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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Kings 6 :: New International Version (NIV)

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Solomon Builds the Temple

(2Ch 3:1–14 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:1 - In the four hundred and eightieth[fn] 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 to build the temple of the LORD.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:2 - The temple that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:3 - The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits,[fn] and projected ten cubits[fn] from the front of the temple.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:4 - He made narrow windows high up in the temple walls.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:5 - Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:6 - The lowest floor was five cubits[fn] wide, the middle floor six cubits[fn] and the third floor seven.[fn] He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:7 - In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:8 - The entrance to the lowest[fn] floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:9 - So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:10 - And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:11 - The word of the LORD came to Solomon:
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:12 - “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:13 - And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:14 - So Solomon built the temple and completed it.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:15 - He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:16 - He partitioned off 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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:17 - The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits[fn] long.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:18 - The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:19 - He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:20 - The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:21 - Solomon covered 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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:22 - So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:23 - For the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim out of olive wood, each ten cubits high.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:24 - One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:25 - The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:26 - The height of each cherub was ten cubits.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:27 - He placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:28 - He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:29 - On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:30 - He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:31 - For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors out of olive wood that were one fifth of the width of the sanctuary.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:32 - And on the two olive-wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:33 - In the same way, for the entrance to the main hall he made doorframes out of olive wood that were one fourth of the width of the hall.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:34 - He also made two doors out of juniper wood, each having two leaves that turned in sockets.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:35 - He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:36 - And he built the inner courtyard of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:37 - The foundation of the temple of the LORD was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 6:38 - In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.
NIV Footnotes
Hebrew; Septuagint four hundred and fortieth
That is, about 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 27 meters long, 9 meters wide and 14 meters high
That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters; also in verses 16 and 20
That is, about 15 feet or about 4.5 meters; also in verses 23-26
That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters; also in verses 10 and 24
That is, about 9 feet or about 2.7 meters
That is, about 11 feet or about 3.2 meters
Septuagint; Hebrew middle
That is, about 60 feet or about 18 meters
NIV

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1 Kings Chapter 6 — Additional Translations: