1 Kings 6–7

6And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Jehovah. ²And the house which king Solomon built for Jehovah, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. ³And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house. ⁴And for the house he made windows of fixed lattice-work. ⁵And against the wall of the house he built stories round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle; and he made side-chambers round about. ⁶The nethermost story was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house round about, that the beams should not have hold in the walls of the house. ⁷And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. ⁸The door for the middle side-chambers was in the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle story, and out of the middle into the third. ⁹So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. ¹⁰And he built the stories against all the house, each five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

¹¹And the word of Jehovah came to Solomon, saying, ¹²Concerning this house which thou art building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute mine ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I establish my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father. ¹³And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

¹⁴So Solomon built the house, and finished it. ¹⁵And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house unto the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir. ¹⁶And he built twenty cubits on the hinder part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor unto the walls of the ceiling: he built them for it within, for an oracle, even for the most holy place. ¹⁷And the house, that is, the temple before the oracle, was forty cubits long. ¹⁸And there was cedar on the house within, carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen. ¹⁹And he prepared an oracle in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. ²⁰And within the oracle was a space of twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar. ²¹So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he drew chains of gold across before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. ²²And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished: also the whole altar that belonged to the oracle he overlaid with gold.

²³And in the oracle he made two cherubim of olive-wood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits. ²⁵And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. ²⁶The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub. ²⁷And he set the cherubim within the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. ²⁸And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, within and without. ³⁰And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. ³¹And for the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive-wood: the lintel and door-posts were a fifth part of the wall. ³²So he made two doors of olive-wood; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold upon the cherubim, and upon the palm-trees. ³³So also made he for the entrance of the temple door-posts of olive-wood, out of a fourth part of the wall; ³⁴and two doors of fir-wood: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. ³⁵And he carved thereon cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted upon the graven work. ³⁶And he built the inner court with three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams.

³⁷In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of Jehovah laid, in the month Ziv. ³⁸And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

7And Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. ²For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was a hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. ³And it was covered with cedar above over the forty and five beams, that were upon the pillars; fifteen in a row. ⁴And there were beams in three rows, and window was over against window in three ranks. ⁵And all the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was over against window in three ranks. ⁶And he made the porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits; and a porch before them; and pillars and a threshold before them. ⁷And 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. ⁸And 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 to wife), like unto this porch.

⁹All these were of costly stones, even of hewn stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside unto the great court. ¹⁰And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. ¹¹And above were costly stones, even hewn stone, according to measure, and cedar-wood. ¹²And the great court round about had three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams; like as the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and the porch of the house.

¹³And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. ¹⁴He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. ¹⁵For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits compassed either of them about. ¹⁶And he made two capitals of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. ¹⁷There were nets of checker-work, and wreaths of chain-work, for the capitals which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. ¹⁸So he made the pillars; and there were two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars: and so did he for the other capital. ¹⁹And the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily-work, four cubits. ²⁰And there were capitals above also upon the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about upon the other capital. ²¹And he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz. ²²And upon the top of the pillars was lily-work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

²³And he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about. ²⁴And under the brim of it round about there were knops which did compass it, for ten cubits, compassing the sea round about: the knops were in two rows, cast when it was cast. ²⁵It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inward. ²⁶And it was a handbreadth thick: and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held two thousand baths.

²⁷And he made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it. ²⁸And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; ²⁹and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and upon the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. ³⁰And every base had four brazen wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet thereof had undersetters: beneath the laver were the…