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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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
1 Kings 6
6
Solomon Builds the Temple
1 #
2 Chr. 3:1, 2 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, #Acts 7:47he began to build the house of the Lord. 2#2 Chr. 3:3, 4; See Ezek. 40–42The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits#6:2 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. 3The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. 4And #Ezek. 40:16; 41:16, 26he made for the house windows with recessed frames.#6:4 Or blocked lattice windows 5#Ezek. 41:6 He also built a structure#6:5 Or platform; also verse 10 against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and #ver. 16, 19, 20, 23, 31; ch. 7:49; 8:6, 8; 2 Chr. 4:20; 5:7, 9; Ps. 28:2 the inner sanctuary. And he made #Ezek. 41:5, 6side chambers all around. 6The lowest story#6:6 Septuagint; Hebrew structure, or platform was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.
7When the house was built, #ch. 5:18; Deut. 27:5, 6it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.
8The entrance for the lowest#6:8 Septuagint, Targum; Hebrew middle story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. 9#ver. 14, 38So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. 10He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.
11Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12“Concerning this house that you are building, #ch. 9:4; [ch. 2:4] if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, #2 Sam. 7:13; 1 Chr. 22:10which I spoke to David your father. 13And #Ex. 25:8 I will dwell among the children of Israel #Deut. 31:6, 8; Josh. 1:5and will not forsake my people Israel.”
14 # ver. 9, 38 So Solomon built the house and finished it. 15He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, #[ch. 7:7]and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. 16#2 Chr. 3:8 He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as #ch. 7:50; 8:6; Ex. 26:33, 34; 2 Chr. 3:8; Ezek. 45:3; Heb. 9:3the Most Holy Place. 17The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. 18The cedar within the house was carved in the form of #ch. 7:24gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. 19The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20The inner sanctuary#6:20 Vulgate; Hebrew And before the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid#6:20 Septuagint made an altar of cedar. 21And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. #Ex. 30:1, 3, 6Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.
23 # For ver. 23-27, see 2 Chr. 3:10-12 In the inner sanctuary #Ex. 37:7-9he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. 24Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. 26The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. 27He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. #ch. 8:7; Ex. 25:20; 37:9; 2 Chr. 5:8And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. 28And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. 30The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.
31For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.#6:31 The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain 32He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
33So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, 34and two doors of cypress wood. #[Ezek. 41:24]The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36#ch. 7:12He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.
37 # ver. 1 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.
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