1 Kings 6–7

¹And it cometh to pass, in the four hundred and eightieth year of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year—in the month of Zif, it is the second month—of the reigning of Solomon over Israel, that he buildeth the house for Jehovah. ²As to the house that king Solomon hath built for Jehovah, sixty cubits is its length, and twenty its breadth, and thirty cubits its height. ³As to the porch on the front of the temple of the house, twenty cubits is its length on the front of the breadth of the house; ten by the cubit is its breadth on the front of the house; ⁴and he maketh for the house windows of narrow lights. ⁵And he buildeth against the wall of the house a couch round about, even the walls of the house round about, of the temple and of the oracle, and maketh sides round about. ⁶The lowest couch, five by the cubit is its breadth; and the middle, six by the cubit is its breadth; and the third, seven by the cubit is its breadth, for withdrawings he hath put to the house round about, without—not to lay hold on the walls of the house. ⁷And the house, in its being built, of perfect stone brought thither hath been built, and hammer, and the axe—any instrument of iron—was not heard in the house, in its being built. ⁸The opening of the middle side is at the right shoulder of the house, and with windings they go up on the middle one, and from the middle one unto the third. ⁹And he buildeth the house, and completeth it, and covereth the house with beams and rows of cedars. ¹⁰And he buildeth the couch against all the house, five cubits is its height, and it taketh hold of the house by cedar-wood.

¹¹And the word of Jehovah is unto Solomon, saying, ¹²‘This house that thou art building—if thou dost walk in My statutes, and My judgments dost do, yea, hast done all My commands, to walk in them, then I have established My word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father, ¹³and have tabernacled in the midst of the sons of Israel, and do not forsake My people Israel.’ ¹⁴And Solomon buildeth the house and completeth it.

¹⁵And he buildeth the walls of the house within with beams of cedar, from the floor of the house unto the walls of the ceiling; he hath overlaid with wood the inside, and covereth the floor of the house with ribs of fir. ¹⁶And he buildeth the twenty cubits on the sides of the house with ribs of cedar, from the floor unto the walls; and he buildeth for it within, for the oracle, for the holy of holies. ¹⁷And forty by the cubit was the house, it is the temple before it. ¹⁸And the cedar for the house within is carvings of knobs and openings of flowers; the whole is cedar, there is not a stone seen. ¹⁹And the oracle in the midst of the house within he hath prepared, to put there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. ²⁰And before the oracle is twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits is its height; and he overlayeth it with gold refined, and overlayeth the altar with cedar. ²¹And Solomon overlayeth the house within with gold refined, and causeth it to pass over in chains of gold before the oracle, and overlayeth it with gold. ²²And the whole of the house he hath overlaid with gold, till the completion of all the house; and the whole of the altar that the oracle hath, he hath overlaid with gold. ²³And he maketh within the oracle two cherubs, of the oil-tree, ten cubits is their height; ²⁴and five cubits is the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the second wing of the cherub, ten cubits from the ends of its wings even unto the ends of its wings; ²⁵and ten by the cubit is the second cherub, one measure and one form are to the two cherubs, ²⁶the height of the one cherub is ten by the cubit, and so is the second cherub; ²⁷and he setteth the cherubs in the midst of the inner house, and they spread out the wings of the cherubs, and a wing of the one cometh against the wall, and a wing of the second cherub is coming against the second wall, and their wings are unto the midst of the house, coming wing against wing; ²⁸and he overlayeth the cherubs with gold, ²⁹and all the walls of the house round about he hath carved with openings of carvings, cherubs, and palm trees, and openings of flowers, within and without. ³⁰And the floor of the house he hath overlaid with gold, within and without; ³¹as to the opening of the oracle, he made doors of the oil-tree; the lintel, side-posts, a fifth. ³²And the two doors are of the oil-tree, and he hath carved upon them carvings of cherubs, and palm-trees, and openings of flowers, and overlaid with gold, and he causeth the gold to go down on the cherubs and on the palm-trees. ³³And so he hath made for the opening of the temple, side-posts of the oil-tree, from the fourth. ³⁴And the two doors are of fir-tree, the two sides of the one door are revolving, and the two hangings of the second door are revolving. ³⁵And he hath carved cherubs, and palms, and openings of flowers, and overlaid with straightened gold the graved work. ³⁶And he buildeth the inner court, three rows of hewn work, and a row of beams of cedar. ³⁷In the fourth year hath the house of Jehovah been founded, in the month Zif, ³⁸and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul—that is the eighth month—hath the house been finished in all its matters, and in all its ordinances, and he buildeth it seven years.

Chapter 7

¹And his own house hath Solomon built thirteen years, and he finisheth all his house. ²And he buildeth the house of the forest of Lebanon; a hundred cubits is its length, and fifty cubits its breadth, and thirty cubits its height, on four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar-beams on the pillars; ³and it is covered with cedar above, on the sides that are on the forty and five pillars, fifteen in the row. ⁴And windows are in three rows, and sight is over-against sight three times. ⁵And all the openings and the side-posts are square—windows; and sight is over-against sight three times. ⁶And the porch of the pillars he hath made; fifty cubits its length, and thirty cubits its breadth, and the porch is before them, and pillars and a thick place are before them. ⁷And the porch of the throne where he judgeth—the porch of judgment—he hath made, and it is covered with cedar from the floor unto the floor. ⁸As to his house where he dwelleth, the other court is within the porch—as this work it hath been; and a house he maketh for the daughter of Pharaoh—whom Solomon hath taken—like this porch. ⁹All these are of precious stone, according to the measures of hewn work, sawn with a saw, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and at the outside, unto the great court. ¹⁰And the foundation is of precious stone, great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits; ¹¹and above are precious stone, according to the measures of hewn work, and cedar; ¹²and the great court round about is three rows of hewn work, and a row of cedar-beams, even for the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and for the porch of the house.

¹³And king Solomon sendeth and taketh Hiram out of Tyre— ¹⁴he is son of a woman, a widow, of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father a man of Tyre, a worker in brass, and he is filled with the wisdom and the understanding, and the knowledge to do all work in brass—and he cometh unto king Solomon, and doth all his work. ¹⁵And he formeth the two pillars of brass; eighteen cubits is the height of the one pillar, and a cord of twelve cubits doth compass the second pillar. ¹⁶And two chapiters he hath made to put on the tops of the pillars, cast in brass; five cubits the height of the one chapiter, and five cubits the height of the second chapiter. ¹⁷Nets of net-work, wreaths of chain-work are for the chapiters that are on the top of the pillars, seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the second chapiter. ¹⁸And he maketh the pillars, and two rows round about on the one net-work, to cover the chapiters that are on the top, with the pomegranates, and so he hath made for the second chapiter. ¹⁹And the chapiters that are on the top of the pillars are of lily-work in the porch, four cubits; ²⁰and the chapiters on the two pillars also above, over-against the protuberance that is beside the net; and the pomegranates are two hundred, in rows round about on the second chapiter. ²¹And he raiseth up the pillars for the porch of the temple, and he raiseth up the right pillar, and calleth its name Jachin, and he raiseth up the left pillar, and calleth its name Boaz; ²²and on the top of the pillars is lily-work; and the work of the pillars is completed. ²³And he maketh the molten sea, ten by the cubit from its edge unto its edge; it is round all about, and five by the cubit is its height, and a line of thirty by the cubit doth compass it round about; ²⁴and knops beneath its brim round about are compassing it, ten by the cubit, going round the sea round about; in two rows are the knops, cast in its being cast. ²⁵It is standing on twelve oxen, three facing the north, and three facing the west, and three facing the south, and three facing the east, and the sea is upon them above, and all their hinder parts are inward. ²⁶And its thickness is an handbreadth, and its edge as the work of the edge of a cup, flowers of lilies; two thousand baths it containeth. ²⁷And he maketh the ten bases of brass; four by the cubit is the length of the one base, and four by the cubit its breadth, and three by the cubit its height. ²⁸And this is the work of the base: they have borders, and the borders are between the joinings; ²⁹and on the borders that are between the joinings are lions, oxen, and cherubs, and on the joinings a base above, and beneath the lions and the oxen are additions—sloping work. ³⁰And four wheels of brass are to the one base, and axles of brass; and its four corners have shoulders—under the laver are the molten shoulders, beside each addition. ³¹And its mouth within the chapiter and above is by the cubit, and its mouth is round, the work of the base, a cubit and…