1 Kings 5:12-6:13

New International Version

¹² The Lord gave Solomon wisdom,^(A) just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.^(B)

¹³ King Solomon conscripted laborers^(C) from all Israel—thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram^(D) was in charge of the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, ¹⁶ as well as thirty-three hundred^[a] foremen^(E) who supervised the project and directed the workers. ¹⁷ At the king’s command they removed from the quarry^(F) large blocks of high-grade stone^(G) to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. ¹⁸ The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram^(H) and workers from Byblos^(I) cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.

Solomon Builds the Temple^(J)

6 In the four hundred and eightieth^[b] year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month,^(K) he began to build the temple of the Lord.^(L)

² The temple^(M) that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.^{[c] 3} The portico^(N) at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits,^[d] and projected ten cubits^[e] from the front of the temple. ⁴ He made narrow windows^(O) high up in the temple walls. ⁵ Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.^{(P) 6} The lowest floor was five cubits^[f] wide, the middle floor six cubits^[g] and the third floor seven.^[h] He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

⁷ In building the temple, only blocks dressed^(Q) at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool^(R) was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

⁸ The entrance to the lowest^[i] floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. ⁹ So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar^(S) planks. ¹⁰ And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.

¹¹ The word of the Lord came^(T) to Solomon: ¹² “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands^(U) and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise^(V) I gave to David your father. ¹³ And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon^(W) my people Israel.”