1 Kings 6:3-16

6:3 The porch in front of the main hall of the temple was 30 feet ¹  long, corresponding to the width of the temple. It was 15 feet ²  wide, extending out from the front of the temple. 6:4 He made framed windows for the temple. 6:5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and holy place and constructed side rooms in it. ³  6:6 The bottom floor of the extension was seven and a half feet ⁴  wide, the middle floor nine feet ⁵  wide, and the third floor ten and a half ⁶  feet wide. He made ledges ⁷  on the temple’s outer walls so the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls. ⁸  6:7 As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry ⁹  were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built. 6:8 The entrance to the bottom ¹⁰  level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple; stairs went up ¹¹  to the middle floor and then on up to the third ¹²  floor. 6:9 He finished building the temple ¹³  and covered it ¹⁴  with rafters ¹⁵  and boards made of cedar. ¹⁶  6:10 He built an extension all around the temple; it was seven and a half feet high ¹⁷  and it was attached to the temple by cedar beams.

6:11 ¹⁸ The Lord said ¹⁹  to Solomon: 6:12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow ²⁰  my rules, observe ²¹  my regulations, and obey all my commandments, ²²  I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. ²³  6:13 I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”

6:14 So Solomon finished building the temple. ²⁴  6:15 He constructed the walls inside the temple with cedar planks; he paneled the inside with wood from the floor of the temple to the rafters ²⁵  of the ceiling. He covered the temple floor with boards made from the wood of evergreens. 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. ²⁶  He paneled the wall with cedar planks from the floor to the rafters. ²⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “twenty cubits.”

² tn Heb “ten cubits.”

³ tn Heb “and he built on the wall of the temple an extension all around, the walls of the temple all around, for the main hall and for the holy place, and he made side rooms all around.”

⁵ tn Heb “five cubits.”

⁶ tn Heb “six cubits.”

⁷ tn Heb “seven cubits.”

⁸ tn Or “offsets” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “offset ledges.”

⁹ tn Heb “so that [the beams] would not have a hold in the walls of the temple.”

⁷ tn Heb “finished stone of the quarry,” i.e., stones chiseled and shaped at the time they were taken out of the quarry.

⁹ tc The Hebrew text has “middle,” but the remainder of the verse suggests this is an error.

¹⁰ tn Heb “by stairs they went up.” The word translated “stairs” occurs only here. Other options are “trapdoors” or “ladders.”

¹¹ tc The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate הַשְּׁלִשִׁית (hashÿlishit, “the third”) rather than MT הַשְּׁלִשִׁים (hashÿlishim, “the thirty”).

¹¹ tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.”

¹² tn Heb “the house.”

¹³ tn The word occurs only here; the precise meaning is uncertain.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and rows with cedar wood.”

¹³ tn Heb “five cubits.” This must refer to the height of each floor or room.

¹⁵ tc The LXX lacks vv. 11-14.

¹⁶ tn Heb “the word of the Lord was.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “walk in.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “do.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “and keep all my commandments by walking in them.”

²⁰ tn Heb “I will establish my word with you which I spoke to David your father.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.”

²¹ tc The MT reads קִירוֹת (qirot, “walls”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה.

²³ 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.”

²⁴ tc The MT has קְלָעִים (qÿla’im, “curtains”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה.