1 Kings 6
1 And so it came to pass, in the four hundred and eightieth year, by the coming forth of the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year (in the month of Zif, the same, being the second month) of the reign of Solomon over Israel, that he began to build the house unto Yahweh.
Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of King Solomon's reign, in the month of Ziv, Solomon began building the Temple of the Lord.
2 Now, the house which King Solomon built unto Yahweh, was sixty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, —and thirty cubits in height.
The Temple King Solomon built for the Lord measured sixty cubits long by twenty cubits wide by thirty cubits high.
3 And, the porch in front of the temple of the house, was twenty cubits in length, according to the breadth of the house, —ten cubits in breadth, in front of the house.
The entrance room at the front of the Temple was twenty cubits wide. It ran the whole width of the Temple and projected out ten cubits in front of the Temple.
4 And he made to the house windows, with closed bars.
He had latticed windows made to be placed high up in the Temple.
5 And he built—by the wall of the house—a gallery, round about, against the walls of the house, round about, both to the temple, and to the shrine, —and he made side chambers round about.
He also had a structure built against the outer wall of the Temple, both the outer and the inner sanctuary, to provide a series of side rooms.
6 The, lowest gallery, was five cubits broad, and, the middle, six cubits broad, and, the third, seven cubits broad, —for he put, ledges, against the house round about, on the outer side, so as not to make fastenings in the walls of the house.
The ground floor measured five cubits wide, the first floor six cubits, and the second floor seven cubits. In addition he had offset ledges placed all the way around the outside, so that beams would not have to be inserted into the Temple walls.
7 Now, the house, when it was in building, with whole quarry-stones, was built, —neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tools of iron, was heard in the house, when it was in building.
When the Temple was built the stones were finished at the quarry so that no noise from any hammer, ax, or any iron tool was heard in the Temple during construction.
8 The entrance of the lowest story, was on the right side of the house, —and, by winding stairs, went they up unto the middle [story], and, out of the middle, into, the third.
The entrance to the ground floor was on the south side of the Temple. Stairs led to the first floor, and then on to the second floor.
9 So he built the house, and finished it, —and ceiled the house with planks and beams of cedar;
So Solomon finished building the Temple, covering it with a roof made of cedar rafters and planks.
10 and built the gallery against all the house, five cubits in height, —and so fastened the house, with timber of cedar.
He built the external structure along the whole of the Temple. It was five cubits high, joined to the Temple with cedar joists.
11 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Solomon, saying:
The Lord sent this message to Solomon, telling him,
12 Concerning this house, which thou art building, If thou wilt walk in my statutes, and, my regulations, wilt practise, and so observe all my commandments, by walking in them, Then will I establish my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father;
“About this Temple you are building: if you follow what I have said, fulfilling my requirements and keeping my commandments in what you do, I will keep the promise I made to your father David through you.
13 and will make my habitation in the midst of the sons of Israel, —and will not forsake my people Israel.
I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon Israel, my people.”
14 Thus Solomon built the house, and finished it;
Solomon finished building the Temple.
15 and he built the walls of the house on the inside, with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house, unto the cross-beams of the ceiling, he overlaid it with wood, on the inside, —and he overlaid the floor of the house with boards of fir.
He lined the walls with cedar panels from floor to ceiling and he covered the floor of the Temple with cypress boards.
16 And he built twenty cubits, at the hinder part of the house, with boards of cedar, from the floor as far as the cross-beams, —and he built it within, for a shrine, even for the holy of holies;
He sectioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the Temple with boards of cedar from floor to ceiling, making an inner sanctuary as the Most Holy Place.
17 but, forty cubits, was the house itself, —the same, was the temple, before the oracle.
The main Temple in front of this room measured forty cubits long.
18 And, the cedar for the house within, was carved with colocynths, and with festoons of flowers, —the whole, was cedar, there was no stone to be seen.
The cedar panels inside the Temple were decorated with carvings of gourds and open flowers. Everything was lined with cedar—none of the stone was visible.
19 And, the shrine in the midst of the house within, made he ready, —for placing there, the ark of the covenant of Yahweh.
He also had the inner sanctuary made within the Temple where the Ark of the Lord's Agreement would be placed.
20 And, the interior of the shrine, was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height, and he overlaid it, with pure gold, —and overlaid the altar with cedar.
The inner sanctuary measured twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He had the interior covered with a coating with pure gold, as well as the altar of cedar.
21 Thus then did Solomon overlay the house within, with pure gold, —and he drew chains of gold across the front of the shrine, and overlaid it with gold;
Solomon had the whole of the inside of the Temple covered with pure gold, He had gold chains stretched across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was also covered with gold.
22 yea, all the house, overlaid he with gold, until he had made all the house into one whole, —even all the altar that was by the shrine, overlaid he with gold.
He covered the whole inside of the Temple with a coating of gold until it was all finished. He also covered with gold the entire altar for the inner sanctuary.
23 And he made, within the shrine, two cherubim of wild olive wood, —ten cubits in height;
He had two cherubim made out of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, each one ten cubits tall.
24 and, five cubits, was the one wing of the cherub, and, five cubits, the second wing of the cherub, —ten cubits, from the one end of his wings unto the other end of his wings.
Both wings of the cherub measured five cubits, making a total wingspan of ten cubits.
25 Ten cubits, also was the second cherub, —of one size and one shape, were the two cherubim.
The other cherub was also ten cubits tall, since they were identical both in size and shape.
26 The height of the one cherub, was ten cubits, —and, so, of the second cherub.
Both cherubs were ten cubits tall.
27 And he placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and the cherubim stretched forth their wings, —so that the wing of the one touched the [one] wall, and the wing of the other cherub, was touching the other wall, —and, their wings in the midst of the house, were touching, wing to wing.
He had the cherubim placed inside the inner sanctuary of the Temple. Since their wings were fully spread, a wing of the first cherub touched one wall, a wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the Temple their wings touched.
28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.
The cherubim were also covered with a gold coating.
29 And, all the walls of the house round about, carved he with figures of cherubim, and palm-trees, and festoons of flowers, —within and without.
He had all the Temple walls, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, carved with designs of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
30 Even the floor of the house, overlaid he with gold, —within and without.
He also had the floor of the Temple floor covered with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
31 And, the entrance of the shrine, made he with doors, of wild olive-wood, the pillars and posts being a fifth.
He had doors of olive wood made for the entrance to the inner sanctuary, together with a lintel and doorposts that had five sides.
32 The two doors, also were of olive-wood, and he carved upon them carvings of cherubim, and palm-trees, and festoons of flowers, and overlaid them with gold, —yea he spread out, over the cherubim and over the palm-trees, the gold.
These olive wood double doors had carved into them designs of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. The cherubim and palm trees carvings were covered with beaten gold.
33 So, also, made he for the entrance of the temple, with posts of wild olive-wood, —a fourth part.
Similarly he had four-sided doorposts of olive wood made for the entrance to the sanctuary.
34 And, the two doors, were of fir wood, —the two leaves of the one door, were folding, and, the two leaves of the other door, were folding.
Its doors were made of cypress wood, each with two hinged panels.
35 And he carved cherubim, and palm-trees, and festoons of flowers, and overlaid them with gold, smoothed out on the carved work.
He had them carved with designs of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and covered them with gold beaten evenly over the carvings.
36 And he built the inner court, with three rows of hewn stone, —and a row of beams of cedar.
Solomon had the inner courtyard built with three courses of dressed stone and one of cedar beams.
37 In the fourth year, was laid the foundation of the house of Yahweh, —in the month Zif;
The foundation of the Lord's Temple was laid in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, in the month of Ziv.
38 and, in the eleventh year, in the month Bul—the same, is the eighth month, was the house finished, as to all the particulars thereof, and as to all the appointments thereof, —so then he built it in seven years.
The Temple was finished exactly as specified and planned in Solomon's eleventh year, in the eighth month, the month of Bul. So it took him seven years to build the Temple.
