1 Kings 6

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year ofSolomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began building the Temple ofYahweh.	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.
2 The temple which King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and twenty-five high.	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.
3 The portico in front of the Hekal of the Temple was twenty cubits long across the width of the Templeand ten cubits wide along the length of the Temple.	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.
4 He made windows for the Temple with frames and latticework.	4 And he made oblique windows in the temple.
5 He also built an annex against the Temple wal , right round the Hekal and Debir. He built lateral storeysal round;	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.
6 the lowest lateral storey was five cubits wide, the middle one six cubits, and the third seven cubits, for hehad made the outside of the Temple wal correspondingly stepped back al round, so that the annex was notattached to the Temple wal s.	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.
7 (The building of the Temple was done with quarry -- dressed stone; no sound of hammer or pick or anyiron tool was to be heard in the Temple while it was being built.)	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.
8 The entrance to the lowest storey was at the right-hand corner of the Temple; access to the middlestorey was by a spiral staircase, and so from the middle storey to the third.	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.
9 Having finished building the Temple, he roofed the Temple with a coffered ceiling of cedar wood.	9 And he built the house, and finished it. And he overlaid the house with boards of cedar.
10 Round the outside of the Temple he then built the annex which was five cubits high and was joined tothe Temple by cedar-wood beams.	10 And he built a paneling over the entire house, five cubits in height, and he covered the house with cedar wood.
11 And the word of Yahweh came to Solomon,	11 And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying:
12 'With regard to this temple which you are now building, if you follow my statutes and obey myordinances and faithful y follow my commandments, I shal fulfil the promise which I made about you to yourfather David.	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.
13 And I shal make my home among the Israelites and never forsake Israel my people.'	13 And I will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel, and I will not forsake my people Israel.”
14 Solomon finished building the Temple.	14 And so, Solomon built the house, and finished it.
15 He lined the inside of the Temple wal s with panels of cedar wood-panelling them on the inside fromthe floor of the Temple to the beams of the ceiling -- and laid the floor of the Temple with juniper planks.	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.
16 The twenty cubits measured from the end of the Temple he built of cedar planks from the floor to thebeams, and this part was reserved as the Debir, the Holy of Holies.	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.
17 The Temple measured forty cubits -- the Hekal -- in front of the Debir.	17 And the temple itself, before the doors of the oracle, was forty cubits.
18 There was cedar wood round the inside of the Temple, ornamentally carved with gourds and rosettes;al was cedar wood, with no stone showing.	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.
19 In the inner part of the Temple he designed a Debir, to contain the ark of the covenant of Yahweh.	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.
20 The Debir was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty high, and he overlaid it on the insidewith pure gold. He made an altar of cedar wood	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.
21 in front of the Debir and overlaid it with gold.	21 Also, the house before the oracle, he covered with the purest gold, and he fastened the plates with nails of gold.
22 He overlaid the whole Temple with gold, the whole Temple entirely.	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.
23 In the Debir he made two great winged creatures of wild-olive wood. . .It was ten cubits high.	23 And he made in the oracle two cherubim from wood of the olive tree, of ten cubits in height.
24 One winged creature's wing was five cubits long and the other wing five cubits: ten cubits from wing tipto wing tip.	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.
25 The other winged creature also measured ten cubits; both had the same measurements and the sameshape.	25 Likewise, the second cherub was ten cubits. And the measure was equal and the work was one, in the two cherubim,
26 The height of one was the same as the other's.	26 that is, one cherub had a height of ten cubits, and similarly the second cherub.
27 He placed them in the middle of the inner chamber; their wings were spread out so that the wing of onetouched one of the wal s and the wing of the other touched the other wall, while their wings met in the middle ofthe chamber wing to wing.	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.
28 And he overlaid them with gold.	28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 Al round the Temple wal s he carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees and rosettes, both insideand outside.	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.
30 He overlaid the floor of the Temple with gold, both inside and outside.	30 Then, too, the floor of the house he overlaid with gold within and without.
31 He made the door of the Debir with uprights of wild-olive wood, and door jambs with five indentedsections,	31 And at the entrance of the oracle, he made little doors, from wood of the olive tree, with posts of five corners.
32 and the two leaves of wild-olive wood. He carved figures of great winged creatures, palm trees androsettes which he overlaid with gold, and he gilded winged creatures and palm trees.	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.
33 Similarly, he made uprights of wild-olive wood for the door of the Hekal, and door jambs with fourindented sections,	33 And he made, at the entrance of the temple, posts from wood of the olive tree, with four corners,
34 and the two leaves of juniper: one leaf had two ribs binding it, and the other had two ribs binding it.	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.
35 He carved winged creatures, palm trees and rosettes, which he overlaid with gold laid evenly over thecarvings.	35 And he carved cherubim, and palm trees, and very prominent engravings. And he covered everything with gold plates, worked to be perfectly square.
36 He built the wal of the inner court in three courses of dressed stone and one course of cedar beams.	36 And he built the inner atrium with three rows of polished stones, and one row of cedar wood.
37 In the fourth year, in the month of Ziv, the foundations of the Temple were laid;	37 In the fourth year, the house of the Lord was founded, in the month of Ziv.
38 in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul -- that is, the eighth month -- the Temple was completedexactly as it had been planned and designed. Solomon took seven years to build it.	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.