The Building of the Temple

3:1 Solomon began building the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem1 on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David prepared at the threshing floor of Ornan2 the Jebusite. 3:2 He began building on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign.3

3:3 Solomon laid the foundation for God’s temple;4 its length (determined according to the old standard of measure) was 90 feet, and its width 30 feet.5 3:4 The porch in front of the main hall was 30 feet long, corresponding to the width of the temple,6 and its height was 30 feet.7 He plated the inside with pure gold. 3:5 He paneled8 the main hall9 with boards made from evergreen trees10 and plated it with fine gold, decorated with palm trees and chains.11 3:6 He decorated the temple with precious stones; the gold he used came from Parvaim.12 3:7 He overlaid the temple’s rafters, thresholds, walls and doors with gold; he carved decorative cherubim on the walls.

3:8 He made the most holy place;13 its length was 30 feet,14 corresponding to the width of the temple, and its width 30 feet.15 He plated it with 600 talents16 of fine gold. 3:9 The gold nails weighed 50 shekels; he also plated the upper areas with gold. 3:10 In the most holy place he made two images of cherubim and plated them with gold. 3:11 The combined wing span of the cherubs was 30 feet.17 One of the first cherub’s wings was seven and one-half feet long and touched one wall of the temple; its other wing was also seven and one-half feet long and touched one of the second cherub’s wings.18 3:12 Likewise one of the second cherub’s wings was seven and one-half feet long and touched the other wall of the temple; its other wing was also seven and one-half feet long and touched one of the first cherub’s wings.19 3:13 The combined wingspan of these cherubim was 30 feet.20 They stood upright, facing inward.21 3:14 He made the curtain out of violet, purple, crimson, and white fabrics, and embroidered on it decorative cherubim.

3:15 In front of the temple he made two pillars which had a combined length22 of 52½ feet,23 with each having a plated capital seven and one-half feet high.24 3:16 He made ornamental chains25 and put them on top of the pillars. He also made one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments and arranged them within the chains. 3:17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right side and the other on the left.26 He named the one on the right Jachin,27 and the one on the left Boaz.28

4:1 He made a bronze altar, 30 feet1 long, 30 feet2 wide, and 15 feet3 high. 4:2 He also made the big bronze basin called “The Sea.”4 It measured 15 feet5 from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven and one-half feet6 high. Its circumference was 45 feet.7 4:3 Images of bulls were under it all the way around, ten every eighteen inches8 all the way around. The bulls were in two rows and had been cast with “The Sea.” 4:4 “The Sea” stood on top of twelve bulls. Three faced northward, three westward, three southward, and three eastward. “The Sea” was placed on top of them, and they all faced outward.9 4:5 It was four fingers thick and its rim was like that of a cup shaped like a lily blossom. It could hold 18,000 gallons.10 4:6 He made ten washing basins; he put five on the south side and five on the north side. In them they rinsed the items used for burnt sacrifices; the priests washed in “The Sea.”

4:7 He made ten gold lampstands according to specifications and put them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. 4:8 He made ten tables and set them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. He also made one hundred gold bowls. 4:9 He made the courtyard of the priests and the large enclosure and its doors;11 he plated their doors with bronze. 4:10 He put “The Sea” on the south side, in the southeast corner.

4:11 Huram Abi12 made the pots, shovels, and bowls. He finished all the work on God’s temple he had been assigned by King Solomon.13 4:12 He made14 the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped tops of the pillars, the latticework for the bowl-shaped tops of the two pillars, 4:13 the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the latticework of the two pillars (each latticework had two rows of these ornaments at the bowl-shaped top of the pillar), 4:14 the ten15 movable stands with their ten16 basins, 4:15 the big bronze basin called “The Sea” with its twelve bulls underneath, 4:16 and the pots, shovels, and meat forks.17 All the items King Solomon assigned Huram Abi to make for the Lord’s temple18 were made from polished bronze. 4:17 The king had them cast in earthen foundries19 in the region of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. 4:18 Solomon made so many of these items they did not weigh the bronze.20

4:19 Solomon also made these items for God’s temple: the gold altar, the tables on which the Bread of the Presence21 was kept, 4:20 the pure gold lampstands and their lamps which burned as specified at the entrance to the inner sanctuary, 4:21 the pure gold flower-shaped ornaments, lamps, and tongs, 4:22 the pure gold trimming shears, basins, pans, and censers, and the gold door sockets for the inner sanctuary (the most holy place) and for the doors of the main hall of the temple. 5:1 When Solomon had finished constructing the Lord’s temple, he put the holy items that belonged to his father David (the silver, gold, and all the other articles) in the treasuries of God’s temple.