Text -- 1 Kings 6:16-38 (NET)

6:16 He built a wall 30 feet in from the rear of the temple as a partition for an inner sanctuary that would be the most holy place. He paneled the wall with cedar planks from the floor to the rafters. 6:17 The main hall in front of the inner sanctuary was 60 feet long. 6:18 The inside of the temple was all cedar and was adorned with carvings of round ornaments and of flowers in bloom. Everything was cedar; no stones were visible. 6:19 He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord could be placed there. 6:20 The inner sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He plated it with gold, as well as the cedar altar. 6:21 Solomon plated the inside of the temple with gold. He hung golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary and plated the inner sanctuary with gold. 6:22 He plated the entire inside of the temple with gold, as well as the altar inside the inner sanctuary. 6:23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubs of olive wood; each stood 15 feet high. 6:24 Each of the first cherub’s wings was seven and a half feet long; its entire wingspan was 15 feet. 6:25 The second cherub also had a wingspan of 15 feet; it was identical to the first in measurements and shape. 6:26 Each cherub stood 15 feet high. 6:27 He put the cherubs in the inner sanctuary of the temple. Their wings were spread out. One of the first cherub’s wings touched one wall and one of the other cherub’s wings touched the opposite wall. The first cherub’s other wing touched the second cherub’s other wing in the middle of the room. 6:28 He plated the cherubs with gold. 6:29 On all the walls around the temple, inside and out, he carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom. 6:30 He plated the floor of the temple with gold, inside and out. 6:31 He made doors of olive wood at the entrance to the inner sanctuary; the pillar on each doorpost was five-sided. 6:32 On the two doors made of olive wood he carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom, and he plated them with gold. He plated the cherubs and the palm trees with hammered gold. 6:33 In the same way he made doorposts of olive wood for the entrance to the main hall, only with four-sided pillars. 6:34 He also made two doors out of wood from evergreens; each door had two folding leaves. 6:35 He carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom and plated them with gold, leveled out over the carvings. 6:36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of chiseled stones and a row of cedar beams. 6:37 In the month Ziv of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign the foundation was laid for the Lord’s temple. 6:38 In the eleventh year, in the month Bul (the eighth month) the temple was completed in accordance with all its specifications and blueprints. It took seven years to build.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:16

¹ tn Heb “He built twenty cubits from the rear areas of the temple with cedar planks from the floor to the walls, and he built it on the inside for an inner sanctuary, for a holy place of holy places.”

² tc The MT has קְלָעִים (qÿla’im, “curtains”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה.

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:17

¹ tn Heb “and the house was forty cubits, that is, the main hall before it.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:18

¹ tn Heb “Cedar was inside the temple, carvings of gourds (i.e., gourd-shaped ornaments) and opened flowers; the whole was cedar, no stone was seen.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:20

¹ tn Heb “twenty cubits” (this measurement occurs three times in this verse).

² tn Heb “with plated gold” (or perhaps, “with pure gold”).

³ tn Heb “he plated [the] altar of cedar.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:21

¹ tn Heb “with plated gold” (or perhaps, “with pure gold”).

² tn Heb “it.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:22

¹ tn Heb “all the temple he plated with gold until all the temple was finished; and the whole altar which was in the inner sanctuary he plated with gold.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:23

¹ tn Heb “ten cubits” (a cubit was a unit of measure roughly equivalent to 18 inches or 45 cm).

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:24

¹ tn Heb “The first wing of the [one] cherub was five cubits, and the second wing of the cherub was five cubits, ten cubits from the tips of his wings to the tips of his wings.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:25

¹ tn Heb “and the second cherub was ten cubits, the two cherubs had one measurement and one shape.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:26

¹ tn Heb “the height of the first cherub was ten cubits; and so was the second cherub.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:27

¹ tn Heb “in the midst of the inner house,” i.e., in the inner sanctuary.

² tn Heb “and their wings were in the middle of the room, touching wing to wing.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:29

¹ sn Inside and out probably refers to the inner and outer rooms within the building.

² tn Heb “carved engravings of carvings.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:30

¹ sn Inside and out probably refers to the inner and outer rooms within the building.

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:31

¹ tn Heb “the pillar, doorposts, a fifth part” (the precise meaning of this description is uncertain).

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:32

¹ tn Heb “carved carvings of.”

² tn Heb “he plated [with] gold” (the precise object is not stated).

³ tn Heb “and he hammered out the gold on the cherubs and the palm trees.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:33

¹ tn Heb “and so he did at the entrance of the main hall, doorposts of olive wood, from a fourth.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:34

¹ tn The words “he also made” are added for stylistic reasons.

² tc Heb “two of the leaves of the first door were folding, and two of the leaves of the second door were folding.” In the second half of the description, the MT has קְלָעִים (qÿla’im, “curtains”), but this is surely a corruption of צְלָעִים (tsÿla’im, “leaves”) which appears in the first half of the statement.

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:37

¹ sn In the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning.

² tn The words “of Solomon’s reign” are added for clarification. See v. 1.

NET Notes: 1Ki 6:38

¹ sn In the month Bul. This would be October-November 959 b.c. in modern reckoning.

² tn Heb “he built it in seven years.”