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.

Solomon Continues to Build

7 Solomon built his house over thirteen years, and he finished all of his house.

² He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; one hundred cubits its length, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height, on four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams atop the pillars. ³ It was covered with cedar above, and the supporting beams which were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen to the row. ⁴ There were three rows of specially designed windows; with window to window three times. ⁵ All of the doorways and the doorframes had four-sided casings, with opening to opposite opening three times.

⁶ The hall of pillars he made fifty cubits in its length and thirty cubits in its width, and a porch was in front of them,^[ah] with pillars and an overhang in front of them.^{[ai] 7} He made the hall of the throne where he would pronounce judgment, the hall of justice, and it was covered with cedar from the floor to the rafters.^{[aj] 8} His house where he would live in the next courtyard on the inside of the porch was like this work, and he would make a house like this porch for the daughter of Pharaoh whom Solomon had taken as wife. ⁹ All of these were of precious stones, according to the measurement of dressed stone, sawn with a saw on all sides;^[ak] from the foundation up to the eaves and from the outside up to the great courtyard. ¹⁰ The foundation was of precious stones, and large stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits ¹¹ with precious stones above, just the right size,^[al] and cedar. ¹² The great courtyard all around had three rows of dressed stones and a row of cedar beams; for both the courtyard of the inner house^[am] of Yahweh and for the porch of the house.

¹³ King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. ¹⁴ He was the son of a widow woman from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, an artisan of bronze. He was filled with wisdom and with ability and with the knowledge to do all the work with the bronze. And he came to King Solomon, and he did all of his work. ¹⁵ He cast the two pillars out of bronze; eighteen cubits was the height of the first, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle the second pillar. ¹⁶ He made two capitals to place on the tops of the pillars out of molten bronze; the first capital was five cubits in height, and the second capital was five cubits in height. ¹⁷ A network of latticework and wreaths of chainwork with small chains were for the capitals which were on top of the pillars; seven for the first capital and seven for the second capital. ¹⁸ He also made the pillars with two rows around on the lattice, each to cover the capitals which were on top, out of the pomegranate-shaped ornaments, and thus he did for the second capital as well. ¹⁹ And on the capitals which were on top of the pillars in the porch were works of lilies four cubits high. ²⁰ And capitals were on the two pillars above near the bulging section which was beside the lattice, and two hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments were in rows all around on the second capital. ²¹ He set up the pillars for the porch of the main hall; he erected the pillar on the right and called its name Jakin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name Boaz. ²² On the top of the pillars was a work of lilies; and so the work of the pillars was finished.

²³ He also made the molten^[an] sea, ten cubits in diameter,^[ao] and five cubits was its height. A measuring line of thirty cubits would encircle it all around. ²⁴ Gourds were under its rim surrounding it all around; ten to the cubit, surrounding the sea all around with two rows of gourds, which were cast when he cast the metal. ²⁵ The sea was standing on twelve oxen, with three facing to the north, three facing to the west, three facing to the south, and three facing to the east. The sea was on top of them, with all of their hindquarters turned to the inside. ²⁶ Its thickness was a handbreadth, but its rim was as the work on the brim of a cup, like the bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths.

²⁷ He made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits in height. ²⁸ Now this was the construction of the stands: there were frames for them and frames between the crossbars, ²⁹ and on the frames which were between the crossbars were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the crossbars both above and beneath the lions and oxen were works of cascading wreaths. ³⁰ There were four bronze wheels for each of the stands, with bronze axles; the four support pedestals for these were under the basin, and the supports were decorated on each side with wreaths. ³¹ Its opening from the inside of the capital and above was a cubit; its pedestal was a round work of a cubit and a half; moreover, on its opening were the carvings with four-sided frames, not circular. ³² Four of the wheels were underneath the frames, and the axles of the wheels were on the stands. The height of each wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³ The construction of the wheel was like the construction of the wheel of the chariot; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their naves were all cast. ³⁴ The four supports were the four corners of each stand, with the stand supporting it. ³⁵ On top of the stand was half a cubit deep, circular all around, and on the top of the stand were its supports and its frames. ³⁶ He engraved on the plates, on its supports, and on its frame cherubim, lions and images of a palm tree, according to the space for each, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ He made the ten stands like this in one cast, with the same measurement and shape for each of them.

³⁸ He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths; each basin was four cubits, one basin on each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He placed five of the stands on the south side of the house and five on the north side of the house, and the sea he set on the southeast side of the house.

⁴⁰ Hiram also made the basins and the shovels and the bowls for drinking wine; and so Hiram finished doing all of the work that he was to do^[ap] for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh: ⁴¹ the two pillars and the bowls of the capitals which were atop the two pillars, and the two lattice works to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were atop the pillars; ⁴² and the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the two lattice works, the two rows of pomegranate-shaped ornaments for each latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the surface of the pillars; ⁴³ and the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands; ⁴⁴ and the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea; ⁴⁵ and the pots, the shovels, and the bowls for drinking wine. All the vessels of the tent which Hiram had made for King Solomon for the house of Yahweh were polished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had cast them in the plain of the Jordan with the casting mold set in the ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all of the vessels unweighed because of their very great abundance, so the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all of the vessels which were in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar and the golden table on which was the bread of the presence; ⁴⁹ as well as the five lampstands of beaten gold at the south and five lampstands at the north before the presence of the inner sanctuary, with the flower-shaped ornaments, the lamps, and the pair of tongs all of gold. ⁵⁰ The cups, the snuffers, the bowls for drinking wine, the bowls for the incense, and the firepans were made from beaten gold; the facades for the doors of the inner house, for the most holy place,^[aq] for the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold. ⁵¹ When all of the work which king Solomon did on the house of Yahweh was completed, Solomon brought out the holy objects of his father David, the silver and the gold and the vessels, which he put in the treasury rooms of the house of Yahweh.

The Dedication of the Temple

8 At that time, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the families^[ar] of the Israelites^[as] before King Solomon, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion. ² All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethnaim, that is, the seventh month. ³ All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. ⁴ So they brought up the ark of Yahweh and the tent of assembly^[at] and all of the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵ King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were assembling with him in the presence of the ark were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered because of abundance. ⁶ The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place,^[au] under the wings of the cherubim, ⁷ for the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark. The cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles from above. ⁸ The poles were long, and the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place in front of^[av] the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside, and they are there until this day. ⁹ There was not anything in the ark except^[aw] the two tablets of stone which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh made^[ax] a covenant with the Israelites^[ay] after they went out from the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ When the priests went out from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of Yahweh. ¹¹ The priests were not able to stand to minister because of the presence of^[az] the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.

Solomon’s Proclamation to the Assembly of Israel

¹² Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the very thick cloud. ¹³ I have certainly built a lofty house for you, a place for you to live forever.” ¹⁴ Then the king turned his face around, and he blessed all of the assembly of Israel. (Now all the assembly of Israel was standing). ¹⁵ Then he said, “Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has promised with his mouth to David my father and fulfilled by his oath,^[ba] saying, ¹⁶ ‘From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ ¹⁷ David my father desired^[bb] to build a house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel, ¹⁸ but Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Because you desired^[bc] to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was within your heart. ¹⁹ However, you will not build the house, but your son who has come from your loins, he shall build the house for my name.’ ²⁰ Yahweh has carried out his promise which he had made; I have risen in place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel. ²¹ I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant which Yahweh made with our ancestors^[bd] when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer to Yahweh

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all of the assembly of Israel, and he spread out his hands to the heavens, ²³ and he said, “O Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no god like you in the heavens above or on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant and the loyal love for your servants who are walking before you with all their heart. ²⁴ You have kept for your servant David my father what you promised to him, and you have spoken with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled it this very day. ²⁵ So then, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised to him, saying, ‘For you, no man will be cut off from before me who will be sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their ways to walk before me just as you have walked before me.’ ²⁶ So then, O God of Israel, please let your word be confirmed which you have promised^[be] to your servant David my father. ²⁷ For will God really dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens could not contain you! How could^[bf] this house that I have built? ²⁸ You must regard the prayer of your servant and his plea! O Yahweh my God, listen to the pleading and to the prayer that your servant is praying before you this day, ²⁹ so that your eyes will be open to this house night and day, to the place which you said, ‘My name will be there,’ to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ You must listen to the plea of your servant and your people Israel which they pray toward this place; and you must hear from the place where you live, from heaven you must hear and you must forgive. ³¹ If a man sins against his neighbor and he pronounces an oath against him to curse him, and the curse comes before your altar in this house, ³² then you shall hear in heaven and you shall act and you shall judge your servant, to declare the wicked guilty by bringing his way upon his head and to declare the righteous innocent^[bg] by rewarding him according to his righteousness. ³³ When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because^[bh] they sinned against you, and when they turn to you and confess your name and pray and beg for mercy from you in this house, ³⁴ then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and you shall bring them back to the ground which you gave to their ancestors.^{[bi] 35} When you shut up the heavens so there is no rain because they have sinned against you, then they pray to this place and they confess your name and they return from their sin because you punished them, ³⁶ then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, for you will teach them the good way in which they should go, and you will give rain upon your land which you have given to your people as an inheritance. ³⁷ If there should be in the land famine or disease, if there should be blight or mildew or locust or caterpillars, if it happens that his enemy lays siege against him in the land of his gates, if any plague or any disease, ³⁸ any prayer or any plea which is offered by any person for all of your people Israel, who each knows the infestation of his own heart and spreads out his palms to this house, ³⁹ then you shall hear in heaven the place of your dwelling, and you shall forgive and act and give to the man whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you alone know the heart of all the sons of man. ⁴⁰ Do these things so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our ancestors.^{[bj] 41} Also for the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, and he comes from a distant land because of your name, ⁴² (for they shall hear of your great name and your powerful hand and your outstretched arm), and he shall come and pray toward this house, ⁴³ you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, and act according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as your people Israel, and to know that your name has been invoked over this house that I have built. ⁴⁴ If your people go out to battle against his enemy in the way that you shall send them and they pray to Yahweh, toward the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name, ⁴⁵ then you shall hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and you shall vindicate^[bk] them.

⁴⁶ “If they sin against you (for there is not a person who does not sin) and you are angry with them and you give them to an enemy and they take them captive to the land of the enemy far or near, ⁴⁷ and then they return their heart in the land where they have been taken captive and they return and plead to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and we did wrong. We acted wickedly,’ ⁴⁸ if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive and they pray to you toward their land which you gave to their ancestors,^[bl] the city that you have chosen and the house that you^[bm] built for your name, ⁴⁹ then you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, their prayer and their plea, and you shall vindicate them.^{[bn] 50} You shall forgive your people who sinned against you, even for all their transgressions which they committed against you. You shall give them compassion before their captors so that they may have compassion on them, ⁵¹ for they are your people and your inheritance whom you brought from Egypt from the middle of the smelter of iron. ⁵² O, that your eyes may be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to listen to them in all things when they call to you. ⁵³ For you have separated them for yourself as an inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, as you promised through the hand of Moses your servant when you brought out our ancestors^[bo] from Egypt, my Lord Yahweh!”

Solomon Charges the People Israel

⁵⁴ It happened that when Solomon finished praying to Yahweh all of the prayer and this plea, he got up from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling down on his knees with his palms outstretched to heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood and blessed all of the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ⁵⁶ “Blessed be Yahweh who gave a resting place to his people Israel. According to all that he promised, not one word has fallen from all of his promises concerning the good which he spoke through the hand of Moses his servant. ⁵⁷ May Yahweh our God be with us as he was with our ancestors,^[bp] and may he not leave us or abandon us, ⁵⁸ to incline our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments which he commanded our ancestors.^{[bq] 59} Let these my words which I pleaded before Yahweh be near to Yahweh our God, by day and by night, to maintain the justice of his servant and the justice of his people Israel as each day requires^{[br] 60} so that all of the people of the earth may know that Yahweh, he is God; there is none other. ⁶¹ Let your heart be completely with Yahweh our God by walking in his statutes, by keeping his commands as this day.”

The Great Confirming Sacrifice

⁶² Then the king and all of Israel with him offered a sacrifice in the presence of Yahweh. ⁶³ Solomon sacrificed the fellowship offerings which he offered to Yahweh: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and the king and all of the Israelites^[bs] dedicated the house of Yahweh. ⁶⁴ On that day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard before the house of Yahweh because he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings because the bronze altar that was in the presence of Yahweh was too small to hold the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. ⁶⁵ Solomon held the festival at that time and all of Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath up to the wadi^[bt] of Egypt before Yahweh our God, for seven days and seven days, a total of fourteen days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day, he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and they went to their tents rejoicing and in good spirits^[bu] because of all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.

Yahweh’s Challenge to Solomon

9 It happened that as Solomon finished the building of the house of Yahweh, the king’s house, and all the things Solomon desired to do, ² Yahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. ³ Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house which you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. ⁴ As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, with integrity of heart^[bv] and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my ordinances and my judgments, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘A man will not be cut off for you from upon the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “If ever you or any of your descendants^[bw] turn from following me and do not keep my commandments and my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them, ⁷ then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, even the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples. ⁸ This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, ‘On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ And they will say, ‘Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors^[bx] out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.’”