1 Kings 6–7

Solomon Builds the Temple

⁶In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites 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, he began to build the house of the Lord.^{* 2}The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.^{* 3}The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits wide, across the width of the house. Its depth was ten cubits in front of the house. ⁴For the house he made windows with recessed frames.^{o* 5}He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary, and he made side chambers all around.^{* 6}The lowest story^p was five cubits wide, the middle one was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide, for around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

⁷The house was built with stone finished at the quarry so that neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built.^*

⁸The entrance for the lower^q story was on the south side of the house: one went up by winding stairs to the middle story and from the middle story to the third. ⁹So he built the house and finished it; he roofed the house with beams and planks of cedar.^{* 10}He built the structure against the whole house, each story^r five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

¹¹Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, ¹²“Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will establish my promise with you that I made to your father David.^{* 13}I will dwell among the Israelites and will not forsake my people Israel.”^*

¹⁴So Solomon built the house and finished it.^{* 15}He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the rafters of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. ¹⁶He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the rafters, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the most holy place.^{* 17}The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. ¹⁸The cedar within the house had carvings of gourds and open flowers; all was cedar; no stone was seen.^{* 19}The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. ²⁰The interior of the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar with cedar.^{s 21}Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, then he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. ²²Next he overlaid the whole house with gold, in order that the whole house might be perfect; even the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.^*

The Furnishings of the Temple

²³In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high.^{* 24}Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. ²⁵The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. ²⁶The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. ²⁷He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house; the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one was touching the one wall and a wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall; their other wings toward the center of the house were touching wing to wing.^{* 28}He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹He carved the walls of the house all around about with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. ³⁰The floor of the house he overlaid with gold, in the inner and outer rooms.

³¹For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.^{t 32}He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; he overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

³³So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, four-sided each, ³⁴and two doors of cypress wood; the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.^{* 35}He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, overlaying them with gold evenly applied upon the carved work. ³⁶He built the inner court with three courses of dressed stone to one course of cedar beams.^*

³⁷In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv.^{* 38}In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

Solomon’s Palace and Other Buildings

⁷Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.^*

²He built the House of the Forest of the Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.^{* 3}It was roofed with cedar on the forty-five rafters, fifteen in each row, which were on the pillars. ⁴There were window frames in the three rows, facing each other in the three rows. ⁵All the doorways and doorposts had four-sided frames, opposite, facing each other in the three rows.

⁶He made the Hall of Pillars fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. There was a porch in front with pillars and a canopy in front of them.

⁷He made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, the Hall of Justice, covered with cedar from the floor to the rafters.^u*

⁸His own house where he would reside, in the other court back of the hall, was of the same construction. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken in marriage.^*

⁹All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, from the foundation to the coping and from outside to the great court. ¹⁰The foundation was of costly stones, huge stones, stones of eight and ten cubits. ¹¹There were costly stones above, cut to measure, and cedarwood. ¹²The great court had three courses of dressed stone to one layer of cedar beams all around; so had the inner court of the house of the Lord and the vestibule of the house.^*

Products of Hiram the Bronzeworker

¹³Now King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre.^{* 14}He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, whose father, a man of Tyre, had been an artisan in bronze; he was full of skill, intelligence, and knowledge in working bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work.^*

¹⁵He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of the one, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle it; the second pillar was the same.^{v* 16}He also made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. ¹⁷There were nets of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars, seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. ¹⁸He made the columns with two rows around each latticework to cover the capitals that were above the pomegranates; he did the same with the other capital. ¹⁹Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits high. ²⁰The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection that was beside the latticework; there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around, and so with the other capital.^{* 21}He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple; he set up the pillar on the south and called it Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the north and called it Boaz.^{* 22}On the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.

²³Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would encircle it completely.^{* 24}Under its brim were gourds^w all around it, each of ten cubits, surrounding the sea; there were two rows of gourds,^x cast when it was cast.^{* 25}It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them. The hindquarters of each were toward the inside.^{* 26}Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.^y

²⁷He also made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.^{* 28}This was the construction of the stands: they had borders; the borders were within the frames; ²⁹on the borders that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work. ³⁰Each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each.^{* 31}Its opening was within the crown, whose height was one cubit; its opening was round, as a pedestal is made; it was a cubit and a half wide. At its opening there were carvings; its borders were four-sided, not round. ³²The four wheels were underneath the borders; the axles of the wheels were in the stands; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their…