Kings III 6
1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which [is] the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
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 And the house which the king built to the Lord [was] forty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and its height five and twenty cubits.
The house which Solomon made for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.
3 And the porch in front of the temple—twenty cubits [was] its length according to the breadth of the house in front of the house: and he built the house, and finished it.
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 to the house secret windows inclining inward.
And for the house he made windows, with network across.
5 And against the wall of the house he set chambers round about the temple and the ark.
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 under side [was] five cubits broad, and the middle [part] six, and the third [was] seven cubits broad; for he formed an interval to the house round about without the house, that they might not touch the walls of the house.
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 And the house was built in the construction of it with rough hewn stones: and there was not heard in the house in the building of it hammer or axe, or any iron tool.
(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 And the porch of the under side [was] below the right wing of the house, and [there was] a winding ascent into the middle [chamber], and from the middle to the third story.
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 So he built the house and finished it; and he made the ceiling of the house with cedars.
So he put up the house and made it complete, roofing it with boards of cedar-wood.
10 And he made the partitions through all the house, each five cubits high, and enclosed each partition with cedar boards.
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.
(And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,
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.
And I will be ever among the children of Israel, and will not go away from my people.
So Solomon made the building of the house complete.)
15 And he framed the walls of the house within with cedar boards, from the floor of the house and on to the inner walls and to the beams: he lined the parts enclosed with boards within, and compassed the inward parts of the house with planks of fir.
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 the twenty cubits from the top of the wall, one side from the floor to the beams, and he made it from the oracle to the most holy place.
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 was forty cubits [in extent],
And the house, that is, the Temple, in front of the holy place was forty cubits long.
(All the inside of the house was cedar-wood, ornamented with designs of buds and flowers; no stonework was to be seen inside.)
19 in front of the oracle in the midst of the house within, [in order] to put there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
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 The length [was] twenty cubits, and the breadth [was] twenty cubits, and the height of it was twenty cubits. And he covered it with perfect gold, and he made an altar in front of the oracle, and covered it with gold.
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 And he covered the whole house with gold, till he had finished [gilding] the whole house.
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.
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 cherubs of ten cubits measured size.
In the inmost room he made two winged beings of olive-wood, ten cubits high;
24 And the wing of one cherub was five cubits, and his other wing was five cubits; ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip 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 Thus it was with the other cherub, both were alike finished with one measure.
The two winged ones were ten cubits high, of the same size and form.
26 And the height of the one cherub [was] ten cubits, and so [was it] with the second cherub.
The two of them were ten cubits high.
27 And both the cherubs [were] in the midst of the innermost part of the house; and they spread out their wings, and one wing touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings in the midst of the house touched each other.
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 And he covered the cherubs with gold.
These winged ones were plated over with gold.
29 He graved all the walls of the house round about with the graving of cherubs, and [he sculptured] palm trees within and without [the house].
And all the walls of the house inside and out were ornamented with forms of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers.
30 And he covered the floor of the house within and without with gold.
And the floor of the house was covered with gold, inside and out.
31 And for the door-way of the oracle he made doors of juniper wood, [there were] porches in a four-fold way.
For the way into the inmost room he made doors of olive-wood, the arch and the door supports forming a five-sided opening.
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.
Then he made pillars of olive-wood for the way into the Temple; the pillars were square:
34 In both the doors [were] planks of fir; the one door had two leaves and their hinges, and the other door had two leaves and turned [on hinges],
And two folding doors of cypress-wood, with two leaves.
35 being carved with cherubs, and [there were] palm-trees and open flower-leaves, and it [was] overlaid with gold gilt upon the engraving.
These were ornamented with designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, plated over with gold.
36 And he built the inner court, three rows of hewn stones, and a row of wrought cedar round about, and he made the curtain of the court of the porch of the house that was in front of the temple.
And the inner space was walled with three lines of squared stones and a line of cedar-wood boards.
In the fourth year the base of the house was put in its place, in the month Ziv.
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.
