Temple Construction Begins (2 Chronicles 3:1–2)
2 ULT And the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh, 60 cubits{ was} its length, and 20{ was} its width, and 30 cubits{ was} its height. BSB BSB: The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
3 ULT And the porch on the face of the nave of the house, 20 cubits{ was} its length, on the face of the width of the house. Ten by the cubit{ was} its depth, on the face 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 ULT And he made for the house windows with narrowed frames. BSB BSB: He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.
The Chambers 5 ULT And he built an addition against the wall of the house all around, the walls of the house all around, of the nave and of the inner sanctuary. And he made chambers all around. 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 ULT The lowest addition, five by the cubit{ was} its width, and the middle, six by the cubit{ was} its width, and the third, seven by the cubit{ was} its width. For he made ledges for the house all around the outside, so as not to hold onto 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 ULT And the house, in its being built, was built{ of} finished stone{ from} a quarry. So hammers or the chisel, any implement of iron, was not heard in the house in its 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 ULT The entrance of the middle chamber{ was} to the shoulder of the house{ at} the right, and they went up by stairs onto the middle, and from the middle to 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 ULT And he built the house and finished it. And he roofed the house with beams and boards of cedars. BSB BSB: So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.
10 ULT And he built the addition against all of the house, five cubits{ was} its height, and it held{ onto} the house with wood of cedars. 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 ULT And the word of Yahweh was to Solomon, saying, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying:
12 ULT “This house that you are building, if you walk in my statutes and do my judgments and keep all of my commandments by walking in them, then I will make my word stand with you that I spoke to David your 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 ULT and I will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel, and I 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 ULT And Solomon built the house and finished it. BSB BSB: So Solomon built the temple and finished it.
15 ULT And he built the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he overlaid wood on the inside, and he 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 ULT And he built 20 cubits from the recesses of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls. And he built{ them} for it on the inside as an inner sanctuary, as the Holy of Holies. 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 ULT And 40 by the cubit was the house(that{ is}, the nave) to the face of it. BSB BSB: And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.
18 ULT And cedar was to the house within, carving of gourds and opened ones of flowers. The whole{ was} cedar, no stone was 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 ULT And he prepared the inner sanctuary in the midst of the house on the inside to put the Box of the Covenant of Yahweh there. BSB BSB: Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.
20 ULT And the interior of the inner sanctuary,{ it was} 20 cubits{ in} length and 20 cubits{ in} width, and 20 cubits{ was} its height. And he overlaid it{ with} pure gold, and he overlaid an altar{ with} cedar. 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 ULT And Solomon overlaid the house on the inside{ with} pure gold. And he made chains of gold cross to the face of the inner sanctuary, and he 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 ULT So he overlaid all of the house{ with} gold until finishing all of the house. And the whole of the altar that{ was} to the inner sanctuary, 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 ULT And he made in the inner sanctuary two cherubs of wood of oil. Ten cubits{ was} its height. BSB BSB: In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.
24 ULT And five cubits{ was} the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits{ was} the second wing of the cherub. Ten cubits{ were} from the ends of its wings and to the ends of its wings. 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 ULT And ten by the cubit{ was} the second cherub. One size and one shape{ were} to the two cherubs. BSB BSB: The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,
26 ULT The height of the one cherub was ten by the cubit, and thus{ was} the second cherub. BSB BSB: and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.
27 ULT And he put the cherubs in the midst of the inner house. And they spread out the wings of the cherubs, and the wing of the one touched against the wall, and the wing of the second cherub was touching against the second wall. And their wings toward the middle of the house were touching wing to wing. 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 ULT And he overlaid the cherubs{ with} gold. BSB BSB: He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 ULT And all of the walls of the house round about, he carved{ with} engravings of carvings of cherubs and palm trees and opened ones of flowers, from the inside and to the outside. 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 ULT And the floor of the house, he overlaid{ with} gold, to the inside and to the outside. BSB BSB: And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
The Doors 31 ULT And the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of wood of oil. The lintel, the doorposts,{ were} a fifth. BSB BSB: For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.
32 ULT And the two of the doors{ were} wood of oil, and he carved on them carvings of cherubs and palm trees and opened ones of flowers, and he overlaid them{ with} gold. And he beat out the gold on the cherubs 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 ULT And thus he made for the entrance of the nave, doorposts of wood of oil from a fourth. BSB BSB: In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.
34 ULT And the two of the doors{ were} wood of cypress. The two of the leaves{ of} the one door{ were} folding, and the two of the curtains{ of} the second door{ were} folding. BSB BSB: The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.
35 ULT And he carved cherubs and palm trees and opened ones of flowers. And he overlaid{ with} gold, smoothed onto the carved things. 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 ULT And he built the inner courtyard{ with} three rows of hewn stone and a row of beams of cedar. BSB BSB: Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
37 ULT In the fourth year, the house of Yahweh was founded, in the month of Ziv. 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 ULT And in year 11, in the month of Bul(it{ is} the eighth month), the house finished, in all of its matters and according to all of its plans. So he built it seven years. 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.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.