[1] In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel
came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year that Solomon was king of
Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, the building of the
Lord's house was started. [2] The house which Solomon made for the Lord was
sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. [3] The
covered way before the Temple of the house was twenty cubits long, as wide
as the house, and ten cubits wide in front of the house. [4] And for the
house he made windows, with network across. [5] And against the walls all
round, and against the walls of the Temple and of the inmost room, he put
up wings, with side rooms all round: [6] The lowest line of them being five
cubits wide, the middle six cubits wide and the third seven cubits; for
there was a space all round the outside walls of the house so that the
boards supporting the rooms did not have to be fixed in the walls of the
house. [7] (And the stones used in the building of the house were squared
at the place where they were cut out; there was no sound of hammer or axe
or any iron instrument while they were building the house.) [8] The door to
the lowest side rooms was in the right side of the house; and they went up
by twisting steps into the middle rooms, and from the middle into the
third. [9] So he put up the house and made it complete, roofing it with
boards of cedar-wood. [10] And he put up the line of side rooms against the
walls of the house, fifteen cubits high, resting against the house on
boards of cedar-wood. [11] (And the word of the Lord came to Solomon,
saying, [12] About this house which you are building: if you will keep my
laws and give effect to my decisions and be guided by my rules, I will give
effect to my word which I gave to David your father. [13] And I will be
ever among the children of Israel, and will not go away from my people.
[14] So Solomon made the building of the house complete.) [15] The walls of
the house were covered inside with cedar-wood boards; from the floor to the
roof of the house they were covered inside with wood; and the floor was
covered with boards of cypress-wood. [16] And at the back of the house a
further space of twenty cubits was shut in with boards of cedar-wood, for
the inmost room. [17] And the house, that is, the Temple, in front of the
holy place was forty cubits long. [18] (All the inside of the house was
cedar-wood, ornamented with designs of buds and flowers; no stonework was
to be seen inside.) [19] And he made ready an inmost room in the middle of
the house, in which to put the ark of the agreement of the Lord. [20] And
the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated
over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with
gold. [21] Solomon had all the inside of the house covered with gold, and
he put chains of gold across in front of the inmost room, which itself was
covered with gold. [22] Plates of gold were put all through the house till
it was covered completely (and the altar in the inmost room was all covered
with gold). [23] In the inmost room he made two winged beings of
olive-wood, ten cubits high; [24] With outstretched wings five cubits wide;
the distance from the edge of one wing to the edge of the other was ten
cubits. [25] The two winged ones were ten cubits high, of the same size and
form. [26] The two of them were ten cubits high. [27] These were placed
inside the inner house, their outstretched wings touching the walls of the
house, one touching one wall and one the other, while their other wings
were touching in the middle. [28] These winged ones were plated over with
gold. [29] And all the walls of the house inside and out were ornamented
with forms of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers. [30] And the
floor of the house was covered with gold, inside and out. [31] For the way
into the inmost room he made doors of olive-wood, the arch and the door
supports forming a five-sided opening. [32] On the olive-wood doors were
cut designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, all of them,
with the doors, plated with gold. [33] Then he made pillars of olive-wood
for the way into the Temple; the pillars were square: [34] And two folding
doors of cypress-wood, with two leaves. [35] These were ornamented with
designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, plated over with
gold. [36] And the inner space was walled with three lines of squared
stones and a line of cedar-wood boards. [37] In the fourth year the base of
the house was put in its place, in the month Ziv. [38] And in the eleventh
year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the building of the
house was complete in every detail, as it had been designed. So he was
seven years building it.
