1 And ait came to pass in the four hundred and1 eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of2 Ziv, which is the second month, bthat he began to build the house of the Lord.
2 Now athe house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.
3 The vestibule in front of the1 sanctuary of the house was twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the width of3thevestibuleextended ten cubits from the front of the house.
4 And he made for the house awindows with beveled frames.
5 Against the wall of the1 temple he built achambers all around, against the walls of the temple, all around the sanctuary band the inner sanctuary. Thus he made side chambers all around it.
6 The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the temple, so that thesupportbeams would not be fastened into the walls of the1 temple.
7 And athe temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
8 The doorway for the1 middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.
9aSo he built the1 temple and finished it, and he paneled the temple with beams and boards of cedar.
10 And he built side chambers against the entire temple, each five cubits high; they were attached to the temple with cedar beams.
11 Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying:
12 “Concerning this1 temple which you are building, aif you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My2 word with you, bwhich I spoke to your father David.
13 And aI will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not bforsake My people Israel.”
15 And he built the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards; from the floor of the temple to the ceiling he paneled the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the temple with planks of cypress.
16 Then he built the twenty-cubit room at the rear of the temple, from floor to ceiling, with cedar boards; he built it inside as the inner sanctuary, as the aMost Holy Place.
17 And in front of it the temple sanctuary was forty cubits long.
18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with ornamental buds and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone tobe seen.
19 And he prepared the1 inner sanctuary inside the temple, to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there.
20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar of cedar.
21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold.
22 The whole temple he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the temple; also he overlaid with gold athe entire altar that was by the inner sanctuary.
23 Inside the inner sanctuary ahe made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.
24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits: ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other.
25 And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and shape.
26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub.
27 Then he set the cherubim inside the inner1 room; and athey stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the room.
29 Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved afigures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
30 And the floor of the temple he overlaid with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were1 one-fifth ofthewall.
32 The two doors wereof olive wood; and he carved on them figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
33 So for the door of the1 sanctuary he also made doorposts of olive wood,2 one-fourth ofthewall.
34 And the two doors wereof cypress wood; atwo panels comprised one folding door, and two panels comprised the other folding door.
35 Then he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers onthem, and overlaid them with gold applied evenly on the carved work.
36 And he built the ainner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.
37aIn the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of1 Ziv.
38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of1 Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was aseven years in building it.
In the four hundred and eightieth year - The Septuagint has the four hundred and fortieth year. It need scarcely be noticed, that among chronologists there is a great difference of opinion concerning this epocha. Glycas has 330 years; Melchior Canus, 590 years; Josephus, 592 years; Sulpicius Severus, 588; Clemens Alexandrinus, 570; Cedrenus, 672; Codomanus, 598; Vossius and Capellus, 580; Serarius, 680; Nicholas Abraham, 527; Maestlinus, 592; Petavius and Valtherus, 520. Here are more than a dozen different opinions; and after all, that in the common Hebrew text is as likely to be the true one as any of the others.
The month Zif - This answers to a part of our April and May; and was the second month of the sacred year, but the eighth month of the civil year. Before the time of Solomon, the Jews do not appear to have had any names for their months, but mentioned them in the order of their consecutive occurrence, first month, second month, third month, etc. In this chapter we find Zif and Bul; and in I Kings 8:2, we find another, Ethanim; and these are supposed to be borrowed from the Chaldeans; and consequently this book was written after the Babylonish captivity. Before this time we find only the word Abib mentioned as the name of a month, Exodus 13:4. Whether there were any others at that time, or whether Abib was really intended as the name of a month, we cannot absolutely say. The present names of the Hebrew months are: - Tisri, answering to a part of September and October, Marchesvan, Cisleu, Tebeth, Shebat, Adar, Nisan, Ijar, Sivan, Tamuz, Ab, and Elul.
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