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,
he began to build the house of the LORD. The house that King
Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits 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 he made for the
house windows with recessed frames. He also built a structure
against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the
house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side
chambers all around. The lowest story 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, 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 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. So he built the house and finished it,
and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar.
He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high,
and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

  Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, “Concerning this house
that you are building, 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, which I spoke to David your father. And
I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my
people Israel.”

  So Solomon built the house and finished it. 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, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of
cypress. He 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 the Most Holy Place. The house,
that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits
long. The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds
and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. The inner
sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set
there the ark of the covenant of the LORD. The inner sanctuary was
twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and
he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar.
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. And he overlaid the whole house with gold,
until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that
belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

  In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each
ten cubits high. 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.
The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the
same measure and the same form. The height of one cherub was ten
cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. He put the cherubim in
the innermost part of the house. And 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. And he overlaid the
cherubim with gold.

  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. The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner
and outer rooms.

  For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of
olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided. 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.

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

  In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was
laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the month
of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all
its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven
years in building it.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001
by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.