1 Reis 6

¹ And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Jehovah.

² Now the house which King Solomon built for Jehovah, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.

³ The porch in front of the sanctuary of the house was twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the width of the porch extended ten cubits from the front of the house.

⁴ And for the house he made window frames with shutters.

⁵ Against the wall of the house he built chambers all around, against the walls of the house, all around the temple and the inner sanctuary. Thus he made chambers all around.

⁶ The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the house, so that the support beams would not be fastened into the walls of the house.

⁷ And the house, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or ax or any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.

⁸ The doorway for the middle level was on the right side of the house. They went up by a winding staircase to the middle level, and from the middle to the third.

⁹ Thus he built the house and finished it, and he paneled the house with beams and planks of cedar.

¹⁰ And he built chambers against the entire house, each five cubits high; they were attached to the house with cedar beams.

¹¹ And the Word of Jehovah came to Solomon, saying:

¹² Concerning this house which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments to walk in them, then I will establish My word with you, which I have spoken unto your father David.

¹³ And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.

¹⁴ Thus Solomon built the house and finished it.

¹⁵ And he built the walls of the house on the inside with cedar boards; from the walls of the house to the ceiling he paneled the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with planks of cypress.

¹⁶ And he built twenty-cubits at the rear of the house, from floor to the walls, with cedar boards; he built it inside for the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.

¹⁷ And in front of the inner house the rest of the temple was forty cubits long.

¹⁸ And on the cedar inside the house were carvings of gourds and open flowers. All was of cedar; no stone was seen.

¹⁹ And he prepared the inner sanctuary inside the house, to set the ark of the covenant of Jehovah there.

²⁰ The faces of the inner sanctuary were twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. And he overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar with cedar.

²¹ And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold.

²² The whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house; also he overlaid with gold the entire altar that was by the inner sanctuary.

²³ Inside the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.

²⁴ One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits: ten cubits from the end of one wing to the end of the other.

²⁵ And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and the same shape.

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

²⁷ And he set the cherubim inside the inner house; and they stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the house.

²⁸ He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ And he carved all the walls of the house all around, inside and out, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

³⁰ And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, both inside and out.

³¹ For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were one-fifth.

³² The two doors were of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he beat out the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

³³ And for the door of the temple he also made doorposts of olive wood; one-fourth.

³⁴ And the two doors were of cypress wood; two panels comprised one folding door, and two panels comprised the other folding door.

³⁵ And he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and overlaid them with gold smoothly fitted to the carved work.

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

³⁷ In the fourth year the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid, in the month of Ziv.

³⁸ And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. Thus he was seven years in building it.