³ When the queen of Sheba had observed the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,^(A)

Solomon Builds the Temple

3 Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had designated, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.^{(A) 2} He began to build on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign. ³ These are Solomon’s measurements^[a] for building the house of God: the length, in cubits of the old standard, was sixty cubits and the width twenty cubits. ⁴ The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, across the width of the house,^[b] and its height was one hundred twenty cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold.

³ Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.

Solomon Builds the Temple

6 In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord.^{(A) 2} The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.^{(B) 3} The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits wide, across the width of the house. Its depth was ten cubits in front of the house. ⁴ For the house he made windows with recessed frames.^{[a](C) 5} He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary, and he made side chambers all around.^{(D) 6} The lowest story^[b] was five cubits wide, the middle one was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide, for around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

⁷ The house was built with stone finished at the quarry so that neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built.^(E)

²³ When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion,^(A)