The Construction of the Temple
3 Then Solomon began to build the House of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. He constructed it on the site that David had specified,[a] namely, the threshing floor of Ornan[b] the Jebusite. 2 He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
The Sanctuary
3 Now these are the dimensions of the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of God’s house. The length was ninety feet and the width thirty feet.[c] 4 The porch[d] that was in front of the temple building was thirty feet wide, the same as the width of the building, and it was thirty feet high.[e]
He overlaid the inside with pure gold. 5 He lined the larger front room of the building with fir paneling,[f] which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains. 6 He beautified the house with dazzling precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim.[g] 7 He also overlaid the house, the beams and rafters, the thresholds and door frames, its walls, and its doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.
8 He made the Most Holy Place. It was thirty feet by thirty feet, the same dimensions as the width of the building, and he overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold.[h] 9 The weight of the gold nails was more than a pound.[i] He overlaid the upper areas with gold.
The Cherubim
10 In the Most Holy Place he made two carved cherubim that were overlaid with gold. 11 The total wingspan of the cherubim was thirty feet. One wing of the first cherub was seven and a half feet long and touched the outer wall of the house. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long and touched the wing of the other cherub. 12 One wing of the other cherub was seven and a half feet long and touched the outer wall of the house. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long and touched the wing of the first cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubim spread out over thirty feet. They stood upright on their feet, and they faced toward the front of the sanctuary building.[j] 14 He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson material and fine white linen, and he decorated it with cherubim.
Pillars
15 For the front of the house he made two pillars with a combined height of fifty-three feet,[k] and the capitals that were on top of each of them were seven and a half feet tall. 16 He made chains for the inner sanctuary[l] and also put them on the tops of the pillars. He also made one hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. 17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple building,[m] one on the south side and the other on the north. He named the one on the south Jakin[n] and the one on the north Boaz.[o]
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 3:1 Or prepared
- 2 Chronicles 3:1 In 2 Samuel 24 he is called Araunah or Aravnah.
- 2 Chronicles 3:3 The measurements are given in cubits of the old measure, a much disputed term. The translation uses 18-inch cubits. Using a long cubit of 20+ inches, the temple would be 105 feet by 35 feet.
- 2 Chronicles 3:4 Or entry hall. It is uncertain if this was an unroofed porch or an enclosed vestibule.
- 2 Chronicles 3:4 The Hebrew text reads one hundred twenty cubits (one hundred eighty feet), but the Greek and Syriac texts and the data concerning the height of the pillars for the porch all support a height of twenty cubits (thirty feet). Perhaps the Hebrew word amwt (cubit) was accidentally changed into the word mawt (hundred) by the inversion of two letters. The account in Kings does not give the height of the porch.
- 2 Chronicles 3:5 According to 1 Kings 6:15, the floor was fir and the walls were cedar. This verse in Chronicles does not mention this distinction.
- 2 Chronicles 3:6 The meaning or location of the Hebrew term Parvaim is unknown.
- 2 Chronicles 3:8 Because of widely varying estimates for the weight of a talent (68 pounds to 130 pounds) most translations retain the term talents. The smallest estimated weight of the gold would be about 20 tons. The notes of this translation use the estimate of 75 pounds for a talent.
- 2 Chronicles 3:9 Literally fifty shekels
- 2 Chronicles 3:13 It is uncertain whether this means they faced toward the front entrance of the building (what we would call the front of a church when we are standing outside) or whether they faced toward the back of the building and thus toward the Lord (what we would call the front of a church when we are standing inside).
- 2 Chronicles 3:15 The word combined is not in the Hebrew text, but the parallel text in 1 Kings 7:15 indicates that this is the combined height of the two pillars.
- 2 Chronicles 3:16 See 1 Kings 6:21, which states that the chains were across the front of the inner room.
- 2 Chronicles 3:17 Here the Hebrew word hekal refers to the whole temple building. Sometimes it refers only to the front room.
- 2 Chronicles 3:17 Jakin means he establishes.
- 2 Chronicles 3:17 Boaz means in him is strength.