Temple Construction Begins (2 Chronicles 3:1–2)
2 DBY And the house that king Solomon built for Jehovah was sixty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, and thirty cubits in height. BSB BSB: The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
3 DBY And the porch, in front of the temple of the house, was twenty cubits in length, in front of the house broadways, and ten cubits was its breadth, in front of the house. 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 DBY And for the house he made closed windows with fixed lattices. BSB BSB: He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.
The Chambers 5 DBY And against the wall of the house he built floors round about, against the walls of the house, round about the temple and the oracle; and he made side-chambers round about. 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 DBY The lowest floor was five cubits broad, and the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for in the thickness of the wall of the house he made resets round about outside, that nothing should be fastened in 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 DBY And the house, when it was being built, was built of stone entirely made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was being built. 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 DBY The entrance to the side-chambers of the middle floor was in the right side of the house; and they went up by winding stairs into the middle floor , and out of the middle into the third. 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 DBY And he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar. BSB BSB: So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.
10 DBY And he built the floors against all the house, five cubits high; and they held to the house by the timbers of cedar. 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 11 DBY And the word of Jehovah came to Solomon saying, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying:
12 DBY As to this house which thou art building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and practise mine ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then will I perform my word as to thee which I spoke unto David thy father; BSB BSB: “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.
13 DBY and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. BSB BSB: And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”
The Temple’s Interior (2 Chronicles 3:5–9)
14 DBY And Solomon built the house and finished it. BSB BSB: So Solomon built the temple and finished it.
15 DBY And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the walls of the roof; he overlaid them on the inside with wood, and overlaid the floor of the house with boards of cypress. 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 DBY And he built twenty cubits of the innermost part of the house, both floor and walls, with boards of cedar; and he built them for it within, to be the oracle, 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 DBY And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long . BSB BSB: And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.
18 DBY And the cedar of the house within was carved with colocynths and half-open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen. BSB BSB: The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.
19 DBY And he prepared the oracle in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. BSB BSB: Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.
20 DBY And the oracle within was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he overlaid the cedar-wood 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 DBY and Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold, and shut off the oracle in front with chains of gold, and overlaid 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 DBY And the whole house he overlaid with gold, the whole house entirely; also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold. 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 DBY And he made in the oracle two cherubim of olive-wood, ten cubits high; BSB BSB: In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.
24 DBY and one wing of the cherub was five cubits, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub, ten cubits from the end of one wing to the end 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 DBY and the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. BSB BSB: The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,
26 DBY The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so of the other cherub. BSB BSB: and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.
27 DBY And he set the cherubim in the midst of the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched, wing to wing, in the midst of the house. 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 DBY And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. BSB BSB: He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 DBY And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved sculptures of cherubim, and palm-trees, and half-open flowers, within and without. 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 DBY And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. BSB BSB: And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
The Doors 31 DBY And for the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive-wood: the lintel and side posts were the fifth part of the breadth of the house . BSB BSB: For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.
32 DBY The two doors were of olive-wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, and palm-trees and half-open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm-trees. BSB BSB: The 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.
33 DBY And he also made for the doorway of the temple posts of olive-wood, of the fourth part of the breadth of the house . BSB BSB: In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.
34 DBY And the two folding-doors were of cypress-wood: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. BSB BSB: The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.
35 DBY And he carved on them cherubim, and palm-trees, and half-open flowers; and overlaid them with gold fitted on the carved work. 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 DBY And he built the inner court of three rows of hewn stone, and a row of cedar-beams. BSB BSB: Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
37 DBY In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of Jehovah laid, in the month Zif; BSB BSB: The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv.
38 DBY and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished in all its parts, and according to all the fashion of it. So he was seven years in building it. 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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