Discovery Box1 Kings 6:1-14
Context6:1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, during the month Ziv 1 (the second month), he began building the Lord’s temple. 6:2 The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet 2 long, 30 feet 3 wide, and 45 feet 4 high. 6:3 The porch in front of the main hall of the temple was 30 feet 5 long, corresponding to the width of the temple. It was 15 feet 6 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. 7 6:6 The bottom floor of the extension was seven and a half feet 8 wide, the middle floor nine feet 9 wide, and the third floor ten and a half 10 feet wide. He made ledges 11 on the temple’s outer walls so the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls. 12 6:7 As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry 13 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 14 level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple; stairs went up 15 to the middle floor and then on up to the third 16 floor. 6:9 He finished building the temple 17 and covered it 18 with rafters 19 and boards made of cedar. 20 6:10 He built an extension all around the temple; it was seven and a half feet high 21 and it was attached to the temple by cedar beams.
6:11 22 The Lord said 23 to Solomon: 6:12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow 24 my rules, observe 25 my regulations, and obey all my commandments, 26 I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. 27 6:13 I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”
[6:1] 1 sn During the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966
[6:2] 2 tn Heb “sixty cubits.” A cubit was a unit of measure roughly equivalent to 18 inches or 45 cm. Measurements in vv. 2-10 have been converted to feet in the translation for clarity.
[6:2] 3 tn Heb “twenty cubits.”
[6:2] 4 tn Heb “thirty cubits.”
[6:3] 5 tn Heb “twenty cubits.”
[6:5] 7 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.”
[6:6] 10 tn Heb “seven cubits.”
[6:6] 11 tn Or “offsets” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “offset ledges.”
[6:6] 12 tn Heb “so that [the beams] would not have a hold in the walls of the temple.”
[6:7] 13 tn Heb “finished stone of the quarry,” i.e., stones chiseled and shaped at the time they were taken out of the quarry.
[6:8] 14 tc The Hebrew text has “middle,” but the remainder of the verse suggests this is an error.
[6:8] 15 tn Heb “by stairs they went up.” The word translated “stairs” occurs only here. Other options are “trapdoors” or “ladders.”
[6:8] 16 tc The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew
[6:9] 17 tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.”
[6:9] 19 tn The word occurs only here; the precise meaning is uncertain.
[6:9] 20 tn Heb “and rows with cedar wood.”
[6:10] 21 tn Heb “five cubits.” This must refer to the height of each floor or room.
[6:11] 22 tc The LXX lacks vv. 11-14.
[6:11] 23 tn Heb “the word of the
[6:12] 26 tn Heb “and keep all my commandments by walking in them.”
[6:12] 27 tn Heb “I will establish my word with you which I spoke to David your father.”
