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Temple Construction Begins

(2 Chronicles 3:1–2)

¹In the four hundred and eightieth^† year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv,^† the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

²The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.^†

³The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits^† long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits^† in front of the temple.

⁴He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.

The Chambers

⁵Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms. ⁶The bottom floor was five cubits wide,^† the middle floor six cubits,^† and the third floor seven cubits.^† He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple, so that nothing would be inserted into its walls.

⁷The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

⁸The entrance to the bottom^† floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.

⁹So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar. ¹⁰He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.

God’s Promise to Solomon

¹¹Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying: ¹²“As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. ¹³And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”

The Temple’s Interior

(2 Chronicles 3:5–9)

¹⁴So Solomon built the temple and finished it.

¹⁵He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress^† boards.

¹⁶He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.^{† 17}And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.^†

¹⁸The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

¹⁹Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. ²⁰The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.^†

²¹So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains^† across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. ²²So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

The Cherubim

(2 Chronicles 3:10–13)

²³In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood. ²⁴One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits. ²⁵The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape, ²⁶and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.

²⁷And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched. ²⁸He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. ³⁰And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

The Doors

³¹For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts. ³²The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.

³³In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance. ³⁴The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels. ³⁵He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

The Courtyard

³⁶Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.

³⁷The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv. ³⁸In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul,^† the eighth month, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.