1 Kings 6 (NET)

The Building of the Temple

1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, during the month Ziv1 (the second month), he began building the Lord’s temple. 2 The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet2 long, 30 feet3 wide, and 45 feet4 high. 3 The porch in front of the main hall of the temple was 30 feet5 long, corresponding to the width of the temple. It was 15 feet6 wide, extending out from the front of the temple. 4 He made framed windows for the temple. 5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and holy place and constructed side rooms in it.7 6 The bottom floor of the extension was seven and a half feet8 wide, the middle floor nine feet9 wide, and the third floor ten and a half10 feet wide. He made ledges11 on the temple’s outer walls so the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls.12 7 As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry13 were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built. 8 The entrance to the bottom14 level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple; stairs went up15 to the middle floor and then on up to the third16 floor. 9 He finished building the temple17 and covered it18 with rafters19 and boards made of cedar.20 10 He built an extension all around the temple; it was seven and a half feet high21 and it was attached to the temple by cedar beams.

11 22

The Lord said23 to Solomon: 12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow24 my rules, observe25 my regulations, and obey all my commandments,26 I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.27 13 I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”

14 So Solomon finished building the temple.28 15 He constructed the walls inside the temple with cedar planks; he paneled the inside with wood from the floor of the temple to the rafters29 of the ceiling. He covered the temple floor with boards made from the wood of evergreens. 16 He built a wall 30 feet in from the rear of the temple as a partition for an inner sanctuary that would be the most holy place.30 He paneled the wall with cedar planks from the floor to the rafters.31 17 The main hall in front of the inner sanctuary was 60 feet long.32 18 The inside of the temple was all cedar and was adorned with carvings of round ornaments and of flowers in bloom. Everything was cedar; no stones were visible.33

19 He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord could be placed there. 20 The inner sanctuary was 30 feet34 long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He plated it with gold,35 as well as the cedar altar.36 21 Solomon plated the inside of the temple with gold.37 He hung golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary and plated the inner sanctuary38 with gold. 22 He plated the entire inside of the temple with gold, as well as the altar inside the inner sanctuary.39

23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubs of olive wood; each stood 15 feet40 high. 24 Each of the first cherub’s wings was seven and a half feet long; its entire wingspan was 15 feet.41 25 The second cherub also had a wingspan of 15 feet; it was identical to the first in measurements and shape.42 26 Each cherub stood 15 feet high.43 27 He put the cherubs in the inner sanctuary of the temple.44 Their wings were spread out. One of the first cherub’s wings touched one wall and one of the other cherub’s wings touched the opposite wall. The first cherub’s other wing touched the second cherub’s other wing in the middle of the room.45 28 He plated the cherubs with gold.

29 On all the walls around the temple, inside and out,46 he carved47 cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom. 30 He plated the floor of the temple with gold, inside and out.48 31 He made doors of olive wood at the entrance to the inner sanctuary; the pillar on each doorpost was five-sided.49 32 On the two doors made of olive wood he carved50 cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom, and he plated them with gold.51 He plated the cherubs and the palm trees with hammered gold.52 33 In the same way he made doorposts of olive wood for the entrance to the main hall, only with four-sided pillars.53 34 He also made54 two doors out of wood from evergreens; each door had two folding leaves.55 35 He carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom and plated them with gold, leveled out over the carvings. 36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of chiseled stones and a row of cedar beams.

37 In the month Ziv56 of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign57 the foundation was laid for the Lord’s temple. 38 In the eleventh year, in the month Bul58 (the eighth month) the temple was completed in accordance with all its specifications and blueprints. It took seven years to build.59

16:1sn During the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning. 26:2tn Heb “sixty cubits.” A cubit was a unit of measure roughly equivalent to 18 inches or 45 cm. Measurements in vv. 2-10 have been converted to feet in the translation for clarity. 36:2tn Heb “twenty cubits.” 46:2tn Heb “thirty cubits.” 56:3tn Heb “twenty cubits.” 66:3tn Heb “ten cubits.” 76:5tn Heb “and he built on the wall of the temple an extension all around, the walls of the temple all around, for the main hall and for the holy place, and he made side rooms all around.” 86:6tn Heb “five cubits.” 96:6tn Heb “six cubits.” 106:6tn Heb “seven cubits.” 116:6tn Or “offsets” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “offset ledges.” 126:6tn Heb “so that [the beams] would not have a hold in the walls of the temple.” 136:7tn Heb “finished stone of the quarry,” i.e., stones chiseled and shaped at the time they were taken out of the quarry. 146:8tc The Hebrew text has “middle,” but the remainder of the verse suggests this is an error. 156:8tn Heb “by stairs they went up.” The word translated “stairs” occurs only here. Other options are “trapdoors” or “ladders.” 166:8tc The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate הַשְּׁלִשִׁית (hashÿlishit, “the third”) rather than MT הַשְּׁלִשִׁים (hashÿlishim, “the thirty”). 176:9tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.” 186:9tn Heb “the house.” 196:9tn The word occurs only here; the precise meaning is uncertain. 206:9tn Heb “and rows with cedar wood.” 216:10tn Heb “five cubits.” This must refer to the height of each floor or room. 226:11tc The LXX lacks vv. 11-14. 236:11tn Heb “the word of the Lord was.” 246:12tn Heb “walk in.” 256:12tn Heb “do.” 266:12tn Heb “and keep all my commandments by walking in them.” 276:12tn Heb “I will establish my word with you which I spoke to David your father.” 286:14tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.” 296:15tc The MT reads קִירוֹת (qirot, “walls”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה. 306:16tn Heb “He built twenty cubits from the rear areas of the temple with cedar planks from the floor to the walls, and he built it on the inside for an inner sanctuary, for a holy place of holy places.” 316:16tc The MT has קְלָעִים (qÿla’im, “curtains”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה. 326:17tn Heb “and the house was forty cubits, that is, the main hall before it.” 336:18tn Heb “Cedar was inside the temple, carvings of gourds (i.e., gourd-shaped ornaments) and opened flowers; the whole was cedar, no stone was seen.” 346:20tn Heb “twenty cubits” (this measurement occurs three times in this verse). 356:20tn Heb “with plated gold” (or perhaps, “with pure gold”). 366:20tn Heb “he plated [the] altar of cedar.” 376:21tn Heb “with plated gold” (or perhaps, “with pure gold”). 386:21tn Heb “it.” 396:22tn Heb “all the temple he plated with gold until all the temple was finished; and the whole altar which was in the inner sanctuary he plated with gold.” 406:23tn Heb “ten cubits” (a cubit was a unit of measure roughly equivalent to 18 inches or 45 cm). 416:24tn Heb “The first wing of the [one] cherub was five cubits, and the second wing of the cherub was five cubits, ten cubits from the tips of his wings to the tips of his wings.” 426:25tn Heb “and the second cherub was ten cubits, the two cherubs had one measurement and one shape.” 436:26tn Heb “the height of the first cherub was ten cubits; and so was the second cherub.” 446:27tn Heb “in the midst of the inner house,” i.e., in the inner sanctuary. 456:27tn Heb “and their wings were in the middle of the room, touching wing to wing.” 466:29sn Inside and out probably refers to the inner and outer rooms within the building. 476:29tn Heb “carved engravings of carvings.” 486:30sn Inside and out probably refers to the inner and outer rooms within the building. 496:31tn Heb “the pillar, doorposts, a fifth part” (the precise meaning of this description is uncertain). 506:32tn Heb “carved carvings of.” 516:32tn Heb “he plated [with] gold” (the precise object is not stated). 526:32tn Heb “and he hammered out the gold on the cherubs and the palm trees.” 536:33tn Heb “and so he did at the entrance of the main hall, doorposts of olive wood, from a fourth.” 546:34tn The words “he also made” are added for stylistic reasons. 556:34tc Heb “two of the leaves of the first door were folding, and two of the leaves of the second door were folding.” In the second half of the description, the MT has קְלָעִים (qÿla’im, “curtains”), but this is surely a corruption of צְלָעִים (tsÿla’im, “leaves”) which appears in the first half of the statement. 566:37sn In the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning. 576:37tn The words “of Solomon’s reign” are added for clarification. See v. 1. 586:38sn In the month Bul. This would be October-November 959 b.c. in modern reckoning. 596:38tn Heb “he built it in seven years.”