1 Kings 5–6; 2 Chronicles 2–3

1Now when Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king in his father’s place, he sent envoys to Solomon; for Hiram had always been a friend of David.

2And Solomon relayed this message to Hiram:

3“As you are well aware, due to the wars waged on all sides against my father David, he could not build a house for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD had put his enemies under his feet.

4But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or crisis.

5So behold, I plan to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God, according to what the LORD said to my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the house for My Name.’

6Now therefore, order that cedars of Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever wages you set, for you know that there are none among us as skilled in logging as the Sidonians.”

7When Hiram received Solomon’s message, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the LORD this day! He has given David a wise son over this great people!”

8Then Hiram sent a reply to Solomon, saying: “I have received your message; I will do all you desire regarding the cedar and cypress timber.

9My servants will haul the logs from Lebanon to the Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate the logs, and you can take them away. And in exchange, you can meet my needs by providing my household with food.”

10So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted,

11and year after year Solomon would provide Hiram with 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, as well as 20,000 baths of pure olive oil.

12And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

13Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.

14He sent them to Lebanon in monthly shifts of 10,000 men, so that they would spend one month in Lebanon and two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

15Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,

16not including his 3,300 foremen who supervised the workers.

17And the king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.

18So Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the construction of the temple.

1In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

2The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

3The 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.

4He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.

5Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.

6The 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.

7The 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.

8The 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.

9So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.

10He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.

11Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying:

12“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.

13And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”

14So Solomon built the temple and finished it.

15He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards.

16He 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.

17And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.

18The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

19Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.

20The 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.

21So 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.

22So 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.

23In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.

24One 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.

25The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,

26and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.

27And 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.

28He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29Then 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.

30And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

31For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.

32The 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.

33In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.

34The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.

35He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

36Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.

37The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv.

38In 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.

1Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the Name of the LORD and a royal palace for himself.

2So he conscripted 70,000 porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.

3Then Solomon sent word to Hiram king of Tyre: “Do for me as you did for my father David when you sent him cedars to build himself a house to live in.

4Behold, I am about to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God to dedicate to Him for burning fragrant incense before Him, for displaying the showbread continuously, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening as well as on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts of the LORD our God. This is ordained for Israel forever.

5The house that I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.

6But who is able to build a house for Him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain Him? Who then am I, that I should build a house for Him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before Him?

7Send me, therefore, a craftsman skilled in engraving to work with gold and silver, with bronze and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn. He will work with my craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.

8Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber there. And indeed, my servants will work with yours

9to prepare for me timber in abundance, because the temple I am building will be great and wonderful.

10I will pay your servants, the woodcutters, 20,000 cors of ground wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.”

11Then Hiram king of Tyre wrote a letter in reply to Solomon: “Because the LORD loves His people, He has set you over them as king.”

12And Hiram added: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son with insight and understanding, who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal palace for himself.

13So now I am sending you Huram-abi, a skillful man endowed with creativity.

14He is the son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father is a man of Tyre. He is skilled in work with gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple, blue, and crimson yarn, and fine linen. He is experienced in every kind of engraving and can execute any design that is given him. He will work with your craftsmen and with those of my lord, your father David.

15Now let my lord send to his servants the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine he promised.

16We will cut logs from Lebanon, as many as you need, and we will float them to you as rafts by sea down to Joppa. Then you can take them up to Jerusalem.”

17Solomon numbered all the foreign men in the land of Israel following the census his father David had conducted, and there were found to be 153,600 in all.

18Solomon made 70,000 of them porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.

1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

2Solomon began construction on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

3The foundation that Solomon laid for the house of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, according to the old standard.

4The portico at the front, extending across the width of the temple, was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

5He paneled the main room with cypress, which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains.

6He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and its gold was from Parvaim.

7He overlaid its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.

8Then he made the Most Holy Place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of fine gold.

9The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

10In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of sculptured work, and he overlaid them with gold.

11The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and touched the wall of the temple, and its other wing was five cubits long and touched the wing of the other cherub.

12The wing of the second cherub also measured five cubits and touched the wall of the temple, while its other wing measured five cubits and touched the wing of the first cherub.

13So the total wingspan of these cherubim was twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main room.

14He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim woven into it.

15In front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits high, each with a capital on top measuring five cubits.

16He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork.

17Then he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south and one on the north. The pillar on the south he named Jachin, and the pillar on the north he named Boaz.