The Temple Is Built
(1 Kings 6.1-38)1-2 Solomon's workers began building the temple in Jerusalem on the second day of the second month, four years after Solomon had become king of Israel. It was built on Mount Moriah where the Lord had appeared to David at the threshing place that had belonged to Araunah from Jebus.
3 The inside of the temple was 27 meters long and 9 meters wide, according to the older standards. 4 Across the front of the temple was a porch 9 meters wide and 9 meters high. The inside walls of the porch were covered with pure gold.
5 Solomon had the inside walls of the temple's main room paneled first with pine and then with a layer of gold, and he had them decorated with carvings of palm trees and designs that looked like chains. 6 He used precious stones to decorate the temple, and he used gold imported from Parvaim 7 to decorate the ceiling beams, the doors, the door frames, and the walls. Solomon also told the workers to carve designs of winged creatures into the walls.
8 The most holy place was nine meters square, and its walls were covered with over 20 tons of fine gold. 9 Five hundred and seventy grams of gold was used to cover the heads of the nails. The walls of the small storage rooms were also covered with gold.
10 Solomon had two statues of winged creatures made to put in the most holy place, and he covered them with gold. 11-13 Each creature had two wings and was four and a half meters from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other wing. Solomon set them next to each other in the most holy place, facing the doorway. Their wings were spread out and reached all the way across the nine-meter room.
14 A curtain was made of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool, and embroidered with designs of winged creatures.
The Two Columns
(1 Kings 7.15-22)15 Two columns were made for the entrance to the temple. Each one was 16 meters tall and had a cap on top that was over 2 meters high. 16 The top of each column was decorated with designs that looked like chains and with 100 carvings of pomegranates. 17 Solomon had one of the columns placed on the south side of the temple's entrance; it was called Jachin. The other one was placed on the north side of the entrance; it was called Boaz.
1 King David, Solomon's father, had already prepared a place for the Temple. It was in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David, at the place which Araunah the Jebusite had used as a threshing place. King Solomon began the construction 2 in the second month of the fourth year that he was king. 3 The Temple which King Solomon built was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide. 4 The entrance room was the full width of the Temple, 30 feet, and was 180 feet high. The inside of the room was overlaid with pure gold. 5 The main room was paneled with cedar and overlaid with fine gold, in which were worked designs of palm trees and chain patterns. 6 The king decorated the Temple with beautiful precious stones and with gold imported from the land of Parvaim. 7 He used the gold to overlay the Temple walls, the rafters, the entryways, and the doors. On the walls the workers carved designs of winged creatures. 8 The inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was 30 feet long and 30 feet wide, which was the full width of the Temple. Twenty-five tons of gold were used to cover the walls of the Most Holy Place; 9 twenty ounces of gold were used for making nails, and the walls of the upper rooms were also covered with gold.
10 The king also had his workers make two winged creatures out of metal, cover them with gold, and place them in the Most Holy Place, 11-13 where they stood side by side facing the entrance. Each had two wings, each wing 7½ feet long, which were spread out so that they touched each other in the center of the room and reached to the wall on either side of the room, stretching across the full width of 30 feet. 14 A curtain for the Most Holy Place was made of linen and of other material, which was dyed blue, purple, and red, with designs of the winged creatures worked into it.
The Two Bronze Columns
(1 Kings 7.15-22)15 The king had two columns made, each one 52 feet tall, and placed them in front of the Temple. Each one had a capital 7½ feet tall. 16 The tops of the columns were decorated with a design of interwoven chains and one hundred bronze pomegranates. 17 The columns were set at the sides of the Temple entrance: the one on the south side was named Jachin and the one on the north side was named Boaz.
