1 Kings 6–7

Chapter 6

The Building of the Temple

^1aNow it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he ¹began to build the house of the Lord.

²As for the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty ¹cubits and its width twenty cubits and its height thirty cubits.

³The porch in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits ¹in length, ²corresponding to the width of the house, and its ³depth along the front of the house was ten cubits.

⁴Also for the house ^ahe made windows with artistic frames.

^5aAgainst the wall of the house he built stories encompassing the walls of the house around both the nave and the ^binner sanctuary; thus he made ^cside chambers all around.

⁶The lowest story was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he ¹made offsets in the wall of the house all around in order that the beams would not ²be inserted in the walls of the house.

^7aThe house, while it was being built, was built of stone ¹prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built.

⁸The doorway for the ¹lowest side chamber was on the right side of the house; and they would go up by winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.

⁹So ^ahe built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and ¹planks of cedar.

¹⁰He also built the stories against the whole house, each five ¹cubits high; and they ²were fastened to the house with timbers of cedar.

¹¹Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying,

¹²“Concerning this house which you are building, ^aif you will walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will carry out My word with you which I spoke to David your father.

¹³“^aI will dwell among the sons of Israel, and ^bwill not forsake My people Israel.”

^14aSo Solomon built the house and finished it.

¹⁵Then he ^abuilt the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the ¹ceiling he overlaid the walls on the inside with wood, and he overlaid the floor of the house with boards of cypress.

^16aHe built twenty cubits on the rear part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ¹ceiling; he built them for it on the inside as an inner sanctuary, even as ^bthe most holy place.

¹⁷The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty ¹cubits long.

¹⁸There was cedar on the house within, carved in the shape of ^agourds and open flowers; all was cedar, there was no stone seen.

¹⁹Then he prepared an inner sanctuary within the house in order to place there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

²⁰¹The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar with cedar.

²¹So Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. And he drew chains of gold across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold.

²²He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also ^athe whole altar which was by the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

^23aAlso in the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.

²⁴Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub and five cubits the other wing of the cherub; from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing were ten cubits.

²⁵The other cherub was ten cubits; both the cherubim were of the same measure and the same form.

²⁶The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub.

²⁷He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and ^athe wings of the cherubim were spread out, so that the wing of the one was touching the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall. So their wings were touching each other in the center of the house.

²⁸He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹Then he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inner and outer sanctuaries.

³⁰He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inner and outer sanctuaries.

³¹For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood, the lintel and five-sided doorposts.

³²So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

³³So also he made for the entrance of the nave four-sided doorposts of olive wood

³⁴and ^atwo doors of cypress wood; the two leaves of the one door turned on pivots, and the two ¹leaves of the other door turned on pivots.

³⁵He carved on it cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the engraved work.

^36aHe built the inner court with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.

^37aIn the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv.

³⁸In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.

Chapter 7

Solomon’s Palace

¹Now ^aSolomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

^2aHe built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was 100 ¹cubits and its width 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on the pillars.

³It was paneled with cedar above the side chambers which were on the 45 pillars, 15 in each row.

⁴There were artistic window frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three ranks.

⁵All the doorways and doorposts had squared artistic frames, and window was opposite window in three ranks.

⁶Then he made ^athe hall of pillars; its length was 50 cubits and its width 30 cubits, and a porch was in front of them and pillars and a ^bthreshold in front of them.

⁷He made the hall of the ^athrone where he was to judge, the hall of judgment, and ^bit was paneled with cedar from floor to floor.

⁸His house where he was to live, the other court inward from the hall, was of the same workmanship. ^aHe also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, ^bwhom Solomon had married.

⁹All these were of costly stones, of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside; even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.

¹⁰The foundation was of costly stones, even large stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits.

¹¹And above were costly stones, stone cut according to measure, and cedar.

¹²So ^athe great court all around had three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams even as the inner court of the house of the Lord, and ^bthe porch of the house.

Hiram’s Work in the Temple

¹³Now ^aKing Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre.

^14aHe was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and ^bhe was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill for doing any work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and ^cperformed all his work.

¹⁵He fashioned ^athe two pillars of bronze; ^beighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits ¹measured the circumference of both.

¹⁶He also made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five ¹cubits and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

¹⁷There were nets of network and twisted threads of chainwork for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital.

¹⁸So he made the pillars, and two rows around on the one network to cover the capitals which were on the top of the pomegranates; and so he did for the other capital.

¹⁹The capitals which were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily design, four cubits.

²⁰There were capitals on the two pillars, even above and close to the ¹rounded projection which was beside the network; and ^athe pomegranates numbered two hundred in rows around ²both capitals.

^21aThus he set up the pillars at the ^bporch of the nave; and he set up the right pillar and named it ¹Jachin, and he set up the left pillar and named it ²Boaz.

²²On the top of the pillars was lily design. So the work of the pillars was finished.

^23aNow he made the sea of ^bcast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and ¹thirty cubits in circumference.

²⁴Under its brim ^agourds went around encircling it ten to a cubit, ^bcompletely surrounding the sea; the gourds were in two rows, cast ¹with the rest.

^25aIt stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them, and all their rear parts turned inward.

²⁶It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, as a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths.

²⁷Then ^ahe made the ten stands of bronze; the length of each stand was four cubits and its width four cubits and its height three cubits.

²⁸This was the design of the stands: they had borders, even borders between the ¹frames,

²⁹and on the borders which were between the ¹frames were lions, oxen and cherubim; and on the frames there was a pedestal above, and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

³⁰Now each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and its four feet had supports; beneath the basin were cast supports with wreaths at each side.

³¹Its opening inside the crown at the top was a cubit, and its opening was round like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its opening there were engravings, and their borders were square, not round.

³²The four wheels were underneath the borders,…