1 Kings 6–7

Solomon Builds the Temple

6Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord. It was 480 years after the people of Israel had come out of Egypt. It was in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel. He started in the second month. That was the month of Ziv.

²The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long. It was 30 feet wide. And it was 45 feet high. ³The temple had a porch in front of the main hall. The porch was as wide as the temple itself. It was 30 feet wide. It came out 15 feet from the front of the temple. ⁴Solomon made narrow windows high up in the temple walls.

⁵He built side rooms around the temple. They were built against the walls of the main hall and the Most Holy Room. ⁶On the first floor the side rooms were seven and a half feet wide. On the second floor they were nine feet wide. And on the third floor they were ten and a half feet wide. Solomon made the walls of the temple thinner as they went up floor by floor. The result was ledges along the walls. So the floor beams of the side rooms rested on the ledges. The beams didn’t go into the temple walls.

⁷All of the stones that were used for building the temple were shaped where they were cut. So hammers, chisels and other iron tools couldn’t be heard where the temple was being built.

⁸The entrance to the first floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the second floor. From there it went on up to the third floor.

⁹So Solomon built the temple and finished it. He made its roof out of beams and cedar boards. ¹⁰He built side rooms all along the temple. Each room was seven and a half feet high. They were joined to the temple by cedar beams.

¹¹A message came to Solomon from the Lord. The Lord said, ¹²“You are now building this temple. Follow my orders. Keep my rules. Obey all of my commands. Then I will make the promise I gave your father David come true. I will do it through you. ¹³I will live among my people Israel. I will not desert them.”

¹⁴So Solomon built the temple and finished it. ¹⁵He put cedar boards on its inside walls. He covered them from floor to ceiling. He covered the temple floor with pine boards. ¹⁶He put up a wall 30 feet from the back of the temple. He made it with cedar boards from floor to ceiling. That formed a room inside the temple. It was the Most Holy Room. ¹⁷The main hall in front of the room was 60 feet long. ¹⁸The inside of the temple was covered with cedar wood. Gourds and open flowers were carved on the wood. Everything was cedar. There wasn’t any stone showing anywhere.

¹⁹Solomon prepared the Most Holy Room inside the temple. That’s where the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be placed. ²⁰The Most Holy Room was 30 feet long. It was 30 feet wide. And it was 30 feet high. Solomon covered the inside of it with pure gold. He prepared the cedar altar for burning incense. He covered it with gold. ²¹Solomon covered the inside of the main hall with pure gold. He placed gold chains across the front of the Most Holy Room. That room was covered with gold. ²²So Solomon covered the inside of the whole temple with gold. He also covered the altar for burning incense with gold. It was right in front of the Most Holy Room.

²³For the Most Holy Room Solomon made a pair of cherubim. He made them out of olive wood. Each cherub was 15 feet high. ²⁴One wing of the first cherub was seven and a half feet long. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long. So the wings measured 15 feet from tip to tip. ²⁵The second cherub’s wings also measured 15 feet from tip to tip. The two cherubim had the same size and shape. ²⁶Each cherub was 15 feet high.

²⁷Solomon placed the cherubim inside the Most Holy Room in the temple. Their wings were spread out. The wing tip of one cherub touched one wall. The wing tip of the other touched the other wall. The tips of their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. ²⁸Solomon covered the cherubim with gold.

²⁹On the walls that were all around the temple he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. He carved them on the walls of the Most Holy Room and the main hall. ³⁰He also covered the floors of those two rooms with gold.

³¹For the entrance to the Most Holy Room he made two doors out of olive wood. Each doorpost had five sides. ³²On the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. He covered the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.

³³In the same way he made olive wood doorposts for the entrance to the main hall. Each doorpost had four sides. ³⁴He also made two pine doors. Each door had two parts. They turned in bases that were shaped like cups. ³⁵He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on the doors. He covered the doors with gold. He hammered the gold evenly over the carvings.

³⁶He used blocks of stone to build a wall around the inside courtyard. The first three layers of the wall were made out of stone. The top layer was made out of beautiful cedar wood.

³⁷The foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid in Solomon’s fourth year. It was in the month of Ziv. ³⁸The temple was finished in his 11th year. It was in the month of Bul. That was the eighth month. Everything was finished just as the plans required. Solomon had spent seven years building the temple.

Solomon Builds His Palace

7But it took Solomon 13 years to finish constructing his palace and the other buildings that were related to it.

²He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long. It was 75 feet wide. And it was 45 feet high. It had four rows of cedar columns. They held up beautiful cedar beams. ³Above the beams was a roof that was made out of cedar boards. It rested on the columns. There were three rows of beams with 15 in each row. The total number of beams was 45. ⁴The windows of the palace were placed high up in the walls. They were in groups of three. And they faced each other. ⁵All of the doorways had frames that were shaped like rectangles. They were in front. They were in groups of three. And they faced each other.

⁶Solomon made a covered area. It was 75 feet long. And it was 45 feet wide. Its roof was held up by columns. In front of it was a porch. In front of that were pillars and a roof that went out beyond them.

⁷Solomon built the throne hall. It was called the Hall of Justice. That’s where he would serve as judge. He covered the hall with cedar boards from floor to ceiling.

⁸The palace where he would live was set farther back. Its plan was something like the plan for the hall. Solomon had gotten married to Pharaoh’s daughter. He made a palace for her. It was like the hall.

⁹All of those buildings were made out of blocks of very fine stone. They were cut to the right size. They were shaped with a saw on the back and front sides. Those stones were used for the outside of each building and for the large courtyard. They were also used from the foundations up to the roofs. ¹⁰Large blocks of very fine stone were used for the foundations. Some were 15 feet long. Others were 12 feet long. ¹¹The walls that were above them were made out of very fine stones. The stones were cut to the right size. On top of them was a layer of cedar beams.

¹²The large courtyard had a wall around it. The first three layers of the wall were made out of blocks of stone. The top layer was made out of beautiful cedar wood. The same thing was done with the inside courtyard of the Lord’s temple and its porch.

More Facts About the Temple

¹³King Solomon sent messengers to Tyre. He wanted them to bring Huram back with them. ¹⁴Huram’s mother was a widow. She was from the tribe of Naphtali. Huram’s father was from Tyre. He was skilled in working with bronze. Huram also was very skilled. He had done all kinds of work with bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all of the work he was asked to do.

¹⁵Huram made two bronze pillars. Each of them was 27 feet high. And each was 18 feet around. ¹⁶Each pillar had a decorated top that was made out of bronze. Each top was seven and a half feet high.

¹⁷Chains that were linked together hung down from the tops of the pillars. There were seven chains for each top. ¹⁸Huram made two rows of pomegranates. They circled the chains. The pomegranates decorated the tops of the pillars. Huram did the same thing for each pillar. ¹⁹The tops on the pillars of the porch were shaped like lilies. The lilies were 6 feet high. ²⁰On the tops of both pillars were 200 pomegranates. They were in rows all around the tops. They were above the part that was shaped like a bowl. And they were next to the chains.

²¹Huram set the pillars up at the temple porch. The pillar on the south he named Jakin. The one on the north he named Boaz. ²²The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work on the pillars was finished.

²³Huram made a huge metal bowl for washing. Its shape was round. It measured 15 feet from rim to rim. It was seven and a half feet high. And it was 45 feet around. ²⁴Below the rim there was a circle of gourds around the bowl. In every 18 inches around the bowl there were ten gourds. The gourds were arranged in two rows. They were made as part of the bowl itself.

²⁵The huge bowl stood on 12 bulls. Three of them faced north. Three faced west. Three faced south. And three faced east. The bowl rested on top of them. Their rear ends were toward the center. ²⁶The bowl was three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup. The rim was shaped like the bloom of a lily. The bowl held 11,500 gallons of water.

²⁷Huram also made ten stands out of bronze. They could be moved around. Each stand was six feet long. It was six feet wide. And it was four and a half feet high. ²⁸Here is how the stands were made. They had sides that were joined to posts. ²⁹On the sides between the posts were lions, bulls and cherubim. They were also on all of the posts. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths that were made out of hammered metal.

³⁰Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Each one had a bowl that rested on four supports. They had wreaths…