Temple Construction Begins (2 Chronicles 3:1–2)
2 UST Inside, the main part of the temple was nearly 28 meters long, over 9 meters wide, and nearly 14 meters high. BSB BSB: The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
3 UST There was a porch in front of{ the entrance to} the Holy Place in the temple. This porch extended across the entire width of the temple, so it was over nine meters long. It extended nearly five meters outward from the front of the temple. 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 UST There were windows in the temple walls. The workers decorated these windows with beautiful metal cross- pieces. BSB BSB: He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.
The Chambers 5 UST Against the sides and all around the back of the outer wall of the temple, the workers built a structure that had rooms in it{ where priests could stay and also store items}. 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 UST The workers built{ three rows of} ledges along the side and back walls of the temple so that the addition could rest on them for support rather than on the temple itself.{ The bottom ledge was the thickest, so} the bottom floor of the addition was two and one third meters wide.{ The middle ledge was less thick, so} the middle floor of the addition was two and three quarters meters wide.{ The top ledge was even less thick, so} the top floor of the addition was three and a quarter meters wide. 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 UST When the workers cut out huge stones for the foundation of the temple at quarries, they also trimmed the stones there to make them smooth and straight. Because the workers used their hammers and chisels and other iron tools at the quarries, there was no loud noise at the site where the workers were constructing the temple. 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 UST To get to the middle floor of the addition, people went{ into the bottom floor} through a door on the south side of the temple. From there, they could climb stairs up to the middle floor, and from there, they could climb more stairs up to the top floor. 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 UST After Solomon’ s workers finished building the walls of the temple, they made a roof for the building. They laid cedar beams across its width, and then they laid cedar boards in rows on top of the beams. BSB BSB: So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.
10 UST When the workers built the addition, its weight rested against the temple. But the workers put cedar beams on the ledges that supported the addition{ as a cushion to prevent damage to the stone walls of the temple}. Each floor of the addition was two and one third meters high. 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 UST While his workers were constructing the temple, Yahweh told Solomon, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying:
12 UST “If you continually obey everything that I commanded{ in the law of Moses}, I will do for you what I promised to your father David. As for this temple that you are building, 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 UST I will live{ in it} among the Israelite people. I will never abandon them.” 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 UST Once Solomon’ s workers had finished constructing the temple’ s outer walls and roof, BSB BSB: So Solomon built the temple and finished it.
15 UST they began to work on the inside of the temple.{ As he instructed them to do,} they paneled the walls from the floor to the ceiling with cedar wood. They made the floor out of cypress planks. 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 UST The workers then built a room that extended out nine meters from the back wall of the temple. They used cedar boards to build the walls of this room. Those walls extended from the floor of the temple all the way up to its ceiling. This room was to be 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 UST The front part of the temple, the Holy Place, occupied the other eighteen meters of its length. BSB BSB: And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.
18 UST The workers covered the walls inside the temple with cedar panels. They decorated the panels with carvings of gourds and blooming flowers. The cedar panels completely covered the walls. The stones of the walls did not appear anywhere. 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 UST And as for the room that the workers built at the back of the temple to be the Most Holy Place, where Yahweh’ s sacred chest would be, BSB BSB: Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.
20 UST that room was nine meters long, nine meters wide, and nine meters high on the inside. The workers covered its walls with very thin sheets of pure gold. The workers built a{ small stone} altar{ just outside the Most Holy Place for burning incense}. They covered this altar with panels of cedar wood. 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 UST Solomon’ s workers then also covered the walls of the Holy Place with very thin sheets of pure gold. They made gold chains and hung them across the front of the Most Holy Place. They covered the front wall of the Most Holy Place with sheets of 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 UST In this way, the workers covered all the walls of the temple with gold. They also covered the altar just outside the Most Holy Place 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 UST They made large statues from olive wood of two creatures with wings to put inside the Most Holy Place. The first statue was about four and one half meters high. BSB BSB: In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.
24 UST This statute had two wings that were about two and one third meters long, so that the distance across both wings was about four and one half meters. 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 UST The second statue also had wings that were about four and one half meters across. Since both cherubs were the same size and shape, BSB BSB: The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,
26 UST the second cherub was about four and one half meters high, the same height as the first cherub. BSB BSB: and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.
27 UST The workers placed these statues next to each other in the Most Holy Place. They arranged their wings so that the inner wing of one touched the inner wing of the other in the center of the room, and their outer wings touched the side walls of the room. 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 UST The workers covered the statues with very thin sheets of gold. BSB BSB: He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 UST The workers had decorated the walls of the Holy Place with artistic carvings of winged creatures and palm trees and blooming flowers{ before they covered the walls with gold}. So both the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place had decorative carvings. 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 UST They also covered the floors of the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place with very thin sheets of gold. BSB BSB: And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
The Doors 31 UST The workers made a set of doors from olive wood to serve as the entrance to the Most Holy Place. The height and width of these doors was one fifth the height and width of the wall,{ so they were about two meters high and wide}. BSB BSB: For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.
32 UST The workers carved decorations of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers into these olive- wood doors. Then they very carefully hammered thin sheets of gold onto these decorations{ so that their designs would still show under the gold}. 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 UST They workers made a similar entrance for the Holy Place. They built a door frame from olive wood. The opening was one fourth the width of the wall{, so it was about two and one quarter meters wide}. BSB BSB: In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.
34 UST They made two doors from cypress wood{ and fastened them to the doorframe}. The doors each had two panels{ with hinges in the middle}, so a person could open only half of a door if he wanted to. BSB BSB: The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.
35 UST The workers carved decorations of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers into these doors. Then they very carefully hammered thin sheets of gold onto these decorations{ so that their designs would still show under the gold}. 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 UST The workers created a courtyard around the temple by building a wall. The wall consisted of three rows of stone with a row of cedar beams on top. BSB BSB: Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
37 UST They laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh in the month of Ziv, in the fourth year that Solomon ruled. 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 UST Solomon’ s workers finished building the temple in the eighth month, the month of Bul, of the eleventh year of his reign. They had built every part of the temple according to the design they were working from. It had taken them seven years to construct the building. 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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