Solomon Builds the Temple

6:1–29pp—2Ch 3:1–14

6 In the four hundred and eightietha year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month,v he began to build the temple of the Lord.w

2 The templex that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.b 3 The porticoy at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits,c and projected ten cubitsd from the front of the temple. 4 He made narrow windowsz high up in the temple walls. 5 Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.a 6 The lowest floor was five cubitse wide, the middle floor six cubitsf and the third floor seven.g He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

7 In building the temple, only blocks dressedb at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron toolc was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

8 The entrance to the lowesth floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. 9 So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedard planks. 10 And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.

11 The word of the Lord camee to Solomon: 12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commandsf and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promiseg I gave to David your father. 13 And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandonh my people Israel.”

14 So Solomoni built the temple and completedj it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling,k and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper.l 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.m 17 The main hall in front of this room was forty cubitsi long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar,n carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.

19 He prepared the inner sanctuaryo within the temple to set the ark of the covenantp of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuaryq was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.r 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

23 For the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubims out of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. 25 The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape. 26 The height of each cherub was ten cubits. 27 He placed the cherubimt inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 On the wallsu all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim,v palm trees and open flowers. 30 He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors out of olive wood that were one fifth of the width of the sanctuary. 32 And on the two olive-wood doorsw he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. 33 In the same way, for the entrance to the main hall he made doorframes out of olive wood that were one fourth of the width of the hall. 34 He also made two doors out of juniper wood, each having two leaves that turned in sockets. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

36 And he built the inner courtyardx of three coursesy of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams.

37 The foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. 38 In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its detailsz according to its specifications.a He had spent seven years building it.

Solomon Builds His Palace

7 It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace.b 2 He built the Palacec of the Forest of Lebanond a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high,a with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. 3 It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. 4 Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. 5 All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other.b

6 He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide.c In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.

7 He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge,e and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling.d f 8 And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.g

9 All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and smoothed on their inner and outer faces. 10 The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubitse and some eight.f 11 Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. 12 The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three coursesh of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord with its portico.

The Temple’s Furnishings

7:23–26pp—2Ch 4:2–5
7:38–51pp—2Ch 4:6,10–5:1

13 King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,g i 14 whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was from Tyre and a skilled craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom,j with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did allk the work assigned to him.

15 He cast two bronze pillars,l each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.h 16 He also made two capitalsm of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubitsi high. 17 A network of interwoven chains adorned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. 18 He made pomegranates in two rowsj encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars.k He did the same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubitsl high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranatesn in rows all around. 21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakinm and the one to the north Boaz.n o 22 The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillarsp was completed.

23 He made the Seaq of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a liner of thirty cubitso to measure around it. 24 Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

25 The Sea stood on twelve bulls,s three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 26 It was a handbreadthp in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.q

27 He also made ten movable standst of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high.r 28 This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. 29 On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim—and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. 30 Each standu had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. 31 On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubits deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half.t Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.

34 Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. 35 At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubitu deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. 36 He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. 37 This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape.

38 He then made ten bronze basins,v each holding forty bathsv and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. 39 He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He