1 Kings 6-7

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

6 And 480 years after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the second month, Ziv, he began to build the Lord’s house.

² The length of the house Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits, its breadth twenty, and its height thirty cubits.

³ The length of the vestibule in front of the temple was twenty cubits, equal to the width of the house, and its depth in front of the house was ten cubits.

⁴ For the house he made narrow [latticed] windows.

⁵ Against the wall of the house he built chambers running round the walls of the house both of the Holy Place and of the Holy of Holies; and he made side chambers all around.

⁶ The first story’s side chambers were five cubits wide, those of the middle story six cubits wide, and of the third story seven cubits wide; for around the outside of the wall of the house he made offsets in order that the supporting beams should not be thrust into the walls of the house.

⁷ When the house was being built, its stone was made ready at the quarry, and no hammer, ax, or tool of iron was heard in the house while it was in building.

⁸ The entrance to the lowest side chamber was on the right [or south] side of the house; and one went up winding stairs into the middle chamber and from the middle into the third.

⁹ So Solomon built the temple building and finished it, and roofed the house with beams and boards of cedar.

¹⁰ Then he built the stories of chambers [the lean-to] against all the house, each [story] five cubits high; and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

¹¹ Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,

¹² Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes, execute My precepts, and keep all My commandments to walk in them, then I will fulfill to you My promises which I made to David your father.

¹³ And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not forsake My people Israel.

¹⁴ So Solomon built the house and finished it.

¹⁵ He built the walls of the house (the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies) within with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the rafters of the ceiling. He covered the inside with wood, and the floor of the house with boards of cypress.

¹⁶ He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the rafters; he built it within for the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.

¹⁷ The [rest of the] house, that is, the temple in front of the Holy of Holies, was forty cubits long.

¹⁸ The cedar on the house within was carved with gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was visible.

¹⁹ And he prepared the Holy of Holies in the inner room in which to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

²⁰ The Holy of Holies was twenty cubits in length, in breadth, and in height. He overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar.

²¹ Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across in front of the Holy of Holies and overlaid it with gold.

²² And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole [incense] altar that [stood outside the door but] belonged to the Holy of Holies he overlaid with gold.

²³ Within the Holy of Holies he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.

²⁴ Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub and five cubits its other wing; from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits.

²⁵ The wings of the other cherub were also ten cubits. Both cherubim were the same,

²⁶ The height of one cherub ten cubits, as was the other.

²⁷ He put the cherubim within the inner sanctuary. Their wings were stretched out, so that the wing of one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and their inner wings touched in the midst of the room.

²⁸ Solomon overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ He carved all the walls of the house (these two holy rooms) round about with figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, within and without.

³⁰ The floor of the house he overlaid with gold, inside and out.

³¹ For the Holy of Holies he made [folding] doors of olive wood; their entire width was one-fifth that of the wall.

³² On the two doors of olive wood he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; he overlaid them with gold, and spread gold on the cherubim and palm trees.

³³ Also he made for the door of the Holy Place four-sided posts of olive wood.

³⁴ The two doors were of cypress wood; the two leaves of each door were folding.

³⁵ He carved on them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, covered with gold evenly applied on the carved work.

³⁶ He built the inner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.

³⁷ In the fourth year the foundation of the Lord’s house was laid, in the [second] month, Ziv.

³⁸ In the eleventh year, in Bul, the eighth month, the house was finished throughout according to all its specifications. So he was seven years in building it.

7 Solomon was building his own house ^[a]thirteen years, and he finished all of it.

² He built also the Forest of Lebanon House; its length was a hundred cubits, its breadth fifty, and its height thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.

³ And it was covered with cedar above the side chambers that were upon the forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row.

⁴ There were window frames in three rows, and window opposite window in three tiers.

⁵ All the doorways and windows were square cut, and window was opposite window in three tiers.

⁶ He also made the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits and its breadth thirty cubits. There was a porch in front, and pillars and a cornice before them.

⁷ He made the porch for the throne where he was to judge, the Porch of Judgment; it was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling.

⁸ His house where he was to dwell had another court behind the Porch of Judgment of similar work. Solomon also made a house like this porch for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

⁹ All were of costly stones hewn according to measure, sawed with saws back and front, even from foundation to coping, and from the outside to the great court.

¹⁰ The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones of eight and ten cubits.

¹¹ And above were costly stones hewn according to measure, and cedar timbers.

¹² Also the great encircling court had three courses of hewn stone and a course of cedar beams, like was around the inner court of the house of the Lord and the porch of the house.

¹³ King Solomon brought Hiram from Tyre.

¹⁴ He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. He was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill to do any kind of work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and did all his [bronze] work.

¹⁵ He fashioned the two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference.

¹⁶ He made two capitals of molten bronze to set upon the tops of the pillars; the height of each capital was five cubits.

¹⁷ Nets of checkerwork and wreaths of chainwork for the capitals were on the tops of the pillars, seven for each capital.

¹⁸ So Hiram made the pillars. There were two rows of pomegranates encircling each network to cover the capitals that were upon the top.

¹⁹ The capitals that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work [design], four cubits.

²⁰ The capitals were upon the two pillars and also above the rounded projection beside the network. There were 200 pomegranates in two rows round about, and so with the other capital.

²¹ Hiram set up the pillars of the porch of the temple; he set up the right pillar and called its name Jachin [he will establish], and he set up the left pillar and called its name Boaz [in strength].

²² On the tops of the pillars was lily work [design]. So the work of the pillars was finished.

²³ He made a round molten Sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, five cubits high and thirty cubits in circumference.^(A)

²⁴ Under its brim were gourds encircling the Sea, ten to a cubit; the gourds were in two rows, cast in one piece with it.

²⁵ It stood upon twelve oxen, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east; the Sea was set upon them, and all their rears pointed inward.

²⁶ It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held 2,000 baths [Hebrew liquid measurement].

²⁷ Hiram made ten bronze bases [for the lavers]; their length and breadth were four cubits, and the height three cubits.

²⁸ This is the way the bases were made: they had panels between the ledges.

²⁹ On the panels between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and upon the ledges there was a pedestal above. Beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

³⁰ And every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a laver. Beneath the laver the supports were cast, with wreaths at the side of each.

³¹ Its mouth within the capital projected upward a cubit, and its mouth was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half. Also upon its mouth were carvings, and their borders were square, not round.

³² Under the borders were four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were one piece with the base. And the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.

³³ The wheels were made like a chariot wheel: their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.

³⁴ There were four supports to the four corners of each base; the supports were part of the base itself.

³⁵ On the top of the base there was a circular elevation half a cubit high, and on the top of the base its stays and panels were of one piece with it.

³⁶ And on the surface of its stays and its panels Hiram carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about.

³⁷ Thus he made the ten bases. They all had one casting, one measure, and one form.

³⁸ Then he made ten lavers of bronze; each laver held forty baths and measured four cubits, and there was one laver on each of the ten bases.

³⁹ He put the bases five on the south side of the house and five on the north side; and he set the Sea at the southeast corner of the house.

⁴⁰ Hiram made the lavers, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the Lord:

⁴¹ The two pillars; and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the two pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls;

⁴² And the 400 pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the pillars;

⁴³ The ten bases and the ten lavers on the bases;

⁴⁴ One Sea, and the twelve oxen under it;

⁴⁵ The pots, the shovels, and the basins. All these vessels which Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze.

⁴⁶ In the Jordan plain the king cast them, in clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were so many; the weight of the bronze was not found out.

⁴⁸ Solomon made all the other vessels of the Lord’s house: the [incense] altar of gold; the table of gold for the showbread;

⁴⁹ The lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the Holy of Holies; with the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold;

⁵⁰ The cups, snuffers, basins, spoons, firepans—of pure gold; and the hinges of gold for the doors of the innermost room, the Holy of Holies, and for the doors of the Holy Place.

⁵¹ So all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was completed. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of the Lord’s house.