Solomon Builds the Temple^(A)

3 Then Solomon began to build^(B) the temple of the Lord^(C) in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah^[a](D) the Jebusite, the place provided by David.

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor^(A) of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁴ So Abraham called^(A) that place The Lord^(B) Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.^(C)”

² Then God said, “Take your son^(A), your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah.^(B) Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering^(C) on a mountain I will show you.^(D)”

22 Then David said, “The house of the Lord God^(A) is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

Solomon Builds the Temple^(A)

6 In the four hundred and eightieth^[a] year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month,^(B) he began to build the temple of the Lord.^(C)

² The temple^(D) that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.^{[b] 3} The portico^(E) at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits,^[c] and projected ten cubits^[d] from the front of the temple. ⁴ He made narrow windows^(F) high up in the temple walls. ⁵ Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.^{(G) 6} The lowest floor was five cubits^[e] wide, the middle floor six cubits^[f] and the third floor seven.^[g] He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

⁷ In building the temple, only blocks dressed^(H) at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool^(I) was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

⁸ The entrance to the lowest^[h] floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. ⁹ So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar^(J) planks. ¹⁰ And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.

¹¹ The word of the Lord came^(K) to Solomon: ¹² “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands^(L) and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise^(M) I gave to David your father. ¹³ And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon^(N) my people Israel.”

¹⁴ So Solomon^(O) built the temple and completed^(P) it.

David Builds an Altar^(A)

¹⁸ On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah^(B) the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad. ²⁰ When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

²¹ Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”^(C)

²² Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen^(D) for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. ²³ Your Majesty, Araunah^[a] gives^(E) all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.”

²⁴ But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”^(F)

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels^[b](G) of silver for them. ²⁵ David built an altar^(H) to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer^(I) in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.