1 And in the foure hundreth and foure score yeere (after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt) and in the fourth yere of the reigne of Salomon ouer Israel, in the moneth Zif, (which is the second moneth) he built the house of the Lord. 2 And the house which King Salomon built for the Lord, was three score cubites long, and twentie broade, and thirtie cubites hie. 3 And the porch before the Temple of the house was twentie cubites long according to the breadth of the house, and ten cubites broade before the house. 4 And in the house he made windowes, broad without, and narrowe within. 5 And by the wall of the house hee made galleries round about, euen by the walles of the house round about the Temple and the oracle, and made chambers round about. 6 The nethermost gallerie was fiue cubites broade, and the middlemost sixe cubites broade, and the third seuen cubites broade: for he made restes round about without the house, that the beames should not be fastened in the walles of the house. 7 And when the house was built, it was built of stone perfite, before it was brought, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any toole of yron heard in the house, while it was in building. 8 The doore of the middle chamber was in the right side of the house, and men went vp with winding stayres into the middlemost, and out of the middlemost into the third. 9 So he built the house and finished it, and sieled the house being vawted with sieling of cedar trees. 10 And he built the galleries vpon al the wall of the house of fiue cubites height, and they were ioyned to the house with beames of cedar. 11 And the worde of the Lord came to Salomon, saying, 12 Cocerning this house which thou buildest, if thou wilt walke in mine ordinances, and execute my iudgements, and keepe al my commadements, to walke in them, then will I performe vnto thee my promise, which I promised to Dauid thy father. 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and wil not forsake my people Israel. 14 So Salomon built the house and finished it, 15 And built the walles of the house within, with boards of cedar tree from the pauement of the house vnto the walles of the sieling, and within he couered them with wood, and couered the floore of the house with planks of firre. 16 And he built twentie cubites in the sides of the house with boards of cedar, from the floore to the walles, and he prepared a place within it for the oracle, euen the most holy place. 17 But the house, that is, the Temple before it, was fourtie cubites long. 18 And the cedar of the house within was carued with knops, and grauen with floures: all was cedar, so that no stone was seene. 19 Also he prepared the place of the oracle in the mids of the house within, to set the Arke of the couenant of the Lord there. 20 And the place of the oracle within was twentie cubites long, and twentie cubites broad, and twentie cubites hie, and hee couered it with pure golde, and couered the altar with cedar. 21 So Salomon couered the house within with pure golde: and he shut the place of the oracle with chaines of gold, and couered it with golde. 22 And he ouerlayde all the house with gold, vntill all the house was made perfite. also he couered the whole altar, that was before the oracle, with golde. 23 And within the oracle he made two Cherubims of oliue tree, ten cubites hie. 24 The wing also of the one Cherub was fiue cubites, and the wing of the other Cherub was fiue cubites: from the vttermost part of one of his wings vnto the vttermost part of the other of his wings, were ten cubites. 25 Also the other Cherub was of ten cubites: both the Cherubims were of one measure and one sise. 26 For the height of the one Cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other Cherub. 27 And he put the Cherubims within the inner house, and the Cherubims stretched out their wings, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other Cherub touched the other wall: and their other wings touched one another in the middes of the house. 28 And he ouerlaied the Cherubims with golde. 29 And he carued all the walles of the house round about with grauen figures of Cherubims and of Palmetrees, and grauen flowres within and without. 30 And the floore of the house hee couered with golde within and without. 31 And in the entring of the oracle he made two doores of oliue tree: and the vpper post and side postes were fiue square. 32 The two doores also were of oliue tree, and he graued them with grauing of Cherubims and palme trees, and grauen floures, and couered them with golde, and layed thin golde vpon the Cherubims and vpon the palme trees. 33 And so made he for the doore of the Temple, postes of oliue tree foure square. 34 But the two doores were of firre tree, the two sides of the one doore were round, and the two sides of the other doore were round. 35 And he graued Cherubims, and palme trees, and carued floures and couered the carued worke with golde, finely wrought. 36 And hee built the court within with three rowes of hewed stone, and one rowe of beames of cedar. 37 In the fourth yeere was the foundation of the house of the Lord layed in the moneth of Zif: 38 And in the eleuenth yeere in the moneth of Bul, (which is the eight moneth) hee finished the house with all the furniture thereof, and in euery point: so was he seuen yeere in building it.
Solomon Builds the Temple
1 Four hundred and eighty years after the people of Israel left Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the second month, the month of Ziv, Solomon began work on the Temple. 2 Inside it was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 3 The entrance room was 15 feet deep and 30 feet wide, as wide as the sanctuary itself. 4 The walls of the Temple had openings in them, narrower on the outside than on the inside. 5 Against the outside walls, on the sides and the back of the Temple, a three-storied annex was built, each story 7½ feet high. 6 Each room in the lowest story was 7½ feet wide, in the middle story 9 feet wide, and in the top story 10½ feet wide. The Temple wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without having their beams built into it.
7 The stones with which the Temple was built had been prepared at the quarry, so that there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools as the Temple was being built.
8 The entrance to the lowest story of the annex was on the south side of the Temple, with stairs leading up to the second and third stories. 9 So King Solomon finished building the Temple. He put in a ceiling made of beams and boards of cedar. 10 The three-storied annex, each story 7½ feet high, was built against the outside walls of the Temple, and was joined to them by cedar beams.
11 The Lord said to Solomon, 12 “If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David. 13 I will live among my people Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never abandon them.”
14 So Solomon finished building the Temple.
The Interior Furnishings of the Temple
(2 Chronicles 3.8-14)15 The inside walls were covered with cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling, and the floor was made of pine. 16 An inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was built in the rear of the Temple. It was 30 feet long and was partitioned off by cedar boards reaching from the floor to the ceiling. 17 The room in front of the Most Holy Place was 60 feet long. 18 The cedar panels were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers; the whole interior was covered with cedar, so that the stones of the walls could not be seen.
19 In the rear of the Temple an inner room was built, where the Lord's Covenant Box was to be placed. 20 This inner room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high, all covered with pure gold. The altar was covered with cedar panels. 21 The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and gold chains were placed across the entrance of the inner room, which was also covered with gold. 22 The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, as well as the altar in the Most Holy Place.
23 Two winged creatures were made of olive wood and placed in the Most Holy Place, each one 15 feet tall. 24-26 Both were of the same size and shape. Each had two wings, each wing 7½ feet long, so that the distance from one wing tip to the other was 15 feet. 27 They were placed side by side in the Most Holy Place, so that two of their outstretched wings touched each other in the middle of the room, and the other two wings touched the walls. 28 The two winged creatures were covered with gold.
29 The walls of the main room and of the inner room were all decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers. 30 Even the floor was covered with gold.
31 A double door made of olive wood was set in place at the entrance of the Most Holy Place; the top of the doorway was a pointed arch. 32 The doors were decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers. The doors, the winged creatures, and the palm trees were covered with gold. 33 For the entrance to the main room a rectangular doorframe of olive wood was made. 34 There were two folding doors made of pine 35 and decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers, which were evenly covered with gold.
36 An inner court was built in front of the Temple, enclosed with walls which had one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of stone.
37 The foundation of the Temple was laid in the second month, the month of Ziv, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign. 38 In the eighth month, the month of Bul, in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, the Temple was completely finished exactly as it had been planned. It had taken Solomon seven years to build it.