1 Kings Chapter 6    

¹In the four hundred 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 Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of Yahweh.
  ²The house^a that King Solomon built for Yahweh was 60 cubits long^b and 20 cubits wide^c and 30 cubits high.^{d
  3}The vestibule at the front of the Holy Place of the house^e was 20 cubits wide,^f equal to the width of the house, and it was ten cubits deep,^g and it was at the front of the house.
  ⁴And he made framed niches for the house.
 

⁵Against the wall of the house he built stories all around, against the walls of the house around both the Holy Place and of the Holy of Holies; he made side rooms all around.
  ⁶The lowest story was five cubits wide and the middle one was six cubits wide and the third one was seven cubits wide, for on the outside of the house he made offsets in the wall all around, so that the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls of the house.
  ⁷The house, when it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard at the house while it was being built.
 

⁸The entrance for the lowest side rooms^h was in the right side of the house, and they went up by winding stairs into the middle story and out of the middle story into the third story.
  ⁹So he built the house and finished it, and he roofed the house with beams and planks of cedar.
  ¹⁰And he built the stories along the entire house, each five cubits high,ⁱ and they were attached to the house with cedar timber.
 

¹¹Now the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying,
  ¹²“As for this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and execute my judgments and keep all my commandments, walking in them, then I will establish my word with you that I spoke to David your father.
  ¹³I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”
 

¹⁴So Solomon built the house and finished it.
  ¹⁵He built the interior walls of the house with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the rafters of the ceiling he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.
  ¹⁶And 20 cubits from the back of the house he built a wall with boards of cedar from the floor to the rafters; he built it on the interior of the Temple as the inner sanctuary; the Holy of Holies.
  ¹⁷In front of the Holy of Holies was the Holy Place, which was 40 cubits.^{j
  18}There was cedar on the interior of the house, carved with gourds and open flowers; all was cedar, there was no stone seen.
 

¹⁹Now the inner sanctuary inside the house, in the interior, he prepared in order to set the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there.
  ²⁰The interior of the inner sanctuary was 20 cubits in length^k and 20 cubits in width and 20 cubits in its height, and he overlaid it with pure gold and he overlaid the altar of cedar.
  ²¹And Solomon overlaid the house inside with pure gold and he drew chains of gold across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold.
  ²²The whole house he overlaid with gold until all the house was finished; also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.
 

²³In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of pinewood, each ten cubits high.^{l
  24}Five cubits^m was the one wing of the cherub and five cubits was the other wing of the cherub; from the tip of the one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits.^{n
  25}The other cherub was also ten cubits. Both of the cherubim were the same size and the same shape.
  ²⁶The height of the one cherub was ten cubits and so was that of the second cherub.
  ²⁷He set the cherubim inside the inner house, and the wings of the cherubim were stretched out 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 one another in the middle of the house.
  ²⁸He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
 

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

³¹For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of pinewood; the doorframes had five recesses.
  ³²And he made two doors of pinewood and he carved on them carvings of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers and overlaid them with gold, and he hammered the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
  ³³And also he made door frames of pinewood with four recesses for the entrance of the Holy Place,
  ³⁴and two doors of cypress wood, one door pivoted on sockets and the other door pivoted on sockets.
  ³⁵He carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work.
  ³⁶He built the wall of the inner courtyard with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams.
 

³⁷In the fourth year of Solomon’s reign the foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid in the month Ziv.
  ³⁸In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and according to all its specifications. So he was building it for seven years.