1 Kings 6:2–10

6:2 The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet2 long, 30 feet3 wide, and 45 feet4 high. 6:3 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. 6:4 He made framed windows for the temple. 6:5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and holy place and constructed side rooms in it.7 6:6 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 6:7 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. 6:8 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. 6:9 He finished building the temple17 and covered it18 with rafters19 and boards made of cedar.20 6:10 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.

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2	tn 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.
3	tn Heb “twenty cubits.”
4	tn Heb “thirty cubits.”
5	tn Heb “twenty cubits.”
6	tn Heb “ten cubits.”
7	tn 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.”
8	tn Heb “five cubits.”
9	tn Heb “six cubits.”
10	tn Heb “seven cubits.”
11	tn Or “offsets” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “offset ledges.”
12	tn Heb “so that [the beams] would not have a hold in the walls of the temple.”
13	tn Heb “finished stone of the quarry,” i.e., stones chiseled and shaped at the time they were taken out of the quarry.
14	tc The Hebrew text has “middle,” but the remainder of the verse suggests this is an error.
15	tn Heb “by stairs they went up.” The word translated “stairs” occurs only here. Other options are “trapdoors” or “ladders.”
16	tc The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate הַשְּׁלִשִׁית (hashélishit, “the third”) rather than MT הַשְּׁלִשִׁים (hashélishim, “the thirty”).
17	tn Heb “built the house and completed it.”
18	tn Heb “the house.”
19	tn The word occurs only here; the precise meaning is uncertain.
20	tn Heb “and rows with cedar wood.”
21	tn Heb “five cubits.” This must refer to the height of each floor or room.