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Solomon Continues to Build

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

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. It was covered with cedar above, and the supporting beams which were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen to the row. There were three rows of specially designed windows; with window to window three times. All of the doorways and the doorframes had four-sided casings, with opening to opposite opening three times.

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,[a] with pillars and an overhang in front of them.[b] 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.[c] 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. All of these were of precious stones, according to the measurement of dressed stone, sawn with a saw on all sides;[d] 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,[e] 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[f] of Yahweh and for the porch of the house.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 7:6 Literally “on their face”
  2. 1 Kings 7:6 Literally “on their face”
  3. 1 Kings 7:7 Hebrew “floor,” but other ancient versions have “rafters”
  4. 1 Kings 7:9 Literally “on the inside and on the outside”
  5. 1 Kings 7:11 Literally “according to the measurement of dressed stones”
  6. 1 Kings 7:12 Or “temple”

Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits,[a] its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row. There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks. All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was facing window in three ranks. He made the porch of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits; with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them. He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch. All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. 10 The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. 11 Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood. 12 The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like the inner court of Yahweh’s house and the porch of the house.

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Footnotes

  1. 7:2 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.

Solomon Builds His Palace

It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace.(A) He built the Palace(B) of the Forest of Lebanon(C) a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high,[a] with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other.[b]

He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide.[c] In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.

He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge,(D) and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling.[d](E) And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.(F)

All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and smoothed on their inner and outer faces. 10 The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits[e] and some eight.[f] 11 Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. 12 The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses(G) of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord with its portico.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 7:2 That is, about 150 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 45 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high
  2. 1 Kings 7:5 The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.
  3. 1 Kings 7:6 That is, about 75 feet long and 45 feet wide or about 23 meters long and 14 meters wide
  4. 1 Kings 7:7 Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew floor
  5. 1 Kings 7:10 That is, about 15 feet or about 4.5 meters; also in verse 23
  6. 1 Kings 7:10 That is, about 12 feet or about 3.6 meters