1 Kings 6
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Temple Built in Seven Years(A)
6 Solomon began to build the Lord’s temple 480 years after Israel left Egypt. He began building in the month of Ziv (the second month) of the fourth year of his reign over Israel. 2 The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 3 The entrance hall in front of the main room of the temple was the same length as the shorter side of the temple. It extended 15 feet in front of the temple. 4 He also made latticed windows for the temple.
5 He built an annex containing side rooms all around the temple. This annex was next to the walls of the main building and the inner sanctuary. 6 The ⌞interior of⌟ the lowest story of the annex was 7½ feet wide, the second story was 9 feet wide, and the third story was 10½ feet wide. Solomon made ledges all around the temple so that this annex would not be fastened to the walls of the temple.
7 The temple was built with stone blocks that were finished at the quarry. No hammer, chisel, or any other iron tool made a sound at the temple construction site.
8 The entrance to the first story [a] was on the south side of the temple. A staircase went up to the middle story and then to the third story.
9 When he had finished building the walls, he roofed the temple with rows of cedar beams and planks. 10 He built ⌞each story of the⌟ annex 7½ feet high alongside the entire temple. Its cedar beams were attached to the temple.
11 The Lord spoke to Solomon, saying, 12 “This concerns the temple you are building: If you live by my laws, follow my rules, and keep my commands, I will fulfill the promise I made about you to your father David. 13 I will live among the Israelites and never abandon my people.”
14 When Solomon had finished building the temple’s ⌞frame⌟, 15 he began to line the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards. He paneled the inside of the temple with wood from floor to ceiling. He covered the floor of the temple with cypress planks.
16 He sectioned off a 30-foot-long room at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the rafters. He built it to serve as an inner room, the most holy place. 17 The 60-foot-long room at the front of the temple served as the main hall. 18 Gourds and flowers were carved into the cedar paneling inside the temple. Everything was ⌞covered with⌟ cedar. No stone could be seen.
19 He prepared the inner room of the temple in order to put the ark of the Lord’s promise there. 20 The inner room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Solomon covered it and the cedar altar with pure gold. 21 He covered the inside of the temple with pure gold. He put golden chains across the front of the inner room which was covered with gold. 22 He covered the entire inside of the temple with gold. He also covered the entire altar in the inner room with gold.
23 In the inner room he made two 15-foot-tall angels [b] out of olive wood. 24 Each wing of the angels was 7½ feet long. The distance from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was 15 feet. 25 Both angels had a 15-foot ⌞wingspan⌟. Both had the same measurements and the same shape. 26 Each was 15 feet high. 27 Solomon put the angels in the inner room of the temple. The wings of the angels extended so that the wing of one of the angels touched the one wall, and the wing of the other touched the other wall. Their remaining wings touched each other in the center of the room. 28 He covered the angels with gold.
29 He carved angels, palm trees, and flowers into the walls all around the inner and outer rooms of the temple. 30 He covered the floor of the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.
31 He made doors for the entrance to the inner room out of olive wood. The doorposts had five sides. 32 The two doors were ⌞made out of⌟ olive wood. He carved angels, palm trees, and flowers into them and covered them with gold. The gold was hammered onto the angels and the palm trees.
33 In the same way he made square doorposts out of olive wood for the temple’s entrance. 34 He made two doors from cypress. Each of the doors had two folding panels. 35 On them he carved angels, palm trees, and flowers. He evenly covered them with gold.
36 He built the inner courtyard with three courses of finished stones and a course of finished cedar beams.
37 In the month of Ziv of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. 38 In the month of Bul (the eighth month) of the eleventh year ⌞of his reign⌟, the temple was finished according to all its plans and specifications. He spent seven years building it.
1 Kings 6
Jubilee Bible 2000
6 ¶ And it came to pass in the year four hundred and eighty after the sons of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the beginning of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
2 And the house which King Solomon built for the LORD, was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.
3 And the porch before the temple of the house was twenty cubits long, according to the width of the house; and its width was ten cubits before the house.
4 And for the house he made windows broad within and narrow without.
5 And against the wall of the house, he built wings round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle; and he made chambers round about.
6 The lower wing was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide, for without in the wall of the house, he had made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.
7 And the house, when it was built, was put together of perfect stones made ready before they were brought there; so that there was no hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was being built.
8 The door for the middle wing was in the right side of the house; and they went up with winding stairs into the middle wing and out of the middle into the third.
9 So he built the house and finished it and covered the house with work of cedar placed in order.
10 And then he built the wing against all the house, five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.
11 ¶ And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying,
12 Concerning this house which thou art building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes and execute my rights and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will perform my word with thee, which I spoke unto David thy father;
13 and I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.
14 So Solomon built the house and finished it.
15 ¶ And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house and the walls of the ceiling; and he covered them on the inside with wood and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.
16 And he built twenty cubits on the end of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar; and he built an oracle in the house, which is the holy of holies.
17 And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.
18 And the cedar of the house within was carved with wild gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen.
19 And he prepared the oracle in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
20 And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length and twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold and likewise covered the altar which was of cedar.
21 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold, and he closed the door of the oracle with chains of gold, and he overlaid it with gold.
22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house; also the whole altar that was in front of the oracle he overlaid with gold.
23 And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive wood, each ten cubits high.
24 And one wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits; from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.
25 Likewise, the other cherub was ten cubits, for both the cherubims were of one measure and one size.
26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub.
27 And he set the cherubims within the inner house, and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.
28 And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.
29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
30 And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.
31 And at the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and side posts had five sides.
32 The two doors were of olive wood, and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers and overlaid them with gold and covered the cherubims and the palm trees with gold.
33 In the same manner he made posts of olive wood at the entrance of the temple with four sides.
34 The two doors were of fir; the two sides of the one door were rounded, and the two leaves of the other door were rounded.
35 And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work.
36 And he built the inner court with three orders of hewed stone and an order of cedar beams.
37 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month Zif.
38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and with everything necessary. So he was seven years in building it.
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