Temple Construction Begins (2 Chronicles 3:1–2)
2 Brenton And the house which the king built to the Lord was forty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and its height five and twenty cubits. BSB BSB: The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
3 Brenton And the porch in front of the temple—twenty cubits was its length according to the breadth of the house in front of the house: and he built the house, and finished it. BSB BSB: The 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.
4 Brenton And he made to the house secret windows inclining inward. BSB BSB: He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.
The Chambers 5 Brenton And against the wall of the house he set chambers round about the temple and the ark. BSB BSB: Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.
6 Brenton The under side was five cubits broad, and the middle part six, and the third was seven cubits broad; for he formed an interval to the house round about without the house, that they might not touch the walls of the house. BSB BSB: The 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.
7 Brenton And the house was built in the construction of it with rough hewn stones: and there was not heard in the house in the building of it hammer or axe, or any iron tool. BSB BSB: The 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.
8 Brenton And the porch of the under side was below the right wing of the house, and there was a winding ascent into the middle chamber , and from the middle to the third story. BSB BSB: The 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.
9 Brenton So he built the house and finished it; and he made the ceiling of the house with cedars. BSB BSB: So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.
10 Brenton And he made the partitions through all the house, each five cubits high, and enclosed each partition with cedar boards. BSB BSB: He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.
God’s Promise to Solomon The Temple’s Interior (2 Chronicles 3:5–9)
15 Brenton And he framed the walls of the house within with cedar boards, from the floor of the house and on to the inner walls and to the beams: he lined the parts enclosed with boards within, and compassed the inward parts of the house with planks of fir. BSB BSB: He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards.
16 Brenton And he built the twenty cubits from the top of the wall, one side from the floor to the beams, and he made it from the oracle to the most holy place. BSB BSB: He 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 Brenton And the temple was forty cubits in extent , BSB BSB: And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.
19 Brenton in front of the oracle in the midst of the house within, in order to put there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. BSB BSB: Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.
20 Brenton The length was twenty cubits, and the breadth was twenty cubits, and the height of it was twenty cubits. And he covered it with perfect gold, and he made an altar BSB BSB: The 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.
21 Brenton in front of the oracle, and covered it with gold. BSB BSB: So 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.
22 Brenton And he covered the whole house with gold, till he had finished gilding the whole house. BSB BSB: So 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)
23 Brenton And he made in the oracle two cherubs of ten cubits measured size. BSB BSB: In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.
24 Brenton And the wing of one cherub was five cubits, and his other wing was five cubits; ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other wing. BSB BSB: One 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.
25 Brenton Thus it was with the other cherub, both were alike finished with one measure. BSB BSB: The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,
26 Brenton And the height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it with the second cherub. BSB BSB: and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.
27 Brenton And both the cherubs were in the midst of the innermost part of the house; and they spread out their wings, and one wing touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings in the midst of the house touched each other. BSB BSB: And 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.
28 Brenton And he covered the cherubs with gold. BSB BSB: He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 Brenton He graved all the walls of the house round about with the graving of cherubs, and he sculptured palm trees within and without the house . BSB BSB: Then 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.
30 Brenton And he covered the floor of the house within and without with gold. BSB BSB: And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
The Doors 31 Brenton And for the door-way of the oracle he made doors of juniper wood, there were porches in a four-fold way. BSB BSB: For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.
34 Brenton In both the doors were planks of fir; the one door had two leaves and their hinges, and the other door had two leaves and turned on hinges , BSB BSB: The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.
35 Brenton being carved with cherubs, and there were palm-trees and open flower-leaves, and it was overlaid with gold gilt upon the engraving. BSB BSB: He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.
The Courtyard 36 Brenton And he built the inner court, three rows of hewn stones, and a row of wrought cedar round about, BSB BSB: Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
38 Brenton and he made the curtain of the court of the porch of the house that was in front of the temple. BSB BSB: In 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.
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