1 Kings 6:1–7:51

Solomon Builds the Temple

6 And ait came to pass in the four hundred and 1eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of 2Ziv, which is the second month, bthat he began to build the house of the Lord. 2 Now cthe house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. 3 The vestibule in front of the 3sanctuary of the house was 4twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the width of 5the vestibule extended 6ten cubits from the front of the house. 4 And he made for the house dwindows with beveled frames.

5 Against the wall of the 7temple he built echambers all around, against the walls of the temple, all around the sanctuary fand the 8inner sanctuary. Thus he made side chambers all around it. 6 The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the temple, so that the support beams would not be fastened into the walls of the 9temple. 7 And gthe temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. 8 The doorway for the 1middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.

9 hSo he built the 2temple and finished it, and he paneled the temple with beams and boards of cedar. 10 And he built side chambers against the entire temple, each five cubits high; they were attached to the temple with cedar beams.

11 Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: 12 “Concerning this 3temple which you are building, iif you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My 4word with you, jwhich I spoke to your father David. 13 And kI will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not lforsake My people Israel.”

14 So Solomon built the temple and finished it. 15 And he built the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards; from the floor of the temple to the ceiling he paneled the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the temple with planks of cypress. 16 Then he built the twenty-cubit room at the rear of the temple, from floor to ceiling, with cedar boards; he built it inside as the inner sanctuary, as the mMost Holy Place. 17 And in front of it the temple sanctuary was forty cubits long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with ornamental buds and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone to be seen.

19 And he prepared the 5inner sanctuary inside the temple, to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 The whole temple he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the temple; also he overlaid with gold nthe entire altar that was by the inner sanctuary.

23 Inside the inner sanctuary ohe made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits: ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25 And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and shape. 26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub. 27 Then he set the cherubim inside the inner 6room; and pthey stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 Also he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved qfigures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. 30 And the floor of the temple he overlaid with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were 7one-fifth of the wall. 32 The two doors were of olive wood; and he carved on them figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. 33 So for the door of the 8sanctuary he also made doorposts of olive wood, 9one-fourth of the wall. 34 And the two doors were of cypress wood; rtwo panels comprised one folding door, and two panels comprised the other folding door. 35 Then he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and overlaid them with gold applied evenly on the carved work.

36 And he built the sinner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.

37 tIn the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of 1Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of 2Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was useven years in building it.

Solomon’s Other Buildings

7 But Solomon took athirteen years to build his own house; so he finished all his house.

2 He also built the bHouse of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was 1one hundred cubits, its width 2fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, with four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar beams on the pillars. 3 And it was paneled with cedar above the beams that were on forty-five pillars, fifteen to a row. 4 There were windows with beveled frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three tiers. 5 And all the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames; and window was opposite window in three tiers.

6 He also made the Hall of Pillars: its length was fifty cubits, and its width thirty cubits; and in front of them was a portico with pillars, and a canopy was in front of them.

7 Then he made a hall for the throne, the Hall of Judgment, where he might judge; and it was paneled with cedar from floor to 3ceiling.

8 And the house where he dwelt had another court inside the hall, of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, cwhom he had taken as wife.

9 All these were of costly stones cut to size, trimmed with saws, inside and out, from the foundation to the eaves, and also on the outside to the great court. 10 The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some ten cubits and some eight cubits. 11 And above were costly stones, hewn to size, and cedar wood. 12 The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewn stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the dinner court of the house of the Lord eand the vestibule of the temple.

Hiram the Craftsman

13 Now King Solomon sent and brought 4Huram from Tyre. 14 fHe was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and ghis father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; hhe was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill in working with all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.

The Bronze Pillars for the Temple

15 And he 5cast itwo pillars of bronze, each one eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of each. 16 Then he made two capitals of cast bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 17 He made a lattice network, with wreaths of chainwork, for the capitals which were on top of the pillars: seven chains for one capital and seven for the other capital. 18 So he made the pillars, and two rows of pomegranates above the network all around to cover the capitals that were on top; and thus he did for the other capital.

19 The capitals which were on top of the pillars in the hall were in the shape of lilies, four cubits. 20 The capitals on the two pillars also had pomegranates above, by the convex surface which was next to the network; and there were jtwo hundred such pomegranates in rows on each of the capitals all around.

21 kThen he set up the pillars by the vestibule of the temple; he set up the pillar on the right and called its name 6Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name 7Boaz. 22 The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. So the work of the pillars was finished.

The Sea and the Oxen

23 And he made lthe Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.

24 Below its brim were ornamental buds encircling it all around, ten to a cubit, mall the way around the Sea. The ornamental buds were cast in two rows when it was cast. 25 It stood on ntwelve oxen: three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; the Sea was set upon them, and all their back parts pointed inward. 26 It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained 8two thousand baths.

The Carts and the Lavers

27 He also made ten 9carts of bronze; four cubits was the length of each cart, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. 28 And this was the design of the carts: They had panels, and the panels were between frames; 29 on the panels that were between the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. And on the frames was a pedestal on top. Below the lions and oxen were wreaths of plaited work. 30 Every cart had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and its four feet had supports. Under the laver were supports of cast bronze beside each wreath. 31 Its opening inside the crown at the top was one cubit in diameter; and the opening was round, shaped like a pedestal, one and a half cubits in outside diameter; and also on the opening were …