Solomon Requests Wisdom(A)

Now (B)Solomon made [a]a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her (C)to the City of David until he had finished building his (D)own house, and (E)the house of the Lord, and (F)the wall all around Jerusalem.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 3:1 an alliance

24 But (A)Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to (B)her house which [a]Solomon had built for her. (C)Then he built the Millo.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:24 Lit. he; cf. 2 Chr. 8:11

Solomon’s Heart Turns from the Lord

11 But (A)King Solomon loved (B)many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—

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Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (A)(that is, the City of David).

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11 And thus they returned us an answer, saying: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the [a]temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built (A)and completed.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 5:11 Lit. house

Micaiah Warns Ahab(A)

18 Jehoshaphat (B)had riches and honor in abundance; and by marriage he (C)allied himself with (D)Ahab.

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11 Now Solomon (A)brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

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Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple(A)

Then Solomon (B)determined to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a royal house for himself. (C)Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.

Then Solomon sent to [a]Hiram king of Tyre, saying:

(D)As you have dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in, so deal with me. Behold, (E)I am building a temple for the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him, (F)to burn before Him [b]sweet incense, for (G)the continual showbread, for (H)the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the (I)Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the [c]set feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 2:3 Heb. Huram; cf. 1 Kin. 5:1
  2. 2 Chronicles 2:4 Lit. incense of spices
  3. 2 Chronicles 2:4 appointed

Then David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it [a]the City of David.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 11:7 Zion, 2 Sam. 5:7

Solomon’s Additional Achievements(A)

15 And this is the reason for (B)the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord, his own house, [a]the (C)Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, (D)Hazor, (E)Megiddo, and (F)Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, (G)had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17 And Solomon built Gezer, Lower (H)Beth Horon, 18 (I)Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19 all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for (J)his chariots and cities for his (K)cavalry, and whatever Solomon (L)desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:15 Lit. The Landfill

Solomon Builds the Temple(A)

And (B)it came to pass in the four hundred and [a]eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of [b]Ziv, which is the second month, (C)that he began to build the house of the Lord. Now (D)the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. The vestibule in front of the [c]sanctuary of the house was [d]twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the width of [e]the vestibule extended [f]ten cubits from the front of the house. And he made for the house (E)windows with beveled frames.

Against the wall of the [g]temple he built (F)chambers all around, against the walls of the temple, all around the sanctuary (G)and the [h]inner sanctuary. Thus he made side chambers all around it. The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the temple, so that the support beams would not be fastened into the walls of the [i]temple. And (H)the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. The doorway for the [j]middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.

(I)So he built the [k]temple and finished it, and he paneled the temple with beams and boards of cedar. 10 And he built side chambers against the entire temple, each five cubits high; they were attached to the temple with cedar beams.

11 Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: 12 Concerning this [l]temple which you are building, (J)if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My [m]word with you, (K)which I spoke to your father David. 13 And (L)I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not (M)forsake My people Israel.”

14 So Solomon built the temple and finished it. 15 And he built the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards; from the floor of the temple to the ceiling he paneled the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the temple with planks of cypress. 16 Then he built the twenty-cubit room at the rear of the temple, from floor to ceiling, with cedar boards; he built it inside as the inner sanctuary, as the (N)Most Holy Place. 17 And in front of it the temple sanctuary was forty cubits long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with ornamental buds and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone to be seen.

19 And he prepared the [n]inner sanctuary inside the temple, to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 The whole temple he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the temple; also he overlaid with gold (O)the entire altar that was by the inner sanctuary.

23 Inside the inner sanctuary (P)he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits: ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25 And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and shape. 26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub. 27 Then he set the cherubim inside the inner [o]room; and (Q)they stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 Also he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved (R)figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. 30 And the floor of the temple he overlaid with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were [p]one-fifth of the wall. 32 The two doors were of olive wood; and he carved on them figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. 33 So for the door of the [q]sanctuary he also made doorposts of olive wood, [r]one-fourth of the wall. 34 And the two doors were of cypress wood; (S)two panels comprised one folding door, and two panels comprised the other folding door. 35 Then he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and overlaid them with gold applied evenly on the carved work.

36 And he built the (T)inner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.

37 (U)In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of [s]Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of [t]Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was (V)seven years in building it.

Solomon’s Other Buildings

But Solomon took (W)thirteen years to build his own house; so he finished all his house.

He also built the (X)House of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was [u]one hundred cubits, its width [v]fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, with four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar beams on the pillars. And it was paneled with cedar above the beams that were on forty-five pillars, fifteen to a row. There were windows with beveled frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three tiers. And all the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames; and window was opposite window in three tiers.

He also made the Hall of Pillars: its length was fifty cubits, and its width thirty cubits; and in front of them was a portico with pillars, and a canopy was in front of them.

Then he made a hall for the throne, the Hall of Judgment, where he might judge; and it was paneled with cedar from floor to [w]ceiling.

And the house where he dwelt had another court inside the hall, of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, (Y)whom he had taken as wife.

All these were of costly stones cut to size, trimmed with saws, inside and out, from the foundation to the eaves, and also on the outside to the great court. 10 The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some ten cubits and some eight cubits. 11 And above were costly stones, hewn to size, and cedar wood. 12 The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewn stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the (Z)inner court of the house of the Lord (AA)and the vestibule of the temple.

Hiram the Craftsman

13 Now King Solomon sent and brought [x]Huram from Tyre. 14 (AB)He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and (AC)his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; (AD)he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill in working with all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.

The Bronze Pillars for the Temple(AE)

15 And he [y]cast (AF)two pillars of bronze, each one eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of each.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 6:1 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX fortieth
  2. 1 Kings 6:1 Or Ayyar, April or May
  3. 1 Kings 6:3 Heb. heykal; here the main room of the temple; elsewhere called the holy place, Ex. 26:33; Ezek. 41:1
  4. 1 Kings 6:3 About 30 feet
  5. 1 Kings 6:3 Lit. it
  6. 1 Kings 6:3 About 15 feet
  7. 1 Kings 6:5 Lit. house
  8. 1 Kings 6:5 Heb. debir; here the inner room of the temple; elsewhere called the Most Holy Place, v. 16
  9. 1 Kings 6:6 Lit. house
  10. 1 Kings 6:8 So with MT, Vg.; LXX upper story; Tg. ground story
  11. 1 Kings 6:9 Lit. house
  12. 1 Kings 6:12 Lit. house
  13. 1 Kings 6:12 promise
  14. 1 Kings 6:19 The Most Holy Place
  15. 1 Kings 6:27 Lit. house
  16. 1 Kings 6:31 Or five-sided
  17. 1 Kings 6:33 temple
  18. 1 Kings 6:33 Or four-sided
  19. 1 Kings 6:37 Or Ayyar, April or May
  20. 1 Kings 6:38 Or Heshvan, October or November
  21. 1 Kings 7:2 About 150 feet
  22. 1 Kings 7:2 About 75 feet
  23. 1 Kings 7:7 Lit. floor of the upper level
  24. 1 Kings 7:13 Heb. Hiram; cf. 2 Chr. 2:13, 14
  25. 1 Kings 7:15 fashioned

14 should we (A)again break Your commandments, and (B)join in marriage with the people committing these abominations? Would You not be (C)angry with us until You had [a]consumed us, so that there would be no remnant or survivor?

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 9:14 destroyed

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