Chronological
5 1 Hiram sendeth to Solomon, and Solomon to him, purposing to build the house of God. 6 He prepareth the stuff for the building. 13 The number of the workmen.
1 And Hiram king of [a]Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon, (for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father) because Hiram had ever loved David.
2 (A)And Solomon sent him to Hiram, saying,
3 Thou knowest that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God, for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord had put [b]them under the soles of his feet.
4 But now the Lord my God hath given me [c]rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary, nor evil to resist.
5 And behold, I purpose to build an house unto the Name of the Lord my God, (B)as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne for thee, he shall build an house unto my Name.
6 Now therefore command, that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon, and my servants shall be with thy servants, and unto thee will I give the [d]hire for thy servants, according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there are none among us, that can hew timber like unto the Sidonians.
7 ¶ And when [e]Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this mighty people.
8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things, for the which thou sentest unto me, and will accomplish all thy desire, concerning the cedar trees and fir trees.
9 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea: and I will convey them by sea [f]in rafts unto the place that thou shalt show me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: now thou shalt do me a pleasure to minister food for [g]my family.
10 So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees, even his full desire.
11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand [h]measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of [i]beaten oil. Thus much gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.
12 ¶ And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he (C)promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they [j]two made a covenant.
13 ¶ And King Solomon raised a sum out of all Israel, and the sum was thirty thousand men:
14 Whom he sent to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by course: they were a month in Lebanon, and two months at home. And (D)Adoniram was over the sum.
15 And Solomon had seventy thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand masons in the mountain,
16 Besides the [k]princes, whom Solomon appointed over the work, even three thousand and three hundred, which ruled the people that wrought in the work.
17 And the King commanded them, and they brought great stones and costly stones to make the foundations of the house, even hewed stones.
18 And Solomon’s workmen, and the workmen of Hiram, and the [l]masons hewed and prepared timber and stones for the building of the house.
6 1 The building of the Temple and the form thereof. 12 The promise of the Lord to Solomon.
1 And (E)in the four hundred and fourscore year (after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt) and in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month [m]Ziv, (which is the second month) he built the [n]house of the Lord.
2 And the house which king Solomon built for the Lord, was threescore cubits long, and twenty broad, and thirty cubits high.
3 And the [o]porch before the Temple of the house was twenty cubits long according to the breadth of the house, and ten cubits broad before the house.
4 And in the house he made windows, [p]broad without, and narrow within.
5 And by the wall of the house he made [q]galleries round about, even by the walls of the house round about the Temple and [r]the oracle, and made chambers round about.
6 And the nethermost gallery was five cubits broad, and the middlemost six cubits broad, and the third seven cubits broad: for he made [s]rests round about without the house, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.
7 And when the house was built, it was built of stone perfect, before it was brought, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
8 The door of the middle [t]chamber was in the right side of the house, and men went up with winding stairs into the middlemost, and out of the middlemost into the third.
9 So he built the [u]house and finished it, and ceiled the house, being vaulted with ceiling of cedar trees.
10 And he built the galleries upon all the wall of the house of five cubits height, and they were joined to the house with beams of cedar.
11 And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,
12 Concerning this house which thou buildest, if thou wilt walk in mine ordinances, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments, to walk in them, then will I perform unto thee my promise, (F)which I promised to David thy father.
13 And I will [v]dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.
14 So Solomon built the house and finished it,
15 And built the walls of the house within, with boards of Cedar tree from the pavement of the house unto [w]the walls of the ceiling, and within he covered them with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.
16 And he built twenty cubits in the sides of the house with boards of Cedar, from the floor to the walls, and he prepared a place within it for the oracle, even the most holy place.
17 But the [x]house, that is, the Temple before it, was forty cubits long.
18 And the Cedar of the house within was carved with [y]knops, and graven with flowers: all was Cedar, so that no stone was seen.
19 ¶ Also he prepared the place of the oracle in the midst of the [z]house within, to set the Ark of the covenant of the Lord there.
20 And the place of the oracle within was twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits broad, and twenty cubits high: and he covered it with pure gold, and covered the altar with Cedar.
21 So Solomon covered the house within with pure gold, and he [aa]shut the place of the oracle with chains of gold, and covered it with gold.
22 And he overlaid all the house with gold, until all the house was made perfect. Also he covered the [ab]whole altar, that was before the oracle, with gold.
23 And within the oracle he made two Cherubims of [ac]Olive tree, ten cubits high.
24 The wing also of the one Cherub was five cubits, and the wing of the other Cherub was five cubits: from the uttermost part of one of his wings unto the uttermost part of the other of his wings, were ten cubits.
25 Also the other Cherub was of ten cubits: both the Cherubims were of one measure and one size.
26 For the height of the one Cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other Cherub.
27 And he put the Cherubims within the inner house, (G)and the Cherubims stretched out their wings, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other Cherub touched the other wall: and their other wings touched one another in the midst of the house.
28 And he [ad]overlaid the Cherubims with gold.
29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with graven figures of Cherubims and of Palm trees, and graven flowers within and without.
30 And the floor of the house he covered with gold within and without.
31 And in the entering of the oracle he made two doors of Olive trees: and the upper post and side posts were five square.
32 The two doors also were of Olive tree, and he graved them with graving of Cherubims, and Palm trees, and graven flowers, and covered them with gold, and laid [ae]thin gold upon the Cherubims and upon the Palm trees.
33 And so made he for the door of the Temple, posts of Olive trees foursquare.
34 But the two doors were of fir tree, the two sides of the one door were [af]round, and the two sides of the other door were round.
35 And he graved Cherubims, and Palm trees, and carved flowers, and covered the carved work with gold finely wrought.
36 ¶ And he built the [ag]court within with three rows of hewed stone, and one row of beams of Cedar.
37 In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid in the month of Ziv:
38 And in the eleventh year in the month of [ah]Bul, (which is the eighth month) he finished the house with all the furniture thereof, and in every point: so was he seven years in building it.
2 2 The number of Solomon’s workmen to build the Temple. 3 Solomon sendeth to Huram the King of Tyre for wood and workmen.
1 Then Solomon determined to build an house for the Name of the Lord, and an [a]house for his kingdom.
2 And Solomon told out seventy thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand men to hew stones in the mountain, and three thousand and [b]six hundred to oversee them.
3 And Solomon sent to [c]Huram the king of Tyre, saying, As thou hast done to David my father, and didst (A)send him cedar trees to build him an house to dwell in so do to me.
4 Behold, I build an house unto the Name of the Lord my God, to sanctify it unto him, and to burn sweet incense before him, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings of the morning and evening, on the Sabbath days, and in the new months, and in the solemn feasts of the Lord our God: this is a perpetual thing for Israel.
5 And the house which I build, is great: for great is our God above all gods.
6 Who is he then that can be able to build him an house, when the heaven and the heaven of heavens can not contain him? who am I then that I should build him an house? but I do it to burn [d]incense before him.
7 Send me now therefore a cunning man that can work in gold, in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and in [e]crimson and blue silk, and that can grave in graven work with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father hath prepared.
8 Send me also cedar trees, fir trees and [f][g]Algummim trees from Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to hew timber in Lebanon: and behold, my servants shall be with thine,
9 That they may prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I do build, is great and wonderful.
10 And behold, I will give to thy servants the cutters and the hewers of timber twenty thousand [h]measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty [i]thousand baths of oil.
11 Then Huram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon, Because the Lord hath loved his people, he hath made thee King over them.
12 Huram said moreover, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which made the heaven and the earth, and that hath given unto David the King a [j]wise son, that hath discretion, prudence and understanding to build an house for the Lord, and a palace for his kingdom.
13 Now therefore I have sent a wise man, and of understanding of my father Huram’s,
14 The son of a woman, of the [k]daughters of Dan: and his father was a man of Tyre, and he can skill to work in gold, in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue silk, and in fine linen, and in crimson, and can grave in all graven works, and broider in all broidered work that shall be given him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.
15 Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants.
16 And we will cut wood in Lebanon as much as thou shalt need, and will bring it to thee in [l]rafts by the sea to [m]Japho, so thou mayest carry them to Jerusalem.
17 ¶ And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering that his father David had numbered them: and they were found an hundred and three and fifty thousand, and six hundred.
18 And he set seventy thousand of them to the burden, and fourscore thousand to hew stones in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to cause the people to work.
3 1 The Temple of the Lord, and the porch are built, with other things thereto belonging.
1 So (B)Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, in mount [n]Moriah which had been declared unto David his father, in the place that David prepared in the threshing floor of (C)Ornan the Jebusite.
2 And he began to build in the second month and the second day, in the fourth year of his reign.
3 And these are the measures whereon Solomon grounded to build the house of God: the length of cubits after the first [o]measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits:
4 And the porch that was before the length in the front [p]of the breadth was twenty cubits, and the height was an [q]hundred and twenty, and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
5 And the greater house he ceiled with fir tree which he overlaid with good gold, and graved thereon palm trees and chains.
6 And he overlaid the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of [r]Parvaim.
7 The house, I say, the beams, posts, and walls thereof and the doors thereof overlaid he with gold, and graved Cherubims upon the walls.
8 ¶ He made also the house of the most holy place: the length thereof was in the front of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with the best gold, of six hundred talents.
9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold, and he overlaid the chambers with gold.
10 ¶ And in the house of the most holy place he made two Cherubims wrought like children, and overlaid them with gold.
11 (D)And the wings of the Cherubims were twenty cubits long: the one wing was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other Cherub.
12 Likewise the wing of the other Cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing five cubits, joining to the wing of the other Cherub.
13 The wings of these Cherubims were spread abroad twenty cubits, they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house.
14 ¶ He made also the [s]veil of blue silk and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought Cherubims thereon.
15 ¶ And he made before the house two pillars [t]of five and thirty cubits high: and the chapiter that was upon the top of each of them, was five cubits.
16 He made also chains for the Oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars, and made an [u]hundred pomegranates, and put them among the chains.
17 And he set up the pillars before the Temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left, and called that on the right hand Jachin, and that on the left hand Boaz.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.