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.

480 years after the Israeli people left Egypt, during the fourth year that Solomon ruled Israel, early in May, Solomon’s workers began to build the temple.

2 Now, the house which King Solomon built unto Yahweh, was sixty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, —and thirty cubits in height.

Inside, [the main part of] the temple was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet 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 was 15 feet long and 30 feet wide, just as wide as the main part of the temple.

4 And he made to the house windows, with closed bars.

There were windows in [the walls of] the temple. The windows were narrower on the outside than on the inside.

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.

Against the two sides and against the back of the temple walls, they built a structure/building that had rooms in it. [This structure had three levels/stories and each was 7-1/2 feet high].

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.

[Each room in] the lowest level/story was 7-1/2 feet wide. [Each room in] the middle level/story was nine feet wide. [The rooms in] the top level/story were 10-1/2 feet wide. The wall of the temple at the top level/story was thinner than the wall at the middle level/story, and the wall of the middle level/story was thinner than the wall at the bottom level/story. The result was that the rooms could be supported by the wall underneath them, and did not require wooden beams to support them.

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.

The huge stones for [the foundation of] the temple were cut and shaped at the quarry [to become very smooth]. The result was that while the workers were building the temple there was no noise, because they did not use hammers or chisels or any other iron tools there.

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 bottom level/story [of that attached structure] was on the south side of the temple. There were stairs from the bottom level/story to the middle and top level/story.

9 So he built the house, and finished it, —and ceiled the house with planks and beams of cedar;

So Solomon’s [workers] finished building the [framework of the] temple. They made the ceiling from cedar beams and boards.

10 and built the gallery against all the house, five cubits in height, —and so fastened the house, with timber of cedar.

They built the structure that had three levels/stories, that was against the walls of the temple. Each level/story was 7-1/2 feet high, and was joined to the temple with cedar beams.

11 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Solomon, saying:

Then Yahweh said this to Solomon:

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;

“[I want to tell you] about this temple that you are building. If you continually obey all my statutes and laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised to your father David.

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 Israeli people, [in this temple, ] and I will never abandon them.”

14 Thus Solomon built the house, and finished it;

Solomon’s [workers] 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.

On the inside, they lined/covered the walls with cedar boards. They lined/covered them from the floor to the ceiling. They made the floor from 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;

Inside the back part of the temple they built an inner room, called the Very Holy Place. It was 30 feet long. All the walls of this room were lined with cedar boards.

17 but, forty cubits, was the house itself, —the same, was the temple, before the oracle.

In front of the Very Holy Place there was a room that was 60 feet 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 [boards on the walls] inside the temple were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers. [The walls were] completely covered with cedar boards, with the result that the stones [of the walls behind them] could not be seen.

19 And, the shrine in the midst of the house within, made he ready, —for placing there, the ark of the covenant of Yahweh.

At the back of the temple they made the Very Holy Place, where the Sacred Chest would be put.

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.

That room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. They covered the walls with [very thin sheets of] pure gold. [For burning incense] they also made an altar of cedar [boards].

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 told them to cover the other walls inside the temple with [very thin sheets of] pure gold and to fasten gold chains across the entrance to the Very Holy Place.

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.

They covered all the walls of the temple and the altar that was outside the Very Holy Place with [very thin sheets of] gold.

23 And he made, within the shrine, two cherubim of wild olive wood, —ten cubits in height;

Inside the Very Holy Place, they made from olive tree wood [large statues of] two creatures with wings. Each one was 15 feet 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.

They each were the same size and had the same shape. They each had two wings [which were spread out]. Each wing was 7-1/2 feet long, with the result that the distance between the outer ends of the two wings was 15 feet.

25 Ten cubits, also was the second cherub, —of one size and one shape, were the two cherubim.

26 The height of the one cherub, was ten cubits, —and, so, of the second cherub.

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.

They put those statues next to each other in the Very Holy Place so that the wing of the one touched the one wing of the other in the center of the room, and the outer wings touched the walls.

28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

They covered the statues with [very thin sheets of] gold.

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.

[Solomon told them to] decorate the walls of the main room and the Very Holy Place by carving representations of winged creatures and palm trees and flowers.

30 Even the floor of the house, overlaid he with gold, —within and without.

They also covered the floor of both rooms with [very thin sheets of] gold.

31 And, the entrance of the shrine, made he with doors, of wild olive-wood, the pillars and posts being a fifth.

They made a set of doors from olive tree wood, and placed them at the entrance to the Very Holy Place. The doorposts joined at the top to form a pointed arch.

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.

The doors were decorated by carving on them representations of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers. All of these things were covered with [very thin sheets of] gold.

33 So, also, made he for the entrance of the temple, with posts of wild olive-wood, —a fourth part.

They made a rectangular door frame from olive tree wood, and put it [between the entrance room and] the main room.

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.

They made two folding doors from cypress wood [and fastened them to the door frame].

35 And he carved cherubim, and palm-trees, and festoons of flowers, and overlaid them with gold, smoothed out on the carved work.

The doors were also decorated with wood carvings of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers, and they were also covered evenly with [very thin sheets of] gold.

36 And he built the inner court, with three rows of hewn stone, —and a row of beams of cedar.

They built a courtyard in front of the temple. The walls around the courtyard were made of cedar and stone; to make the walls, between each layer of cedar beams they put down two layers of stone.

37 In the fourth year, was laid the foundation of the house of Yahweh, —in the month Zif;

They laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh in early May, in the fourth year [that Solomon ruled].

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.

In the eleventh year [that he ruled], in the middle of October, they finished building the temple and all of its parts, doing exactly what Solomon told them to do. It required seven years to build it.