1 Kings 6

In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began building the house of the LORD. The house King Solomon built for the LORD was about 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. The porch in front of the main hall of the house extended about 30 feet across the width of the house and projected about 15 feet in front of it. He made windows with narrowing frames for the house. He built a structure against the walls around the house, around both the main hall and the inner sanctuary, and made side chambers all around. The lowest story was about 7.5 feet wide, the middle one 9 feet wide, and the third 10.5 feet wide. He had made ledges around the outside of the house so that the beams would not be inserted into its walls. The house was built with stones finished at the quarry. No hammer, axe, or any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built. The entrance to the middle story of side chambers was on the right side of the house. Stairs led up to the middle story and from the middle to the third. He built the house and finished it, roofing it with cedar beams and planks. He built the side structure around the whole house, each story about 7.5 feet high, and attached it to the house with cedar timbers. The word of the LORD came to Solomon: “As for this house you are building, if you walk in my statutes, carry out my judgments, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill with you the word I spoke to your father David. I will dwell among the Israelites and will not forsake my people Israel.” So Solomon built the house and finished it. He lined the inside walls of the house with cedar boards, covering the interior with wood from the floor to the ceiling. He covered the floor of the house with cypress planks. He partitioned off about 30 feet at the rear of the house with cedar boards from the floor to the top of the walls. He made this interior space the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. The house’s main hall in front of it was about 60 feet long. The cedar inside the house was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone could be seen. He prepared the inner sanctuary deep within the house to place the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. The inner sanctuary was about 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He overlaid it with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar. Solomon overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary and overlaid it with gold. He overlaid the entire house with gold until the whole house was covered. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar belonging to the inner sanctuary. In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each about 15 feet high. One wing of a cherub was about 7.5 feet long, and the other wing was also about 7.5 feet long. From one wingtip to the other it measured about 15 feet. The second cherub also measured about 15 feet. Both cherubim had the same dimensions and form. One cherub was about 15 feet high, and so was the other cherub. He placed the cherubim inside the inner room of the house, with their wings spread out. One cherub’s wing touched one wall, and the other cherub’s wing touched the other wall. Their wings toward the middle of the house touched each other, wing to wing. He overlaid the cherubim with gold. All around the walls of the house, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, in both the inner and outer rooms. For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and doorposts occupied a fifth of the wall. He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on the two olive-wood doors and overlaid them with gold, spreading the gold over the cherubim and palm trees. Likewise, for the entrance to the main hall he made olive-wood doorposts occupying a fourth of the wall. He made two doors of cypress wood. Each door had two folding leaves. He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them and covered them with gold fitted to the carved work. He built the inner courtyard with three courses of dressed stone and one course of cedar beams. In the fourth year, in the month of Ziv, the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its specifications. He spent seven years building it.

Rights and attribution