1 Kings 6–7

Solomon Builds the Temple

6Solomon began to build the Temple four hundred eighty years after the people of Israel had left Egypt. This was during the fourth year of King Solomon’s rule over Israel. It was the second month, the month of Ziv.

²The Temple was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. ³The porch in front of the main room of the Temple was fifteen feet deep and thirty feet wide. This room ran along the front of the Temple itself. Its width was equal to that of the Temple. ⁴The Temple also had windows that opened and closed. ⁵Solomon also built some side rooms against the walls of the main room and the inner room of the Temple. He built rooms all around. ⁶The rooms on the bottom floor were seven and one-half feet wide. Those on the middle floor were nine feet wide, and the rooms above them were ten and one-half feet wide. The Temple wall that formed the side of each room was thinner than the wall in the room below. These rooms were pushed against the Temple wall, but they did not have their main beams built into this wall.

⁷The stones were prepared at the same place where they were cut from the ground. Since these stones were the only ones used to build the Temple, there was no noise of hammers, axes, or any other iron tools at the Temple.

⁸The entrance to the lower rooms beside the Temple was on the south side. From there, stairs went up to the second-floor rooms. And from there, stairs went on to the third-floor rooms. ⁹Solomon put a roof made from beams and cedar boards on the Temple. So he finished building the Temple ¹⁰as well as the bottom floor that was beside the Temple. This bottom floor was seven and one-half feet high and was attached to the Temple by cedar beams.

¹¹The Lord said to Solomon: ¹²“If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David. ¹³I will live among the Israelites in this Temple, and I will never leave my people Israel.”

¹⁴So Solomon finished building the Temple. ¹⁵The inside walls were covered from floor to ceiling with cedar boards. The floor was made from pine boards. ¹⁶A room thirty feet long was built in the back part of the Temple. This room, called the Most Holy Place, was separated from the rest of the Temple by cedar boards which reached from floor to ceiling. ¹⁷The main room, the one in front of the Most Holy Place, was sixty feet long. ¹⁸Everything inside the Temple was covered with cedar, which was carved with pictures of flowers and plants. A person could not see the stones of the wall, only the cedar.

¹⁹Solomon prepared the inner room at the back of the Temple to keep the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord. ²⁰This inner room was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high. He covered this room with pure gold, and he also covered the altar of cedar. ²¹He covered the inside of the Temple with pure gold, placing gold chains across the front of the inner room, which was also covered with gold. ²²So all the inside of the Temple, as well as the altar of the Most Holy Place, was covered with gold.

²³Solomon made two creatures from olive wood and placed them in the Most Holy Place. Each creature was fifteen feet tall ²⁴and had two wings. Each wing was seven and one-half feet long, so it was fifteen feet from the end of one wing to the end of the other. ²⁵The creatures were the same size and shape; ²⁶each was fifteen feet tall. ²⁷These creatures were put beside each other in the Most Holy Place with their wings spread out. One creature’s wing touched one wall, and the other creature’s wing touched the other wall with their wings touching each other in the middle of the room. ²⁸These two creatures were covered with gold.

²⁹All the walls around the Temple were carved with pictures of creatures with wings, as well as palm trees and flowers. This was true for both the main room and the inner room. ³⁰The floors of both rooms were covered with gold.

³¹Doors made from olive wood were placed at the entrance to the Most Holy Place. These doors had five-sided frames. ³²Creatures with wings, as well as palm trees and flowers, were also carved on the two olive wood doors that were covered with gold. The creatures and the palm trees on the doors were covered with gold as well. ³³At the entrance to the main room there was a square door frame made of olive wood. ³⁴Two doors were made from pine. Each door had two parts so the doors folded. ³⁵The doors were covered with pictures of creatures with wings, as well as palm trees and flowers. All of the carvings were covered with gold, which was evenly spread over them.

³⁶The inner courtyard was enclosed by walls, which were made of three rows of cut stones and one row of cedar boards.

³⁷Work began on the Temple in Ziv, the second month, during the fourth year Solomon was king over Israel. ³⁸The Temple was finished during the eleventh year he was king, in the eighth month, the month of Bul. It was built exactly as it was planned. Solomon had spent seven years building it.

Solomon’s Palace

7King Solomon also built a palace for himself; it took him thirteen years to finish it. ²Built of cedars from the Forest of Lebanon, it was one hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. It had four rows of cedar columns which supported the cedar beams. ³There were forty-five beams on the roof, with fifteen beams in each row, and the ceiling was covered with cedar above the beams. ⁴Windows were placed in three rows facing each other. ⁵All the doors were square, and the three doors at each end faced each other.

⁶Solomon also built the porch that had pillars. This porch was seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide. Along the front of the porch was a roof supported by pillars.

⁷Solomon also built a throne room where he judged people, called the Hall of Justice. This room was covered with cedar from the floor to the ceiling. ⁸The palace where Solomon lived was built like the Hall of Justice, and it was behind this hall. Solomon also built the same kind of palace for his wife, who was the daughter of the king of Egypt.

⁹All these buildings were made with blocks of fine stone. First they were carefully cut. Then they were trimmed with a saw in the front and back. These fine stones went from the foundations of the buildings to the top of the walls. Even the courtyard was made with blocks of stone. ¹⁰The foundations were made with large blocks of fine stone, some as long as fifteen feet. Others were twelve feet long. ¹¹On top of these foundation stones were other blocks of fine stone and cedar beams. ¹²The palace courtyard, the courtyard inside the Temple, and the porch of the Temple were surrounded by walls. All of these walls had three rows of stone blocks and one row of cedar beams.

The Temple Is Completed Inside

¹³King Solomon sent to Tyre and had Huram brought to him. ¹⁴Huram’s mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father was from Tyre and had been skilled in making things from bronze. Huram was also very skilled and experienced in bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and did all the bronze work.

¹⁵He made two bronze pillars, each one twenty-seven feet tall and eighteen feet around. ¹⁶He also made two bronze capitals that were seven and one-half feet tall, and he put them on top of the pillars. ¹⁷Then he made a net of seven chains for each capital, which covered the capitals on top of the two pillars. ¹⁸He made two rows of bronze pomegranates to go on the nets. These covered the capitals at the top of the pillars. ¹⁹The capitals on top of the pillars in the porch were shaped like lilies, and they were six feet tall. ²⁰The capitals were on top of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped section and next to the nets. At that place there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around the capitals. ²¹Huram put these two bronze pillars at the porch of the Temple. He named the south pillar He Establishes and the north pillar In Him Is Strength. ²²The capitals on top of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work on the pillars was finished.

²³Then Huram made from bronze a large round bowl, which was called the Sea. It was forty-five feet around, fifteen feet across, and seven and one-half feet deep. ²⁴Around the outer edge of the bowl was a rim. Under this rim were two rows of bronze plants which surrounded the bowl. There were ten plants every eighteen inches, and these plants were made in one piece with the bowl. ²⁵The bowl rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced outward from the center of the bowl. Three bulls faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. ²⁶The sides of the bowl were four inches thick, and it held about eleven thousand gallons. The rim of the bowl was like the rim of a cup or like a lily blossom.

²⁷Then Huram made ten bronze stands, each one six feet long, six feet wide, and four and one-half feet high. ²⁸The stands were made from square sides, which were put on frames. ²⁹On the sides were bronze lions, bulls, and creatures with wings. On the frames above and below the lions and bulls were designs of flowers hammered into the bronze. ³⁰Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. At the corners there were bronze supports for a large bowl, and the supports had designs of flowers. ³¹There was a frame on top of the bowls, eighteen inches high above the bowls. The opening of the bowl was round, twenty-seven inches deep. Designs were carved into the bronze on the frame, which was square, not round. ³²The four wheels, placed under the frame, were twenty-seven inches high. The axles between the wheels were made as one piece with the stand. ³³The wheels were like a chariot’s wheels. Everything on the wheels—the axles, rims, spokes, and hubs—were made of bronze.

³⁴The four supports were on the four corners of each stand. They were made as one piece with the stand. ³⁵A strip of bronze around the top of each stand was nine inches…