14 (A)So Solomon built the house and finished it. 15 He (B)built the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the [a]ceiling he paneled the walls on the inside with wood, and he paneled the floor of the house with boards of juniper. 16 (C)He also built [b]twenty cubits on the rear part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the [c]ceiling; he built them for it on the inside as an inner sanctuary, as (D)the Most Holy Place. 17 The house, that is, the main room in front of the inner sanctuary, was [d]forty cubits long. 18 There was cedar inside the house, carved in the shape of (E)gourds and open flowers; everything was cedar, there was no stone visible. 19 Then he prepared an inner sanctuary inside the house in order to place there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 [e]The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height; and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also paneled the altar with cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. And he extended chains of gold across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. 22 He overlaid the entire house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also (F)the entire altar which was by the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

23 (G)And in the inner sanctuary he made two [f]cherubim of olive wood, each [g]ten cubits high. 24 The one wing of the first cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the first cherub was five cubits; from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing were ten cubits. 25 The second cherub was ten cubits; both of the cherubim were of the same measurement and the same form. 26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. 27 He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and (H)the wings of the cherubim spread out so that the wing of the one was touching the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall. And their wings were touching [h]end to [i]end in the center of the house. 28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 Then he carved all the surrounding walls of the house with engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, for the inner and outer sanctuaries. 30 And he overlaid the floor of the house with gold, for the inner and outer sanctuaries.

31 And for the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood, the lintel, and five-sided doorposts. 32 So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he overlaid the cherubim and the palm trees with gold.

33 So too he made for the entrance of the main room four-sided doorposts of olive wood, 34 and (I)two doors of juniper wood; the two leaves of the one door turned on pivots, and the two [j]leaves of the other door turned on pivots. 35 He carved on it cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold plated on the carved work. 36 And (J)he built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.

37 (K)In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and in accordance with all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 6:15 Lit walls of the ceiling
  2. 1 Kings 6:16 About 30 ft. or 9 m
  3. 1 Kings 6:16 Lit walls
  4. 1 Kings 6:17 About 60 ft. or 18 m
  5. 1 Kings 6:20 Lit Before the
  6. 1 Kings 6:23 Heb plural of cherub
  7. 1 Kings 6:23 About 15 ft. or 4.6 m
  8. 1 Kings 6:27 Lit wing
  9. 1 Kings 6:27 Lit wing
  10. 1 Kings 6:34 As in LXX; MT curtains

14 So Solomon(A) built the temple and completed(B) it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling,(C) and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper.(D) 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.(E) 17 The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits[a] long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar,(F) carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.

19 He prepared the inner sanctuary(G) within the temple to set the ark of the covenant(H) of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary(I) was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.(J) 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

23 For the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim(K) out of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. 25 The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape. 26 The height of each cherub was ten cubits. 27 He placed the cherubim(L) inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 On the walls(M) all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim,(N) palm trees and open flowers. 30 He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors out of olive wood that were one fifth of the width of the sanctuary. 32 And on the two olive-wood doors(O) he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. 33 In the same way, for the entrance to the main hall he made doorframes out of olive wood that were one fourth of the width of the hall. 34 He also made two doors out of juniper wood, each having two leaves that turned in sockets. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

36 And he built the inner courtyard(P) of three courses(Q) of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams.

37 The foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. 38 In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details(R) according to its specifications.(S) He had spent seven years building it.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 6:17 That is, about 60 feet or about 18 meters