And ||Hiram king of aTyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: bfor Hiram was ever a lover of David. 2 And cSolomon sent to Hiram, saying, 3 Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God dfor the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God hath given me erest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil foccurrent. 5 And, behold, I †purpose to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, ghe shall build an house unto my name. 6 Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt †appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the hSidonians. 7 And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, iBlessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people. 8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have †considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of jfir. 9 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt †appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, kin giving food for my household. 10 So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire. 11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand †measures of wheat for food to his household, and ltwenty †measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. 12 And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, mas he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.

13 And king Solomon raised a †levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and nAdoniram was over the levy. 15 And Solomon had othreescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains; 16 Beside the chief of Solomon’s pofficers which were over the work, othree thousand and three hundred, qwhich ruled over the people that wrought in the work. 17 And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and rhewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. 18 And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders did hew them, and the ||stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.

6 *And it came to pass in athe four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, bin the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is cthe second month, that he †began to build the house of the Lord. 2 And ethe house which king Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. 3 And 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. 4 And for the house he made ||windows of narrow lights. 5 And ||against the wall of the house he built †chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of fthe oracle: and he made †chambers round about: 6 The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made †narrowed rests round about, that gthe beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. 7 And the house, when it was in building, hwas built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: 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 for the middle chamber was in the right †side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third. 9 iSo he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house ||with beams and boards of cedar. 10 And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

11 And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, 12 Concerning this house which thou art in building, jif thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, kwhich I spake unto David thy father: 13 And lI will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not mforsake my people Israel.

14 nSo Solomon built the house, and finished it. 15 And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, ||both othe floor of the house, and the walls of the cieling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of pfir. 16 And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the qmost holy place. 17 And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long. 18 And the cedar of the house within was carved with ||knops and †open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen. 19 And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with †pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. 22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole raltar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

23 And within the oracle he made stwo cherubims of ||olive tree, each ten cubits high. 24 And 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. 25 And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubims were of one measure and one size. 26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub. 27 And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and t||they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, 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. 28 And he overlaid the cherubims with gold. 29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and †open flowers, within and without. 30 And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.

31 And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were ||a fifth part of the wall. 32 The ||two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and †open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees. 33 So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, ||a fourth part of the wall. 34 And the two doors were of ufir tree: the two leaves of the one door were wfolding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work. 36 And he built the inner court with xthree rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams.

37 yIn the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the month Zif: 38 And 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.

7 *But Solomon was building his own house athirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2 He built also bthe house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an 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. 3 And it was covered with cedar above upon the †beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row. 4 And there were windows in three rows, and †light was against light in three ranks. 5 And all the ||doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks. 6 And he made a porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits: and the porch was ||before them: and the other pillars and the thick beam were ||before them. 7 Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar †from one side of the floor to the other. 8 And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh’s daughter, cwhom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch. 9 All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court. 10 And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. 11 And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars. 12 And the great court round about …