1 Kings 6
6
1-6Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, Solomon started building The Temple of God. The Temple that King Solomon built to God was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. There was a porch across the thirty-foot width of The Temple that extended out fifteen feet. Within The Temple he made narrow, deep-silled windows. Against the outside walls he built a supporting structure in which there were smaller rooms: The lower floor was seven and a half feet wide, the middle floor nine feet, and the third floor ten and a half feet. He had projecting ledges built into the outside Temple walls to support the buttressing beams.
7The stone blocks for the building of The Temple were all dressed at the quarry so that the building site itself was reverently quiet—no noise from hammers and chisels and other iron tools.
8-10The entrance to the ground floor was at the south end of The Temple; stairs led to the second floor and then to the third. Solomon built and completed The Temple, finishing it off with roof beams and planks of cedar. The supporting structure along the outside walls was attached to The Temple with cedar beams and the rooms in it were seven and a half feet tall.
11-13The word of God came to Solomon saying, “About this Temple you are building—what’s important is that you live the way I’ve set out for you and do what I tell you, following my instructions carefully and obediently. Then I’ll complete in you the promise I made to David your father. I’ll personally take up my residence among the Israelites—I won’t desert my people Israel.”
14-18Solomon built and completed The Temple. He paneled the interior walls from floor to ceiling with cedar planks; for flooring he used cypress. The thirty feet at the rear of The Temple he made into an Inner Sanctuary, cedar planks from floor to ceiling—the Holy of Holies. The Main Sanctuary area in front was sixty feet long. The entire interior of The Temple was cedar, with carvings of fruits and flowers. All cedar—none of the stone was exposed.
19-22The Inner Sanctuary within The Temple was for housing the Chest of the Covenant of God. This Inner Sanctuary was a cube, thirty feet each way, all plated with gold. The Altar of cedar was also gold-plated. Everywhere you looked there was pure gold: gold chains strung in front of the gold-plated Inner Sanctuary—gold everywhere—walls, ceiling, floor, and Altar. Dazzling!
23-28Then he made two cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, from olivewood. Each was fifteen feet tall. The outstretched wings of the cherubim (they were identical in size and shape) measured another fifteen feet. He placed the two cherubim, their wings spread, in the Inner Sanctuary. The combined wingspread stretched the width of the room, the wing of one cherub touched one wall, the wing of the other the other wall, and the wings touched in the middle. The cherubim were gold-plated.
29-30He then carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on all the walls of both the Inner and the Main Sanctuary. And all the floors of both inner and outer rooms were gold-plated.
31-32He constructed doors of olivewood for the entrance to the Inner Sanctuary; the lintel and doorposts were five-sided. The doors were also carved with cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, and then covered with gold leaf.
33-35Similarly, he built the entrance to the Main Sanctuary using olivewood for the doorposts but these doorposts were four-sided. The doors were of cypress, split into two panels, each panel swinging separately. These also were carved with cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, and plated with finely hammered gold leaf.
36He built the inner court with three courses of dressed stones topped with a course of planed cedar timbers.
37-38The foundation for God’s Temple was laid in the fourth year in the month of Ziv. It was completed in the eleventh year in the month of Bul (the eighth month) down to the last detail, just as planned. It took Solomon seven years to build it.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
1 Kings 6
6
The Outside of the Temple Is Completed
1Solomon's workers started building the temple during Ziv,#6.1 Ziv: The second month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-April to mid-May. the second month of the year. It had been 4 years since Solomon became king of Israel, and 480 years since the people of Israel left Egypt.
2The inside of the Lord's temple was 27 meters long, 9 meters wide, and 13.5 meters high. 3A four-and-a-half-meter porch went all the way across the front of the temple. 4The windows were narrow on the outside but wide on the inside.
5-6Along the sides and back of the temple, there were three levels of storage rooms. The rooms on the bottom level were just over two meters wide, the rooms on the middle level were over two and a half meters wide, and those on the top level were just over three meters wide. There were ledges on the outside of the temple that supported the beams of the storage rooms, so that nothing was built into the temple walls.
7Solomon did not want the noise of hammers and axes to be heard at the place where the temple was being built. So he gave orders for the workers to shape the blocks of stone at the quarry.
8The entrance to the bottom storage rooms was on the south side of the building, and stairs to the other rooms were also there. 9The roof of the temple was made out of beams and cedar boards.
The workers finished building the outside of the temple. 10Storage rooms just over two meters high were all around the temple, and they were attached to the temple by cedar beams.
11The Lord told Solomon:
12-13If you obey my commands and do what I say, I will keep the promise I made to your father David. I will live among my people Israel in this temple you are building, and I will not desert them.
14So Solomon's workers finished building the temple.
The Inside of the Temple Is Furnished
(2 Chronicles 3.8-14)
15The floor of the temple was made out of pine, and the walls were lined with cedar from floor to ceiling.#6.15 from floor to ceiling: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
16 #
Ex 26.31-34. The most holy place was in the back of the temple, and it was nine meters square. Cedar boards standing from floor to ceiling#6.16 standing … ceiling: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. separated it from the rest of the temple. 17The temple's main room was 18 meters long, and it was in front of the most holy place.
18The inside walls were lined with cedar to hide the stones, and the cedar was decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers.
19The sacred chest was kept in the most holy place. 20-22#Ex 30.1-3. This room was nine meters long, nine meters wide, and nine meters high, and it was lined with pure gold. There were also gold chains across the front of the most holy place. The inside of the temple, as well as the cedar altar in the most holy place, was covered with gold.
23 #
Ex 25.18-20. Solomon had two statues of winged creatures#6.23 statues of winged creatures: These were symbols of the Lord's throne on earth (see Exodus 25.18-22). made from olive wood to put in the most holy place. Each creature was four and a half meters tall 24-26and four and a half meters across. They had two wings, and the wings were just over two meters long. 27Solomon put them next to each other in the most holy place. Their wings were spread out and reached across the room. 28The creatures were also covered with gold.
29The walls of the two rooms were decorated with carvings of palm trees, flowers, and winged creatures. 30Even the floor was covered with gold.
31-32The two doors to the most holy place were made out of olive wood and were decorated with carvings of palm trees, flowers, and winged creatures. The doors and the carvings were covered with gold. The door frame came to a point at the top.
33-34The two doors to the main room of the temple were made out of pine, and each one had two sections#6.33,34 two sections: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. so they could fold open. The door frame was shaped like a rectangle and was made out of olive wood. 35The doors were covered with gold and were decorated with carvings of palm trees, flowers, and winged creatures.
36The inner courtyard of the temple had walls made out of three layers of cut stones with one layer of cedar beams.
37Work began on the temple during Ziv,#6.37 Ziv: See the note at 6.1. the second month of the year, four years after Solomon became king of Israel. 38Seven years later the workers finished building it during Bul,#6.38 Bul: The eighth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-October to mid-November. the eighth month of the year. It was built exactly as it had been planned.
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© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.