30.1–3The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, as well as the altar in the Most Holy Place.
23 #
Ex 25.18–20
Two winged creatures were made of olive wood and placed in the Most Holy Place, each one 4.4 metres tall. 24-26Both were of the same size and shape. Each had two wings, each wing 2.2 metres long, so that the distance from one wing tip to the other was 4.4 metres. 27They were placed side by side in the Most Holy Place, so that two of their outstretched wings touched each other in the middle of the room, and the other two wings touched the walls. 28The two winged creatures were covered with gold.
29The walls of the main room and of the inner room were all decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers. 30Even the floor was covered with gold.
31A double door made of olive wood was set in place at the entrance of the Most Holy Place; the top of the doorway was a pointed arch. 32The doors were decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers. The doors, the winged creatures, and the palm trees were covered with gold. 33For the entrance to the main room a rectangular door-frame of olive wood was made. 34There were two folding doors made of pine 35and decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers, which were evenly covered with gold.
36An inner court was built in front of the Temple, enclosed with walls which had one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of stone.
37The foundation of the Temple was laid in the second month, the month of Ziv, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign. 38In the eighth month, the month of Bul, in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, the Temple was completely finished exactly as it had been planned. It had taken Solomon seven years to build it.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.