1 Kings 6

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Then it happened that, in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel departed from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, the house of the Lord began to be built.	1 In the four hundred and eightieth year from the departure of the Israelites from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, the construction of the temple of the LORD was begun.
2 Now the house, which king Solomon was building to the Lord, was sixty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and thirty cubits in height.	2 The temple which King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty wide, and twenty-five high.
3 And a portico was before the temple, of twenty cubits in length, in accord with the measure of the width of the temple. And it had ten cubits of width before the face of the temple.	3 The porch in front of the temple was twenty cubits from side to side, along the width of the nave, and ten cubits deep in front of the temple.
4 And he made oblique windows in the temple.	4 Splayed windows with trellises were made for the temple,
5 And upon the wall of the temple, he built panels on all sides, in the walls of the house around the temple and the oracle. And he made side chambers all around.	5 and adjoining the wall of the temple, which enclosed the nave and the sanctuary, an annex of several stories was built.
6 The flooring on the bottom level held five cubits in width, and the middle floor was six cubits in width, and the third floor held seven cubits in width. Then he positioned beams on the house all around the outside, in such a way that they would not be fastened to the walls of the temple.	6 Its lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle one six cubits wide, the third seven cubits wide, because there were offsets along the outside of the temple so that the beams would not be fastened into the walls of the temple.
7 Now the house, while it was being built, was made from cut and finished stones. And so, neither mallet, nor chisel, nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.	7 (The temple was built of stone dressed at the quarry, so that no hammer, axe, or iron tool was to be heard in the temple during its construction.)
8 The door at the side of the middle section was to the right of the house. And they would ascend along winding stairs to the middle level, and from the middle level to the third level.	8 The entrance to the lowest floor of the annex was at the right side of the temple, and stairs with intermediate landings led up to the middle story and from the middle story to the third.
9 And he built the house, and finished it. And he overlaid the house with boards of cedar.	9 When the temple was built to its full height, it was roofed in with rafters and boards of cedar.
10 And he built a paneling over the entire house, five cubits in height, and he covered the house with cedar wood.	10 The annex, with its lowest story five cubits high, was built all along the outside of the temple, to which it was joined by cedar beams.
11 And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying:	11 This word of the LORD came to Solomon:
12 “Concerning this house, which you are building: if you will walk in my precepts, and carry out my judgments, and keep all my commandments, advancing by them, I will confirm my word to you, which I spoke to your father David.	12 "As to this temple you are building--if you observe my statutes, carry out my ordinances, keep and obey all my commands, I will fulfill toward you the promise I made to your father David.
13 And I will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel, and I will not forsake my people Israel.”	13 I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites and will not forsake my people Israel."
14 And so, Solomon built the house, and finished it.	14 When Solomon finished building the temple,
15 And he built the walls of the house, on the interior, with panels of cedar, from the floor of the house, to the top of the walls, and even to the ceiling. He covered it with cedar wood on the interior. And he overlaid the floor of the house with panels of spruce.	15 its walls were lined from floor to ceiling beams with cedar paneling, and its floor was laid with fir planking.
16 And he built panels of cedar, of twenty cubits, at the back part of the temple, from the floor even to the top. And he made the inner house of the oracle as the Holy of Holies.	16 At the rear of the temple a space of twenty cubits was set off by cedar partitions from the floor to the rafters, enclosing the sanctuary, the holy of holies.
17 And the temple itself, before the doors of the oracle, was forty cubits.	17 The nave, or part of the temple in front of the sanctuary, was forty cubits long.
18 And the entire house was clothed with cedar on the interior, having its turnings and junctures artfully wrought, with carvings projecting outward. Everything was clothed with panels of cedar. And no stone at all was able to be seen in the wall.	18 The cedar in the interior of the temple was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers; all was of cedar, and no stone was to be seen.
19 Now he made the oracle in the middle of the house, in the inner part, so that he might station the ark of the covenant of the Lord there.	19 In the innermost part of the temple was located the sanctuary to house the ark of the LORD'S covenant,
20 And the oracle held twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height. And he covered and clothed it with the purest gold. Then, too, he clothed the altar in cedar.	20 twenty cubits long, twenty wide, and twenty high.
21 Also, the house before the oracle, he covered with the purest gold, and he fastened the plates with nails of gold.	21 Solomon overlaid the interior of the temple with pure gold. He made in front of the sanctuary a cedar altar, overlaid it with gold, and looped it with golden chains.
22 And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold. Moreover, the entire altar of the oracle he overlaid with gold.	22 The entire temple was overlaid with gold so that it was completely covered with it; the whole altar before the sanctuary was also overlaid with gold.
23 And he made in the oracle two cherubim from wood of the olive tree, of ten cubits in height.	23 In the sanctuary were two cherubim, each ten cubits high, made of olive wood.
24 One wing of a cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of a cherub was five cubits, that is, having ten cubits from the summit of one wing even to the summit of the other wing.	24 Each wing of a cherub measured five cubits so that the space from wing tip to wing tip of each was ten cubits.
25 Likewise, the second cherub was ten cubits. And the measure was equal and the work was one, in the two cherubim,	25 The cherubim were identical in size and shape,
26 that is, one cherub had a height of ten cubits, and similarly the second cherub.	26 and each was exactly ten cubits high.
27 And he stationed the cherubim in the middle of the inner temple. And the cherubim extended their wings, and the wing of the one was touching the wall, and the wing of the second cherub was touching the other wall. But the other wings, in the middle of the temple, were touching each another.	27 The cherubim were placed in the inmost part of the temple, with their wings spread wide, so that one wing of each cherub touched a side wall while the other wing, pointing toward the middle of the room, touched the corresponding wing of the second cherub.
28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.	28 The cherubim, too, were overlaid with gold.
29 And all the walls of the temple all around he engraved with diverse carvings and turnings. And he made in them cherubim, and palm trees, and various images, as if these were projecting out, and going forth from, the wall.	29 The walls on all sides of both the inner and the outer rooms had carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
30 Then, too, the floor of the house he overlaid with gold within and without.	30 The floor of both the inner and the outer rooms was overlaid with gold.
31 And at the entrance of the oracle, he made little doors, from wood of the olive tree, with posts of five corners.	31 At the entrance of the sanctuary, doors of olive wood were made; the doorframes had beveled posts.
32 And there were two doors, from wood of the olive tree. And he carved upon them pictures of cherubim, and images of palm trees, and very prominent figures. And he overlaid these with gold. And he covered the cherubim, as well as the palm trees and the other things, with gold.	32 The two doors were of olive wood, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. The doors were overlaid with gold, which was also molded to the cherubim and the palm trees.
33 And he made, at the entrance of the temple, posts from wood of the olive tree, with four corners,	33 The same was done at the entrance to the nave, where the doorposts of olive wood were rectangular.
34 and two doors, from wood of the spruce tree, on the other side. And each door was double, and so it opened by folding upon itself.	34 The two doors were of fir wood; each door was banded by a metal strap, front and back,
35 And he carved cherubim, and palm trees, and very prominent engravings. And he covered everything with gold plates, worked to be perfectly square.	35 and had carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, over which gold was evenly applied.
36 And he built the inner atrium with three rows of polished stones, and one row of cedar wood.	36 The inner court was walled off by means of three courses of hewn stones and one course of cedar beams.
37 In the fourth year, the house of the Lord was founded, in the month of Ziv.	37 The foundations of the LORD'S temple were laid in the month of Ziv
38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was perfected in all its works and in all its equipment. And he built it for seven years.	38 in the fourth year, and it was completed in all particulars, exactly according to plan, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, in the eleventh year. Thus it took Solomon seven years to build it.