1 Kings 6
Lexham English Bible
Solomon Builds the Temple for Yahweh
6 It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites[a] went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule[b] over Israel, the month of Ziv (that is the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh. 2 Now the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits in its length and twenty cubits in its width and thirty cubits in its height. 3 The vestibule on the face of the main hall of the temple[c] was twenty cubits in its length, and the width of the temple[d] was ten cubits wide on the face of the temple.[e] 4 And he made for the temple[f] specially designed framed windows, 5 and he built a structure against the wall of the temple[g] running all along the walls of the house, for the outer sanctuary and for the inner sanctuary, and made side rooms all around. 6 The lower structure was five cubits in its width and the middle was six cubits in its width and the third was seven cubits in its width, for he made niches for the temple[h] all around to the outside, so that beams would not attach to the walls of the temple.[i] 7 Now while the temple[j] was being built, it was built with stones finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or stone shaping tool or any instrument of iron was heard in the temple[k] as it was being built. 8 The doorway of the side room in the middle of the side of the temple[l] was on the south; they went up with a stairway to the middle and from the middle to the third floor. 9 So he built the house and finished it. He covered the temple[m] with rafters and wood planks and with the cedars. 10 He also built the structure against all of the temple[n] five cubits in height and fastened it to the temple[o] with beams of cedar.
11 Then the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying, 12 “Regarding this temple[p] that you are building: if you walk in my ordinances and if you do my judgments and you keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my promise with you which I made to David your father. 13 And I will dwell among[q] the Israelites,[r] and I will not forsake my people Israel.”
14 So Solomon built the temple[s] and finished it. 15 He lined the walls of the inside of the house[t] with boards of cedar; from the floor of the temple[u] up to the rafters of the ceiling he covered them with wood on the inside.[v] He also covered the floor of the temple[w] with cypress boards. 16 He built twenty cubits from the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor up to the ceiling, and he built for it an inner sanctuary on the inside, as the most holy place.[x] 17 The main hall of the temple[y] was forty cubits in front of the inner sanctuary,[z] 18 with the cedar within the inner house having carvings of gourds and buds of flowers. It was entirely of cedar; there was not a stone visible. 19 Now in the inner sanctuary in the middle of the temple[aa] he prepared the inside to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there. 20 In front, the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar. 21 Solomon overlaid the temple[ab] on the inside with pure gold, and he drew across it with golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary, which he overlaid with gold.
22 All of the temple[ac] he overlaid with gold until all of the temple[ad] was finished; all of the altar which belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. 23 He made two cherubim of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, ten cubits high. 24 Five cubits was the first wing of the cherub, and five cubits the second wing of the cherub, from the tip of his one wing up to the tip of his other wing. 25 The second cherub was ten cubits according to the same[ae] measurement, and there was one shape for the two cherubim. 26 The height of the first cherub was ten cubits and so was the second cherub.
27 He placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner house, and they spread out the wings of the cherubim; the wing of the first cherub touched against the wall and the wing of the second cherub was touching against the second wall; their wings spread to the middle of the house and were touching wing to wing. 28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 On all of the walls around the house, he carved engravings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers both inside and out. 30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold both inside and out. 31 He made doors of olive wood for the doorway of the inner sanctuary, as well as for the doorpost of the fifth doorframe. 32 On the two doors of olive wood he made carvings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers, and he overlaid them with gold by beating[af] out the gold on the cherubim and the palm tree images. 33 Thus he made doorframes of olive wood on four sides for the doorway of the main hall 34 and two doors of cypress wood; one door with two folding panels and the second door with two folding panels. 35 He carved cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers and overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36 Then he built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and a row of cedar beams. 37 In the fourth year,[ag] the house of Yahweh was founded in the month of Ziv. 38 In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished according to all his specifications and according to all his plans. He had built it in seven years.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 6:1 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- 1 Kings 6:1 Literally “Solomon to rule”
- 1 Kings 6:3 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:3 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:3 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:4 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:5 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:6 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:6 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:7 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:7 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:8 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:9 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:10 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:10 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:12 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:13 Literally “in the middle of”
- 1 Kings 6:13 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- 1 Kings 6:14 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:15 Literally “the house from house”
- 1 Kings 6:15 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:15 Literally “from house”
- 1 Kings 6:15 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:16 Literally “as the holy place of the holy places.” Often referred to as the Holy of Holies
- 1 Kings 6:17 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:17 So LXX supported by the Vulgate. MT has “before me”
- 1 Kings 6:19 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:21 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:22 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:22 Or “house”
- 1 Kings 6:25 Literally “one”
- 1 Kings 6:32 Literally “and he beat out”
- 1 Kings 6:37 That is, the fourth year of Solomon’s reign
1 Kings 6
Complete Jewish Bible
6 It was in the 480th year after the people of Isra’el had left the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Shlomo’s reign over Isra’el, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Adonai. 2 The house which King Shlomo built for Adonai was 105 feet long, thirty-five feet wide and fifty-two-and-a-half feet high. 3 The hall fronting the temple of the house was thirty-five feet long, the same as the width of the house itself, so that its seventeen-and-a-half-foot width extended frontward from the house. 4 The windows he made for the house were wide on the inside and narrow on the outside. 5 Against the wall of the house he built an annex all the way around; it went all the way around the walls of the house, including both the temple and the sanctuary. 6 The lowest floor of the annex was eight-and-three-quarters feet wide, the middle floor ten-and-a-half feet wide and the third floor twelve-and-a-quarter feet wide; for he had made the outer part of the wall of the house step-shaped, so that the beams of the annex would not have to be attached to the house walls. 7 For the house, when under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; so that no hammer, chisel or iron tool of any kind was heard in the house while it was being built. 8 The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the house; a spiral staircase went up to the middle floor and on to the third. 9 So he built the house, and after finishing it, he put its roof on — cedar planks over beams. 10 Each floor of the annex surrounding the house was eight-and-three-quarters feet high and was attached to the house with beams of cedar.
11 Then this word of Adonai came to Shlomo: 12 “Concerning this house which you are building: if you will live according to my regulations, follow my rulings and observe all my mitzvot and live by them, then I will establish with you my promise that I made to David your father — 13 I will live in it among the people of Isra’el, and I will not abandon my people Isra’el.”
14 So Shlomo finished building the house. 15 The insides of the walls of the house he built with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the joists of the ceiling he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. 16 The thirty-five-foot back portion of the house he built with boards of cedar from the floor to the joists and reserved this part of the house to be a sanctuary, the Especially Holy Place; 17 while the rest of the house, that is, the temple in front, was seventy feet long. 18 The cedar covering the house was carved with gourds and open flowers; all was cedar; no stone was visible. 19 In the inner part of the house he set up the sanctuary, so that the ark for the covenant of Adonai could be placed there. 20 This sanctuary was thirty-five feet long, wide and high; and it was overlaid with pure gold. In front of it he set an altar, which he covered with cedar. 21 Shlomo overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold and had chains of gold placed before the sanctuary, which itself he overlaid with gold. 22 The entire house he overlaid with gold until it was completely covered with it. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the sanctuary.
23 Inside the sanctuary he made two k’ruvim of olive-wood, each seventeen-and-a-half feet high. 24 Each of the two wings of one of the k’ruvim was eight-and-three quarters feet long, so that the distance from the end of one wing to the end of the other was seventeen-and-a-half feet. 25 Likewise the [wingspread of the] other keruv was seventeen-and-a-half feet; both k’ruvim were identical in shape and size. 26 The height of the one keruv was seventeen-and-a-half feet, likewise that of the other. 27 He set the k’ruvim in the inner house; the wings of the k’ruvim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other keruv touched the other wall; their wings touched each other in the middle of the house. 28 He overlaid the k’ruvim with gold. 29 All around the walls of the house, both inside the sanctuary and outside it, he carved figures of k’ruvim, palm trees and open flowers. 30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, both inside the sanctuary and outside it.
31 For the entrance to the sanctuary he made doors of olive-wood, set within a five-sided door-frame. 32 On the two olive-wood doors he carved figures of k’ruvim, palm trees and open flowers. He overlaid the doors with gold, forcing the gold into the shapes of the k’ruvim and palm trees as well. 33 For the entrance to the temple he also made doorposts of olive-wood, set within a rectangular door-frame, 34 and two doors of cypress-wood; the two leaves of the one door were folding, as were the two leaves of the other. 35 On them he carved k’ruvim, palm trees and open flowers, overlaying them with gold fitted to the carved work. 36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.
37 The foundation of the house of Adonai was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. 38 In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, all parts of the house were completed exactly as designed. Thus he was seven years building it.
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