Solomon Builds the Temple

1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD3:1 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. 3These are Solomon's measurements3:3 Syriac; Hebrew foundations for building the house of God: the length, in cubits3:3 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimetres of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. 4The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house,3:4 Compare 1 Kings 6:3; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. 5The nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold and made palms and chains on it. 6He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim. 7So he lined the house with gold—its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors—and he carved cherubim on the walls.

8And he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents3:8 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms of fine gold. 9The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels.3:9 A shekel was about 2/5 of an ounce or 11 grams And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

10In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood3:10 Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain and overlaid3:10 Hebrew they overlaid them with gold. 11The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub; 12and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. 13The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. The cherubim3:13 Hebrew they stood on their feet, facing the nave. 14And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.

15In front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each. 16He made chains like a necklace3:16 Hebrew chains in the inner sanctuary and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. 17He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; the one on the south he called Jachin, and the one on the north Boaz.