Preparing to Build the Temple

1 ^xNow Solomon purposed to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a royal palace for himself.

Preparations for Building the Temple

1 ¹ Now ^jHiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, ^kfor Hiram always loved David.

2 And Solomon sent word to Hiram, 3 ^l“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God ^mbecause of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. 4 ⁿBut now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. 5 And so I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, ^oas the Lord said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’

3 ^aAnd Solomon sent word to Hiram the king of Tyre: ^b“As you dealt with David my father and sent him cedar to build himself a house to dwell in, so deal with me. 4 Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of ^cincense of sweet spices before him, and for ^dthe regular arrangement of the showbread, and for ^eburnt offerings morning and evening, ^fon the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed feasts of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel. 5 The house that I am to build will be great, ^gfor our God is greater than all gods. 6 ^hBut who is able to build him a house, since ^hheaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him? 7 So now ⁱsend me a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to be with the skilled workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, ^jwhom David my father provided. 8 Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that ^kyour servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. And my servants will be with your servants, 9 to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the house I am to build will be great and wonderful. 10 ^lI will give for your servants, the woodsmen who cut timber, 20,000 cors¹ of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths² of wine, and 20,000 baths of oil.”

6 Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

11 Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon, ^m“Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them.” 12 Hiram also said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, ⁿwho made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, ^owho will build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.

13 “Now I have sent a skilled man, who has understanding, Huram-abi, 14 ^pthe son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is ^qtrained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father. 15 Now therefore the wheat and barley, oil and wine, ^rof which my lord has spoken, let him send to his servants.

9 My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon, and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct. And I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it. And you shall meet my wishes ^pby providing food for my household.” 10 So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired, 11 while Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cors¹ of wheat as food for his household, and 20,000² cors of beaten oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year. 12 And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, ^qas he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

2 ^yAnd Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens and 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and ^z3,600 to oversee them.

17 Then Solomon counted all the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, ^uafter the census of them that David his father had taken, and there were found 153,600.

13 King Solomon drafted ^rforced 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. ^sAdoniram was in charge of the draft. 15 Solomon also ^thad 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, 16 besides Solomon’s 3,300 ^uchief officers who were over the work, ^vwho had charge of the people who carried on the work. 17 At the king’s command ^wthey 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 ^xthe men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

Solomon Builds the Temple

1 ^wThen Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem ^xon Mount Moriah, where the Lord¹ had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, ^yon the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Solomon Builds the Temple

1 ^yIn 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, ^zhe began to build the house of the Lord.

2 He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.

2 ^aThe house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits¹ long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. 3 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. 4 And ^bhe made for the house windows with recessed frames.² 5 ^cHe also built a structure³ against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and ^dthe inner sanctuary. And he made ^eside chambers all around. 6 The lowest story⁴ 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.

7 When the house was built, ^fit 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.

8 The entrance for the lowest⁵ 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. 9 ^gSo 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.

15 He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, ^mand he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. 16 ⁿHe built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as ^othe Most Holy Place. 17 The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. 18 The cedar within the house was carved in the form of ^pgourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. 19 The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 The inner sanctuary¹ was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid² an altar of cedar.

9 The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels.¹ And he overlaid ^ethe upper chambers with gold.

23 ^rIn the inner sanctuary ^she made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. 24 Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25 The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. 26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. 27 He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. ^tAnd the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. 28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

14 ^hAnd he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.

21 And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. ^qAlso the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

7 So he lined the house with gold—its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors—^cand he carved cherubim on the walls.

29 Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. 30 The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.¹ 32 He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

33 So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, 34 and two doors of cypress wood. ^uThe two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36 ^vHe built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

39 But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei’s servants ran away to ^qAchish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. And when it was told Shimei, “Behold, your servants are in Gath,” 40 Shimei arose and saddled a donkey and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 41 And when Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, 42 the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good; I will obey.’ 43 Why then have you not kept your oath to the Lord and the commandment with which I commanded you?” 44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart ^rall the harm that you did to David my father. So the Lord will ^sbring back your harm on your own head. 45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, ^tand the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.” 46 Then the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died.

^uSo the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are building, ^hif 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, ⁱwhich I spoke to David your father. 13 And ^jI will dwell among the children of Israel ^kand will not forsake my people Israel.”