2 Chronicles 3
New King James Version
Solomon Builds the Temple(A)
3 Now (B)Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at (C)Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where [a]the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of (D)Ornan[b] the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
3 This is the foundation (E)which Solomon laid for building the house of God: The length was sixty cubits (by cubits according to the former measure) and the width twenty cubits. 4 And the (F)vestibule that was in front of [c]the sanctuary was twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the height was [d]one hundred and twenty. He overlaid the inside with pure gold. 5 (G)The larger [e]room he (H)paneled with cypress which he overlaid with fine gold, and he carved palm trees and chainwork on it. 6 And he decorated the house with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was gold from Parvaim. 7 He also overlaid the house—the beams and doorposts, its walls and doors—with gold; and he carved cherubim on the walls.
8 And he made the (I)Most Holy Place. Its length was according to the width of the house, twenty cubits, and its width twenty cubits. He overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold. 9 The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold; and he overlaid the upper (J)area with gold. 10 (K)In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim, fashioned by carving, and overlaid them with gold. 11 The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits in overall length: one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, touching the wall of the room, and the other wing was five cubits, touching the wing of the other cherub; 12 one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, touching the wall of the room, and the other wing also was five cubits, touching the wing of the other cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubim spanned twenty cubits overall. They stood on their feet, and they faced inward. 14 And he made the (L)veil of blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen, and wove cherubim into it.
15 Also he made in front of the [f]temple (M)two pillars [g]thirty-five cubits [h]high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits. 16 He made wreaths of chainwork, as in the inner sanctuary, and put them on top of the pillars; and he made (N)one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the wreaths of chainwork. 17 Then he (O)set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; he called the name of the one on the right hand [i]Jachin, and the name of the one on the left [j]Boaz.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 3:1 Lit. He, following MT, Vg.; LXX the Lord; Tg. the Angel of the Lord
- 2 Chronicles 3:1 Araunah, 2 Sam. 24:16ff
- 2 Chronicles 3:4 The holy place, the main room of the temple, 1 Kin. 6:3
- 2 Chronicles 3:4 So with MT, LXX, Vg.; Arab., some LXX mss., Syr. twenty
- 2 Chronicles 3:5 Lit. house
- 2 Chronicles 3:15 Lit. house
- 2 Chronicles 3:15 eighteen, 1 Kin. 7:15; 2 Kin. 25:17; Jer. 52:21
- 2 Chronicles 3:15 Lit. long
- 2 Chronicles 3:17 Lit. He Shall Establish
- 2 Chronicles 3:17 Lit. In It Is Strength
2 Chronicles 3
Living Bible
3 Finally the actual construction of the Temple began. Its location was in Jerusalem at the top of Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to Solomon’s father, King David, and where the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite had been. David had selected it as the site for the Temple. 2 The actual construction began on the seventeenth day of April in the fourth year of King Solomon’s reign.
3 The foundation was ninety feet long and thirty feet wide. 4 A covered porch ran along the entire thirty-foot width of the Temple, with the inner walls and ceiling overlaid with pure gold! The roof was 180 feet high.
5 The main part of the Temple was paneled with cypress wood, plated with pure gold, and engraved with palm trees and chains. 6 Beautiful jewels were inlaid into the walls to add to the beauty; the gold, by the way, was of the best, from Parvaim. 7 All the walls, beams, doors, and thresholds throughout the Temple were plated with gold, with Guardian Angels engraved on the walls.
8 Within the Temple, at one end, was the most sacred room—the Holy of Holies—thirty feet square. This too was overlaid with the finest gold, valued at millions of dollars. 9 Twenty-six-ounce gold nails were used. The upper rooms were also plated with pure gold.
10 Within the innermost room, the Holy of Holies, Solomon placed two sculptured statues of Guardian Angels and plated them with gold. 11-13 They stood on the floor facing the outer room, with wings stretched wing tip to wing tip across the room, from wall to wall.[a] 14 Across the entrance to this room he placed a veil of blue and crimson finespun linen, decorated with Guardian Angels.
15 At the front of the Temple were two pillars 52-1/2 feet high, topped by a 7-1/2-foot capital flaring out to the roof. 16 He made chains[b] and placed them on top of the pillars, with 100 pomegranates attached to the chains. 17 Then he set up the pillars at the front of the Temple, one on the right and the other on the left. And he gave them names: Jachin (the one on the right), and Boaz (the one on the left).
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 3:11 with wings stretched . . . from wall to wall, literally, “one wing of a cherub, five cubits long.”
- 2 Chronicles 3:16 chains, literally, “chains in the Holy of Holies.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.