1 Kings 6
1 Then it happened that, in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel departed from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, the house of the Lord began to be built.
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year that Solomon was king of Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, the building of the Lord's house was started.
2 Now the house, which king Solomon was building to the Lord, was sixty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and thirty cubits in height.
The house which Solomon made for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.
3 And a portico was before the temple, of twenty cubits in length, in accord with the measure of the width of the temple. And it had ten cubits of width before the face of the temple.
The covered way before the Temple of the house was twenty cubits long, as wide as the house, and ten cubits wide in front of the house.
4 And he made oblique windows in the temple.
And for the house he made windows, with network across.
5 And upon the wall of the temple, he built panels on all sides, in the walls of the house around the temple and the oracle. And he made side chambers all around.
And against the walls all round, and against the walls of the Temple and of the inmost room, he put up wings, with side rooms all round:
6 The flooring on the bottom level held five cubits in width, and the middle floor was six cubits in width, and the third floor held seven cubits in width. Then he positioned beams on the house all around the outside, in such a way that they would not be fastened to the walls of the temple.
The lowest line of them being five cubits wide, the middle six cubits wide and the third seven cubits; for there was a space all round the outside walls of the house so that the boards supporting the rooms did not have to be fixed in the walls of the house.
7 Now the house, while it was being built, was made from cut and finished stones. And so, neither mallet, nor chisel, nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.
(And the stones used in the building of the house were squared at the place where they were cut out; there was no sound of hammer or axe or any iron instrument while they were building the house.)
8 The door at the side of the middle section was to the right of the house. And they would ascend along winding stairs to the middle level, and from the middle level to the third level.
The door to the lowest side rooms was in the right side of the house; and they went up by twisting steps into the middle rooms, and from the middle into the third.
9 And he built the house, and finished it. And he overlaid the house with boards of cedar.
So he put up the house and made it complete, roofing it with boards of cedar-wood.
10 And he built a paneling over the entire house, five cubits in height, and he covered the house with cedar wood.
And he put up the line of side rooms against the walls of the house, fifteen cubits high, resting against the house on boards of cedar-wood.
11 And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying:
(And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,
12 “Concerning this house, which you are building: if you will walk in my precepts, and carry out my judgments, and keep all my commandments, advancing by them, I will confirm my word to you, which I spoke to your father David.
About this house which you are building: if you will keep my laws and give effect to my decisions and be guided by my rules, I will give effect to my word which I gave to David your father.
13 And I will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel, and I will not forsake my people Israel.”
And I will be ever among the children of Israel, and will not go away from my people.
14 And so, Solomon built the house, and finished it.
So Solomon made the building of the house complete.)
15 And he built the walls of the house, on the interior, with panels of cedar, from the floor of the house, to the top of the walls, and even to the ceiling. He covered it with cedar wood on the interior. And he overlaid the floor of the house with panels of spruce.
The walls of the house were covered inside with cedar-wood boards; from the floor to the roof of the house they were covered inside with wood; and the floor was covered with boards of cypress-wood.
16 And he built panels of cedar, of twenty cubits, at the back part of the temple, from the floor even to the top. And he made the inner house of the oracle as the Holy of Holies.
And at the back of the house a further space of twenty cubits was shut in with boards of cedar-wood, for the inmost room.
17 And the temple itself, before the doors of the oracle, was forty cubits.
And the house, that is, the Temple, in front of the holy place was forty cubits long.
18 And the entire house was clothed with cedar on the interior, having its turnings and junctures artfully wrought, with carvings projecting outward. Everything was clothed with panels of cedar. And no stone at all was able to be seen in the wall.
(All the inside of the house was cedar-wood, ornamented with designs of buds and flowers; no stonework was to be seen inside.)
19 Now he made the oracle in the middle of the house, in the inner part, so that he might station the ark of the covenant of the Lord there.
And he made ready an inmost room in the middle of the house, in which to put the ark of the agreement of the Lord.
20 And the oracle held twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height. And he covered and clothed it with the purest gold. Then, too, he clothed the altar in cedar.
And the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with gold.
21 Also, the house before the oracle, he covered with the purest gold, and he fastened the plates with nails of gold.
Solomon had all the inside of the house covered with gold, and he put chains of gold across in front of the inmost room, which itself was covered with gold.
22 And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold. Moreover, the entire altar of the oracle he overlaid with gold.
Plates of gold were put all through the house till it was covered completely (and the altar in the inmost room was all covered with gold).
23 And he made in the oracle two cherubim from wood of the olive tree, of ten cubits in height.
In the inmost room he made two winged beings of olive-wood, ten cubits high;
24 One wing of a cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of a cherub was five cubits, that is, having ten cubits from the summit of one wing even to the summit of the other wing.
With outstretched wings five cubits wide; the distance from the edge of one wing to the edge of the other was ten cubits.
25 Likewise, the second cherub was ten cubits. And the measure was equal and the work was one, in the two cherubim,
The two winged ones were ten cubits high, of the same size and form.
26 that is, one cherub had a height of ten cubits, and similarly the second cherub.
The two of them were ten cubits high.
27 And he stationed the cherubim in the middle of the inner temple. And the cherubim extended their wings, and the wing of the one was touching the wall, and the wing of the second cherub was touching the other wall. But the other wings, in the middle of the temple, were touching each another.
These were placed inside the inner house, their outstretched wings touching the walls of the house, one touching one wall and one the other, while their other wings were touching in the middle.
28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
These winged ones were plated over with gold.
29 And all the walls of the temple all around he engraved with diverse carvings and turnings. And he made in them cherubim, and palm trees, and various images, as if these were projecting out, and going forth from, the wall.
And all the walls of the house inside and out were ornamented with forms of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers.
30 Then, too, the floor of the house he overlaid with gold within and without.
And the floor of the house was covered with gold, inside and out.
31 And at the entrance of the oracle, he made little doors, from wood of the olive tree, with posts of five corners.
For the way into the inmost room he made doors of olive-wood, the arch and the door supports forming a five-sided opening.
32 And there were two doors, from wood of the olive tree. And he carved upon them pictures of cherubim, and images of palm trees, and very prominent figures. And he overlaid these with gold. And he covered the cherubim, as well as the palm trees and the other things, with gold.
On the olive-wood doors were cut designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, all of them, with the doors, plated with gold.
33 And he made, at the entrance of the temple, posts from wood of the olive tree, with four corners,
Then he made pillars of olive-wood for the way into the Temple; the pillars were square:
34 and two doors, from wood of the spruce tree, on the other side. And each door was double, and so it opened by folding upon itself.
And two folding doors of cypress-wood, with two leaves.
35 And he carved cherubim, and palm trees, and very prominent engravings. And he covered everything with gold plates, worked to be perfectly square.
These were ornamented with designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, plated over with gold.
36 And he built the inner atrium with three rows of polished stones, and one row of cedar wood.
And the inner space was walled with three lines of squared stones and a line of cedar-wood boards.
37 In the fourth year, the house of the Lord was founded, in the month of Ziv.
In the fourth year the base of the house was put in its place, in the month Ziv.
38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was perfected in all its works and in all its equipment. And he built it for seven years.
And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the building of the house was complete in every detail, as it had been designed. So he was seven years building it.
