2 Chronicles 3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 3
Building of the Temple. 1 (A)Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah,[a] which had been shown to David his father, in the place David had prepared, the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. 3 These were the specifications laid down by Solomon for building the house of God: the length was sixty cubits according to the old measure, and the width was twenty cubits;(B) 4 the front porch along the width of the house was also twenty cubits, and it was twenty cubits high.[b] He covered its interior with pure gold.(C) 5 The nave he overlaid with cypress wood and overlaid that with fine gold, embossing on it palms and chains.(D) 6 He also covered the house with precious stones for splendor; the gold was from Parvaim. 7 The house, its beams and thresholds, as well as its walls and its doors, he overlaid with gold, and he engraved cherubim upon the walls. 8 He also made the room of the holy of holies. Its length corresponded to the width of the house, twenty cubits, and its width was also twenty cubits. He overlaid it with fine gold to the amount of six hundred talents.(E) 9 The weight of the nails was fifty gold shekels. The upper chambers he likewise overlaid with gold.
10 (F)For the room of the holy of holies he made two cherubim of carved workmanship, which were then covered with gold. 11 The wings of the cherubim spanned twenty cubits: one wing of each cherub, five cubits in length, extended to a wall of the house, while the other wing, also five cubits in length, touched the corresponding wing of the other cherub. 12 The wing of the cherub, five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, five cubits, was joined to the wing of the other cherub. 13 The combined wingspread of the two cherubim was thus twenty cubits. They stood upon their own feet, facing toward the nave. 14 He made the veil[c] of violet, purple, crimson, and fine linen, and had cherubim embroidered upon it.(G)
15 (H)In front of the house he set two columns thirty-five cubits high; the capital of each was five cubits. 16 He devised chains in the form of a collar with which he encircled the capitals of the columns, and he made a hundred pomegranates which he set on the chains. 17 He set up the columns to correspond with the nave, one for the right side and the other for the left, and he called the one to the right Jachin and the one to the left Boaz.
Footnotes
- 3:1 Mount Moriah: Gn 22:2 speaks of a “height in the land of Moriah.” This is the only place in the Bible where the Temple mount is identified with the site where Abraham was to have sacrificed Isaac.
- 3:4 The front porch…twenty cubits high: this figure, not given in 1 Kgs 7, is based on a variant Greek text that may be due to a later revision. The Hebrew text itself has “one hundred and twenty cubits high.” The Chronicler nearly doubles the height of the two free-standing columns adjacent to the porch in 2 Chr 3:15 as compared with the source, 1 Kgs 7:15–16.
- 3:14 The veil: this was suspended at the entrance of the holy of holies, in imitation of the veil of the Mosaic meeting tent (Ex 26:31–32). Solomon’s Temple had doors at this point, according to 1 Kgs 6:31. Apparently the Temple of the Chronicler’s time did have a veil, just as did Herod’s Temple (Mt 27:51; Mk 15:38; Lk 23:45).
2 Chronicles 3
Jubilee Bible 2000
3 ¶ Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in the Mount Moriah which had been shown unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan, the Jebusite.
2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.
3 Now these are the measurements on which Solomon founded the building of the house of God. The first measurement was the length of sixty cubits and the breadth of twenty cubits.
4 And the porch that was in the front of the length was of twenty cubits, according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was one hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
5 And the greater house he covered with fir wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.
6 And he also covered the house with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was gold of Parvaim.
7 Thus did he cover the house, its beams, its posts, its walls, and its doors, with gold and engraved cherubim on the walls.
8 And he made the house of the holy of holies, its length was twenty cubits, according to the breadth of the house, and its breadth was twenty cubits, and he covered it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.
9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
10 ¶ And inside the house of the holy of holies he made two cherubim of figured work and overlaid them with gold.
11 And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long; one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.
12 And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub.
13 The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits, and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward.
14 And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen and wrought cherubim thereon.
15 Also he made in front of the house two pillars of thirty-five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.
16 And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars and made one hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.
17 And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left, and called the name of the one on the right hand Jachin, {Heb. The LORD establishes} and the name of the one on the left Boaz. {Heb. Only in Him is there strength}
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