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2 Chronicles 3
The Message

3 1-4 So Solomon broke ground, launched construction of the house of God in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the place where God had appeared to his father David. The precise site, the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, had been designated by David. He broke ground on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his rule. These are the dimensions that Solomon set for the construction of the house of God: ninety feet long and thirty feet wide. The porch in front stretched the width of the building, that is, thirty feet; and it was thirty feet high.

4-7 The interior was gold-plated. He paneled the main hall with cypress and veneered it with fine gold engraved with palm tree and chain designs. He decorated the building with precious stones and gold from Parvaim. Everything was coated with gold veneer: rafters, doorframes, walls, and doors. Cherubim were engraved on the walls.

8-9 He made the Holy of Holies a cube, thirty feet wide, long, and high. It was veneered with six hundred talents (something over twenty-two tons) of gold. The gold nails weighed fifty shekels (a little over a pound). The upper rooms were also veneered in gold.

10-13 He made two sculptures of cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, for the Holy of Holies, both veneered with gold. The combined wingspread of the side-by-side cherubim (each wing measuring seven and a half feet) stretched from wall to wall, thirty feet. They stood erect facing the main hall.

14 He fashioned the curtain of violet, purple, and crimson fabric and worked a cherub design into it.

15-17 He made two huge free-standing pillars, each fifty-two feet tall, their capitals extending another seven and a half feet. The top of each pillar was set off with an elaborate filigree of chains, like necklaces, from which hung a hundred pomegranates. He placed the pillars in front of The Temple, one on the right, and the other on the left. The right pillar he named Jakin (Security) and the left pillar he named Boaz (Stability).

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2 Chronicles 3
Holman Christian Standard Bible

Building the Temple

3 Then Solomon began(A) to build the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah(B) where the Lord[a] had appeared to his father David, at the site David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan[b] the Jebusite. 2 He began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign. 3 These are Solomon’s foundations[c] for building God’s temple: the length[d] was 90 feet,[e] and the width 30 feet.[f] 4 The portico, which was across the front extending across the width of the temple, was 30 feet[g] wide; its height was 30 feet;[h][i] he overlaid its inner surface with pure gold. 5 The larger room[j] he paneled with cypress wood, overlaid with fine gold, and decorated with palm trees and chains. 6 He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was the gold of Parvaim. 7 He overlaid the temple—the beams, the thresholds, its walls and doors—with gold,(C) and he carved cherubim on the walls.(D)

The Most Holy Place

8 Then he made the most holy place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple, 30 feet,[k] and its width was 30 feet.[l](E) He overlaid it with 45,000 pounds[m] of fine gold. 9 The weight of the nails was 20 ounces[n] of gold, and he overlaid the ceiling with gold.

10 He made(F) two cherubim of sculptured work, for the most holy place, and he overlaid them with gold. 11 The overall length of the wings of the cherubim was 30 feet:[o] the wing of one was 7½ feet,[p] touching the wall of the room; its other wing was 7½ feet,[q] touching the wing of the other cherub. 12 The wing of the other[r] cherub was 7½ feet,[s] touching the wall of the room; its other wing was 7½ feet,[t] reaching the wing of the other cherub. 13 The wingspan of these cherubim was 30 feet.[u] They stood on their feet and faced the larger room.[v]

14 He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, and he wove cherubim into it.(G)

The Bronze Pillars

15 In front of the temple(H) he made two pillars, each 27 feet[w][x] high. The capital on top of each was 7½ feet[y] high. 16 He had made chainwork in the inner sanctuary and also put it on top of the pillars.(I) He made 100 pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork. 17 Then he set up the pillars in front of the sanctuary, one on the right and one on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin[z] and the one on the left Boaz.[aa]

Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 3:1 LXX; Tg reads the Angel of the Lord; MT reads He
  2. 2 Chronicles 3:1 = Araunah in 2Sm 24:16-24
  3. 2 Chronicles 3:3 Tg reads The measurements which Solomon decreed
  4. 2 Chronicles 3:3 Lit length—cubits in the former measure—
  5. 2 Chronicles 3:3 Lit 60 cubits
  6. 2 Chronicles 3:3 Lit 20 cubits
  7. 2 Chronicles 3:4 Lit 20 cubits
  8. 2 Chronicles 3:4 LXX, Syr; MT reads 120 cubits
  9. 2 Chronicles 3:4 Lit 20 cubits
  10. 2 Chronicles 3:5 Lit The house
  11. 2 Chronicles 3:8 Lit 20 cubits
  12. 2 Chronicles 3:8 Lit 20 cubits
  13. 2 Chronicles 3:8 Lit 600 talents
  14. 2 Chronicles 3:9 Lit 50 shekels
  15. 2 Chronicles 3:11 Lit 20 cubits
  16. 2 Chronicles 3:11 Lit five cubits
  17. 2 Chronicles 3:11 Lit five cubits
  18. 2 Chronicles 3:12 Syr, Vg; MT reads the one
  19. 2 Chronicles 3:12 Lit five cubits
  20. 2 Chronicles 3:12 Lit five cubits
  21. 2 Chronicles 3:13 Lit 20 cubits
  22. 2 Chronicles 3:13 Lit the house
  23. 2 Chronicles 3:15 Hb uncertain
  24. 2 Chronicles 3:15 Lit 35 cubits
  25. 2 Chronicles 3:15 Lit five cubits
  26. 2 Chronicles 3:17 = He Will Establish
  27. 2 Chronicles 3:17 = Strength Is in Him
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

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