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1 Kings 6
Christian Standard Bible

Building the Temple

6 Solomon began to build the temple for the Lord in the four hundred eightieth year(A) after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month.[a](B) 2 The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord(C) was ninety feet[b] long, thirty feet[c] wide, and forty-five feet[d] high.(D) 3 The portico in front of the temple sanctuary was thirty feet long extending across the temple’s width, and fifteen feet deep[e] in front of the temple.(E) 4 He also made windows with beveled frames[f] for the temple.(F)

5 He then built a chambered structure[g] along the temple wall, encircling the walls of the temple, that is, the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary.(G) And he made side chambers[h] all around.(H) 6 The lowest chamber was 7½ feet[i] wide, the middle was 9 feet[j] wide, and the third was 10½ feet[k] wide. He also provided offset ledges for the temple all around the outside so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls. 7 The temple’s construction used finished stones cut at the quarry so that no hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.(I)

8 The door for the lowest[l] side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They[m] went up a stairway[n] to the middle chamber, and from the middle to the third. 9 When he finished building the temple,(J) he paneled it with boards and planks of cedar. 10 He built the chambers along the entire temple, joined to the temple with cedar beams;(K) each story was 7½ feet high.

11 The word of the Lord came to Solomon:(L) 12 “As for this temple you are building—if you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep all my commands by walking in them,(M) I will fulfill my promise to you, which I made to your father David.(N) 13 I will dwell among the Israelites and not abandon my people Israel.”(O)

14 When Solomon finished building the temple,[o](P) 15 he paneled the interior temple walls with cedar boards; from the temple floor to the surface of the ceiling he overlaid the interior with wood. He also overlaid the floor with cypress boards.(Q) 16 Then he lined thirty feet of the rear of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the surface of the ceiling,[p] and he built the interior as an inner sanctuary, the most holy place.(R) 17 The temple, that is, the sanctuary in front of the most holy place,[q] was sixty feet[r] long. 18 The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with ornamental gourds(S) and flower blossoms. Everything was cedar;(T) not a stone could be seen.

19 He prepared the inner sanctuary(U) inside the temple to put the ark of the Lord’s covenant(V) there. 20 The interior of the sanctuary was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high; he overlaid it with pure gold.(W) He also overlaid the cedar altar. 21 Next, Solomon overlaid the interior of the temple with pure gold, and he hung[s] gold chains(X) across the front of the inner sanctuary(Y) and overlaid it with gold. 22 So he added the gold overlay to the entire temple until everything was completely finished, including the entire altar(Z) that belongs to the inner sanctuary.

23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim(AA) 15 feet[t] high out of olive wood. 24 One wing of the first cherub was 7½ feet long, and the other wing was 7½ feet long. The wingspan was 15 feet from tip to tip. 25 The second cherub also was 15 feet; both cherubim had the same size and shape. 26 The first cherub’s height was 15 feet and so was the second cherub’s. 27 Then he put the cherubim inside the inner temple. Since their wings were spread out, the first one’s wing touched one wall while the second cherub’s wing touched the other[u] wall, and in the middle of the temple their wings were touching wing to wing.(AB) 28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 He carved all the surrounding temple walls with carved engravings—cherubim,(AC) palm trees, and flower blossoms—in the inner and outer sanctuaries. 30 He overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and the outer sanctuaries.

31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made olive wood doors.(AD) The pillars of the doorposts were five-sided.[v] 32 The two doors were made of olive wood. He carved cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold, hammering gold over the cherubim and palm trees. 33 In the same way, he made four-sided[w] olive wood doorposts for the sanctuary entrance. 34 The two doors(AE) were made of cypress wood; the first door had two folding sides, and the second door had two folding panels. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold applied evenly over the carving. 36 He built the inner courtyard(AF) with three rows of dressed stone(AG) and a row of trimmed cedar beams.

37 The foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid in Solomon’s fourth year in the month of Ziv. 38 In his eleventh year in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month,[x] the temple was completed in every detail and according to every specification.(AH) So he built it in seven years.(AI)

Footnotes

  1. 6:1 April–May
  2. 6:2 Lit 60 cubits
  3. 6:2 Lit 20 cubits, also in vv. 3,16,20
  4. 6:2 Lit 30 cubits
  5. 6:3 Lit 10 cubits wide
  6. 6:4 Hb obscure
  7. 6:5 Lit built the temple of chamber
  8. 6:5 Lit made ribs or sides
  9. 6:6 Lit five cubits, also in vv. 10,24
  10. 6:6 Lit six cubits
  11. 6:6 Lit seven cubits
  12. 6:8 LXX, Tg; MT reads middle
  13. 6:8 = People
  14. 6:8 Hb obscure
  15. 6:11–14 LXX omits these vv.
  16. 6:16 LXX; MT omits of the ceiling; 1Kg 6:15
  17. 6:17 Lit front of me; Hb obscure
  18. 6:17 Lit 40 cubits
  19. 6:21 Lit he caused to pass across
  20. 6:23 Lit 10 cubits, also in vv. 24,25,26
  21. 6:27 Lit the second
  22. 6:31 Hb obscure
  23. 6:33 Hb obscure
  24. 6:38 = October–November
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1 Kings 6
Living Bible

6 It was in the spring of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign that he began the actual construction of the Temple. (This was 480 years after the people of Israel left their slavery in Egypt.) 2 The Temple was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. 3 All along the front of the Temple was a porch thirty feet long and fifteen feet deep. 4 Narrow windows were used throughout.

5 An annex of rooms was built along the full length of both sides of the Temple against the outer walls. 6 These rooms were three stories high, the lower floor being 7-1/2 feet wide, the second floor 9 feet wide, and the upper floor 10-1/2 feet wide. The rooms were connected to the walls of the Temple by beams resting on blocks built out from the wall—so the beams were not inserted into the walls themselves.

7 The stones used in the construction of the Temple were prefinished at the quarry, so the entire structure was built without the sound of hammer, ax, or any other tool at the building site.

8 The bottom floor of the side rooms was entered from the right side of the Temple, and there were winding stairs going up to the second floor; another flight of stairs led from the second to the third. 9 After completing the Temple, Solomon paneled it all, including the beams and pillars, with cedar. 10 As already stated, there was an annex on each side of the building, attached to the Temple walls by cedar timbers. Each story of the annex was 7-1/2 feet high.

11-12 Then the Lord sent this message to Solomon concerning the Temple he was building: “If you do as I tell you to and follow all of my commandments and instructions, I will do what I told your father David I would do: 13 I will live among the people of Israel and never forsake them.”

14 At last the Temple was finished. 15 The entire inside, from floor to ceiling, was paneled with cedar, and the floors were made of cypress boards. 16 The thirty-foot inner room at the far end of the Temple—the Most Holy Place—was also paneled from the floor to the ceiling with cedar boards. 17 The remainder of the Temple—other than the Most Holy Place—was sixty feet long. 18 Throughout the Temple the cedar paneling laid over the stone walls was carved with designs of rosebuds and open flowers.

19 The inner room was where the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was placed. 20 This inner sanctuary was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high. Its walls and ceiling were overlaid with pure gold, and Solomon made a cedar-wood altar for this room. 21-22 Then he overlaid the interior of the remainder of the Temple—including the cedar altar—with pure gold; and he made gold chains to protect the entrance to the Most Holy Place.

23-28 Within the inner sanctuary Solomon placed two statues of Guardian Angels[a] made from olive wood, each fifteen feet high. They were placed so that their outspread wings reached from wall to wall, while their inner wings touched each other at the center of the room; each wing was 7-1/2 feet long, so each Angel measured fifteen feet from wing tip to wing tip. The two Angels were identical in all dimensions, and each was overlaid with gold.

29 Figures of Guardian Angels, palm trees, and open flowers were carved on all the walls of both rooms of the Temple, 30 and the floor of both rooms was overlaid with gold.

31 The doorway to the inner sanctuary was a five-sided opening, 32 and its two olive-wood doors were carved with Guardian Angels, palm trees, and open flowers, all overlaid with gold.

33 Then he made square doorposts of olive wood for the entrance to the Temple. 34 There were two folding doors of cypress wood, and each door was hinged to fold back upon itself. 35 Angels, palm trees, and open flowers were carved on these doors and carefully overlaid with gold.

36 The wall of the inner court had three layers of hewn stone and one layer of cedar beams.

37 The foundation of the Temple was laid in the month of May in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, 38 and the entire building was completed in every detail in November of the eleventh year of his reign. So it took seven years to build.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 6:23 placed two statues of Guardian Angels, literally, “made two cherubim.”
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