12 And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, (A)as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

13 King Solomon drafted (B)forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. (C)Adoniram was in charge of the draft. 15 Solomon also (D)had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, 16 besides Solomon's 3,300 (E)chief officers who were over the work, (F)who had charge of the people who carried on the work. 17 At the king's command (G)they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. 18 So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and (H)the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

Solomon Builds the Temple

(I)In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, (J)he began to build the house of the Lord. (K)The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits[a] long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. And (L)he made for the house windows with recessed frames.[b] (M)He also built a structure[c] against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and (N)the inner sanctuary. And he made (O)side chambers all around. The lowest story[d] was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

When the house was built, (P)it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

The entrance for the lowest[e] story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. (Q)So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. 10 He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are building, (R)if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, (S)which I spoke to David your father. 13 And (T)I will dwell among the children of Israel (U)and will not forsake my people Israel.”

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 6:2 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
  2. 1 Kings 6:4 Or blocked lattice windows
  3. 1 Kings 6:5 Or platform; also verse 10
  4. 1 Kings 6:6 Septuagint; Hebrew structure, or platform
  5. 1 Kings 6:8 Septuagint, Targum; Hebrew middle

12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom,(A) just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.(B)

13 King Solomon conscripted laborers(C) from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram(D) was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred[a] foremen(E) who supervised the project and directed the workers. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry(F) large blocks of high-grade stone(G) to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram(H) and workers from Byblos(I) cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.

Solomon Builds the Temple(J)

In the four hundred and eightieth[b] year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month,(K) he began to build the temple of the Lord.(L)

The temple(M) that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.[c] The portico(N) at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits,[d] and projected ten cubits[e] from the front of the temple. He made narrow windows(O) high up in the temple walls. Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.(P) The lowest floor was five cubits[f] wide, the middle floor six cubits[g] and the third floor seven.[h] He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

In building the temple, only blocks dressed(Q) at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool(R) was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

The entrance to the lowest[i] floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar(S) planks. 10 And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.

11 The word of the Lord came(T) to Solomon: 12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands(U) and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise(V) I gave to David your father. 13 And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon(W) my people Israel.”

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 5:16 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 2 Chron. 2:2,18) thirty-six hundred
  2. 1 Kings 6:1 Hebrew; Septuagint four hundred and fortieth
  3. 1 Kings 6:2 That is, about 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 27 meters long, 9 meters wide and 14 meters high
  4. 1 Kings 6:3 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters; also in verses 16 and 20
  5. 1 Kings 6:3 That is, about 15 feet or about 4.5 meters; also in verses 23-26
  6. 1 Kings 6:6 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters; also in verses 10 and 24
  7. 1 Kings 6:6 That is, about 9 feet or about 2.7 meters
  8. 1 Kings 6:6 That is, about 11 feet or about 3.2 meters
  9. 1 Kings 6:8 Septuagint; Hebrew middle