2 Chronicles 2-3

New Living Translation

Preparations for Building the Temple

2 ^[a]Solomon decided to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord, and also a royal palace for himself. ²^[b]He enlisted a force of 70,000 laborers, 80,000 men to quarry stone in the hill country, and 3,600 foremen.

³Solomon also sent this message to King Hiram^[c] at Tyre:

“Send me cedar logs as you did for my father, David, when he was building his palace. ⁴I am about to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God. It will be a place set apart to burn fragrant incense before him, to display the special sacrificial bread, and to sacrifice burnt offerings each morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at new moon celebrations, and at the other appointed festivals of the Lord our God. He has commanded Israel to do these things forever.

⁵“This must be a magnificent Temple because our God is greater than all other gods. ⁶But who can really build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heavens can contain him! So who am I to consider building a Temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices to him?

⁷“So send me a master craftsman who can work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as with purple, scarlet, and blue cloth. He must be a skilled engraver who can work with the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem who were selected by my father, David.

⁸“Also send me cedar, cypress, and red sandalwood^[d] logs from Lebanon, for I know that your men are without equal at cutting timber in Lebanon. I will send my men to help them. ⁹An immense amount of timber will be needed, for the Temple I am going to build will be very large and magnificent. ¹⁰In payment for your woodcutters, I will send 100,000 bushels of crushed wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley,^[e] 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil.^[f]”

¹¹King Hiram sent this letter of reply to Solomon:

“It is because the Lord loves his people that he has made you their king! ¹²Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son, gifted with skill and understanding, who will build a Temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.

¹³“I am sending you a master craftsman named Huram-abi, who is extremely talented. ¹⁴His mother is from the tribe of Dan in Israel, and his father is from Tyre. He is skillful at making things from gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and he also works with stone and wood. He can work with purple, blue, and scarlet cloth and fine linen. He is also an engraver and can follow any design given to him. He will work with your craftsmen and those appointed by my lord David, your father.

¹⁵“Send along the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine that my lord has mentioned. ¹⁶We will cut whatever timber you need from the Lebanon mountains and will float the logs in rafts down the coast of the Mediterranean Sea^[g] to Joppa. From there you can transport the logs up to Jerusalem.”

¹⁷Solomon took a census of all foreigners in the land of Israel, like the census his father had taken, and he counted 153,600. ¹⁸He assigned 70,000 of them as common laborers, 80,000 as quarry workers in the hill country, and 3,600 as foremen.

Solomon Builds the Temple

3 So Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David, his father. The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah^[h] the Jebusite, the site that David had selected. ²The construction began in midspring,^[i] during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.

³These are the dimensions Solomon used for the foundation of the Temple of God (using the old standard of measurement).^[j] It was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide.^[k] ⁴The entry room at the front of the Temple was 30 feet^[l] wide, running across the entire width of the Temple, and 30 feet^[m] high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

⁵He paneled the main room of the Temple with cypress wood, overlaid it with fine gold, and decorated it with carvings of palm trees and chains. ⁶He decorated the walls of the Temple with beautiful jewels and with gold from the land of Parvaim. ⁷He overlaid the beams, thresholds, walls, and doors throughout the Temple with gold, and he carved figures of cherubim on the walls.

⁸He made the Most Holy Place 30 feet wide, corresponding to the width of the Temple, and 30 feet deep. He overlaid its interior with 23 tons^[n] of fine gold. ⁹The gold nails that were used weighed 20 ounces^[o] each. He also overlaid the walls of the upper rooms with gold.

¹⁰He made two figures shaped like cherubim, overlaid them with gold, and placed them in the Most Holy Place. ¹¹The total wingspan of the two cherubim standing side by side was 30 feet. One wing of the first figure was 7 1⁄2 feet^[p] long, and it touched the Temple wall. The other wing, also 7 1⁄2 feet long, touched one of the wings of the second figure. ¹²In the same way, the second figure had one wing 7 1⁄2 feet long that touched the opposite wall. The other wing, also 7 1⁄2 feet long, touched the wing of the first figure. ¹³So the wingspan of the two cherubim side by side was 30 feet. They stood on their feet and faced out toward the main room of the Temple.

¹⁴Across the entrance of the Most Holy Place he hung a curtain made of fine linen, decorated with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and embroidered with figures of cherubim.

¹⁵For the front of the Temple, he made two pillars that were 27 feet^[q] tall, each topped by a capital extending upward another 7 1⁄2 feet. ¹⁶He made a network of interwoven chains^[r] and used them to decorate the tops of the pillars. He also made 100 decorative pomegranates and attached them to the chains. ¹⁷Then he set up the two pillars at the entrance of the Temple, one to the south of the entrance and the other to the north. He named the one on the south Jakin, and the one on the north Boaz.^[s]

Footnotes

2:1 Verse 2:1 is numbered 1:18 in Hebrew text.
2:2 Verses 2:2-18 are numbered 2:1-17 in Hebrew text.
2:3 Hebrew Huram, a variant spelling of Hiram; also in 2:11.
2:8 Or juniper; Hebrew reads algum, perhaps a variant spelling of almug; compare 9:10-11 and parallel text at 1 Kgs 10:11-12.
2:10a Hebrew 20,000 cors [4,400 kiloliters] of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley.
2:10b Hebrew 20,000 baths [420 kiloliters] of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.
2:16 Hebrew the sea.
3:1 Hebrew reads Ornan, a variant spelling of Araunah; compare 2 Sam 24:16.
3:2 Hebrew on the second [day] of the second month. This day of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in April or May.
3:3a The “old standard of measurement” was a cubit equal to 18 inches [46 centimeters]. The new standard was a cubit of approximately 21 inches [53 centimeters].
3:3b Hebrew 60 cubits [27.6 meters] long and 20 cubits [9.2 meters] wide.
3:4a Hebrew 20 cubits [9.2 meters]; also in 3:8, 11, 13.
3:4b As in some Greek and Syriac manuscripts, which read 20 cubits [9.2 meters]; Hebrew reads 120 [cubits], which is 180 feet or 55 meters.
3:8 Hebrew 600 talents [20.4 metric tons].
3:9 Hebrew 50 shekels [570 grams].
3:11 Hebrew 5 cubits [2.3 meters]; also in 3:11b, 12, 15.
3:15 As in Syriac version (see also 1 Kgs 7:15; 2 Kgs 25:17; Jer 52:21), which reads 18 cubits [8.3 meters]; Hebrew reads 35 cubits, which is 52.5 feet or 16.5 meters.
3:16 Hebrew He made chains in the inner sanctuary. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
3:17 Jakin probably means “he establishes”; Boaz probably means “in him is strength.”