Temple Construction Begins
(2 Chronicles 3:1–2)

1Then it happened that, in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel departed from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, the house of the Lord began to be built. 2Now the house, which king Solomon was building to the Lord, was sixty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and thirty cubits in height. 3And a portico was before the temple, of twenty cubits in length, in accord with the measure of the width of the temple. And it had ten cubits of width before the face of the temple. 4And he made oblique windows in the temple.

The Chambers

5And upon the wall of the temple, he built panels on all sides, in the walls of the house around the temple and the oracle. And he made side chambers all around. 6The flooring on the bottom level held five cubits in width, and the middle floor was six cubits in width, and the third floor held seven cubits in width. Then he positioned beams on the house all around the outside, in such a way that they would not be fastened to the walls of the temple.

7Now the house, while it was being built, was made from cut and finished stones. And so, neither mallet, nor chisel, nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

8The door at the side of the middle section was to the right of the house. And they would ascend along winding stairs to the middle level, and from the middle level to the third level. 9And he built the house, and finished it. And he overlaid the house with boards of cedar. 10And he built a paneling over the entire house, five cubits in height, and he covered the house with cedar wood.

God’s Promise to Solomon

11And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: 12“Concerning this house, which you are building: if you will walk in my precepts, and carry out my judgments, and keep all my commandments, advancing by them, I will confirm my word to you, which I spoke to your father David. 13And I will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel, and I will not forsake my people Israel.”

The Temple’s Interior
(2 Chronicles 3:5–9)

14And so, Solomon built the house, and finished it.

15And he built the walls of the house, on the interior, with panels of cedar, from the floor of the house, to the top of the walls, and even to the ceiling. He covered it with cedar wood on the interior. And he overlaid the floor of the house with panels of spruce. 16And he built panels of cedar, of twenty cubits, at the back part of the temple, from the floor even to the top. And he made the inner house of the oracle as the Holy of Holies. 17And the temple itself, before the doors of the oracle, was forty cubits. 18And the entire house was clothed with cedar on the interior, having its turnings and junctures artfully wrought, with carvings projecting outward. Everything was clothed with panels of cedar. And no stone at all was able to be seen in the wall. 19Now he made the oracle in the middle of the house, in the inner part, so that he might station the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20And the oracle held twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height. And he covered and clothed it with the purest gold. Then, too, he clothed the altar in cedar. 21Also, the house before the oracle, he covered with the purest gold, and he fastened the plates with nails of gold. 22And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold. Moreover, the entire altar of the oracle he overlaid with gold.

The Cherubim
(2 Chronicles 3:10–13)

23And he made in the oracle two cherubim from wood of the olive tree, of ten cubits in height. 24One wing of a cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of a cherub was five cubits, that is, having ten cubits from the summit of one wing even to the summit of the other wing. 25Likewise, the second cherub was ten cubits. And the measure was equal and the work was one, in the two cherubim, 26that is, one cherub had a height of ten cubits, and similarly the second cherub. 27And he stationed the cherubim in the middle of the inner temple. And the cherubim extended their wings, and the wing of the one was touching the wall, and the wing of the second cherub was touching the other wall. But the other wings, in the middle of the temple, were touching each another. 28He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29And all the walls of the temple all around he engraved with diverse carvings and turnings. And he made in them cherubim, and palm trees, and various images, as if these were projecting out, and going forth from, the wall. 30Then, too, the floor of the house he overlaid with gold within and without.

The Doors

31And at the entrance of the oracle, he made little doors, from wood of the olive tree, with posts of five corners. 32And there were two doors, from wood of the olive tree. And he carved upon them pictures of cherubim, and images of palm trees, and very prominent figures. And he overlaid these with gold. And he covered the cherubim, as well as the palm trees and the other things, with gold.

33And he made, at the entrance of the temple, posts from wood of the olive tree, with four corners, 34and two doors, from wood of the spruce tree, on the other side. And each door was double, and so it opened by folding upon itself. 35And he carved cherubim, and palm trees, and very prominent engravings. And he covered everything with gold plates, worked to be perfectly square.

The Courtyard

36And he built the inner atrium with three rows of polished stones, and one row of cedar wood.

37In the fourth year, the house of the Lord was founded, in the month of Ziv. 38And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was perfected in all its works and in all its equipment. And he built it for seven years.