Temple Construction Begins

¹In the four hundred and eightiethyear after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv,the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

²The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

³The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubitslong, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubitsin front of the temple.

⁴He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.

The Chambers

⁵Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.

⁶The bottom floor was five cubits wide,the middle floor six cubits,and the third floor seven cubits.He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple, so that nothing would be inserted into its walls.

⁷The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

⁸The entrance to the bottomfloor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.

⁹So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.

¹⁰He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.

God’s Promise to Solomon

¹¹Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying:

¹²“As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.

¹³And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”

The Temple’s Interior

¹⁴So Solomon built the temple and finished it.

¹⁵He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypressboards.

¹⁶He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.

¹⁷And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.

¹⁸The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

¹⁹Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.

²⁰The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.

²¹So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chainsacross the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.

²²So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

The Cherubim

²³In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.

²⁴One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits.

²⁵The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,

²⁶and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.

²⁷And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched.

²⁸He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

³⁰And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

The Doors

³¹For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.

³²The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.

³³In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.

³⁴The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.

³⁵He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

The Courtyard

³⁶Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.

³⁷The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv.

³⁸In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul,the eighth month, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.

Inside the Temple

¹Then the man brought me into the outer sanctuary and measured the side pillars to be six cubits wideon each side.

²The width of the entrance was ten cubits,and the sides of the entrance were five cubitson each side. He also measured the length of the outer sanctuary to be forty cubits, and the width to be twenty cubits.

³And he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the side pillars at the entrance to be two cubits wide.The entrance was six cubits wide, and the walls on each side were seven cubits wide.

⁴Then he measured the room adjacent to the inner sanctuaryto be twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide.And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

Outside the Temple

⁵Next he measured the wall of the temple to be six cubits thick, and the width of each side room around the temple was four cubits.

⁶The side rooms were arranged one above another in three levels of thirty rooms each. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be fastened into the wall of the temple itself.

⁷The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive level, because the structure surrounding the temple ascended by stages corresponding to the narrowing of the temple wall as it rose upward. And so a stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest, through the middle one.

⁸I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the full length of a rod, six long cubits.

⁹The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick, and the open area between the side rooms of the temple

¹⁰and the outer chambers was twenty cubits wide all around the temple.

¹¹The side rooms opened into this area, with one entrance on the north and another on the south. The open area was five cubits wide all around.

¹²Now the building that faced the temple courtyard on the west was seventy cubits wide,and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, with a length of ninety cubits.

¹³Then he measured the temple to be a hundred cubits long,and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long.

¹⁴The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits.

The Interior Structures

¹⁵Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits. The outer sanctuary, the inner sanctuary, and the porticoes facing the court,

¹⁶as well as the thresholds and the beveled windows and the galleries all around with their three levels opposite the threshold, were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows, and the windows were covered.

¹⁷In the space above the outside of the entrance to the inner sanctuary on all the walls, spaced evenly around the inner and outer sanctuary,

¹⁸were alternating carved cherubim and palm trees. Each cherub had two faces:

¹⁹the face of a man was toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion was toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all the way around the temple.

²⁰Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the outer sanctuary from the floor to the space above the entrance.

²¹The outer sanctuary had a rectangular doorframe, and the doorframe of the sanctuary was similar.

²²There was an altar of wood three cubits high and two cubits square.Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. And the man told me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”

²³Both the outer sanctuary and the inner sanctuary had double doors,

²⁴and each door had two swinging panels. There were two panels for one door and two for the other.

²⁵Cherubim and palm trees like those on the walls were carved on the doors of the outer sanctuary, and there was a wooden canopy outside, on the front of the portico.

²⁶There were beveled windows and palm trees on the sidewalls of the portico. The side rooms of the temple also had canopies.

The Man with a Measuring Rod

¹In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month—in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been struck down—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He took me there.

²In visions of God He took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose southern slope was a structure that resembled a city.

³So He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze. He was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand.

⁴“Son of man,” he said to me, “look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Report to the house of Israel everything you see.”

The East Gate

⁵And I saw a wall surrounding the temple area. Now the length of the measuring rod in the man’s hand was six long cubits(each measuring a cubit and a handbreadth), and he measured the wall to be one rod thick and one rod high.

⁶Then he came to the gate facing east and climbed its steps. He measured the threshold of the gate to be one rod deep.

⁷Each gate chamber was one rod long and one rod wide, and there were five cubitsbetween the gate chambers. The inner threshold of the gate by the portico facing inward was one rod deep.

⁸Then he measured the portico of the gateway inside;

⁹it was eight cubits deep,and its jambs were two cubits thick.And the portico of the gateway faced the temple.

¹⁰There were three gate chambers on each side of the east gate, each with the same measurements, and the gateposts on either side also had the same measurements.

¹¹And he measured the width of the gateway entrance to be ten cubits,and its length was thirteen cubits.

¹²In front of each gate chamber was a wall one cubit high, and the gate chambers were six cubits square.

¹³Then he measured the gateway from the roof of one gate chamber to the roof of the opposite one; the distance was twenty-five cubitsfrom doorway to doorway.

¹⁴Next he measured the gateposts to be sixty cubits high.The gateway extended around to the gatepost of the courtyard.

¹⁵And the distance from the entrance of the gateway to the far end of its inner portico was fifty cubits.

¹⁶The gate chambers and their side pillarshad beveled windows all around the inside of the gateway. The porticos also had windows all around on the inside. Each side pillar was decorated with palm trees.

The Outer Court

¹⁷Then he brought me into the outer court, and there were chambers and a pavement laid out all around the court. Thirty chambers faced the pavement,

¹⁸which flanked the gateways and corresponded to the length of the gates; this was the lower pavement.

¹⁹Then he measured the distance from the front of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner court; it was a hundred cubitson the east side as well as on the north.

The North Gate

²⁰He also measured the length and width of the gateway of the outer court facing north.

²¹Its three gate chambers on each side, its side pillars, and its portico all had the same measurements as the first gate: fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

²²Its windows, portico, and palm trees had the same measurements as those of the gate facing east. Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them.

²³There was a gate to the inner court facing the north gate, just as there was on the east. He measured the distance from gateway to gateway to be a hundred cubits.

The South Gate

²⁴Then he led me to the south side, and I saw a gateway facing south. He measured its side pillars and portico, and they had the same measurements as the others.

²⁵Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around, like the other windows. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

²⁶Seven steps led up to it, and its portico was opposite them; it had palm trees on its side pillars, one on each side.

²⁷The inner court also had a gate facing south, and he measured the distance from gateway to gateway toward the south to be a hundred cubits.

The Gates of the Inner Court

²⁸Next he brought me into the inner court through the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it had the same measurements as the others.

²⁹Its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

³⁰(The porticoes around the inner court were twenty-five cubits long and five cubits deep.)

³¹Its portico faced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees. Eight steps led up to it.

³²And he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gateway; it had the same measurements as the others.

³³Its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

³⁴Its portico faced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees on each side. Eight steps led up to it.

³⁵Then he brought me to the north gate and measured it. It had the same measurements as the others,

³⁶as did its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico. It also had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

³⁷Its porticofaced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees on each side. Eight steps led up to it.

Eight Tables for Sacrifices

³⁸There was a chamber with a doorway by the porticoin each of the inner gateways. There the burnt offering was to be washed.

³⁹Inside the portico of the gateway were two tables on each side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings were to be slaughtered.

⁴⁰Outside, as one goes up to the entrance of the north gateway, there were two tables on one side and two more tables on the other side of the gate’s portico.

⁴¹So there were four tables inside the gateway and four outside—eight tables in all—on which the sacrifices were to be slaughtered.

⁴²There were also four tables of dressed stone for the burnt offering, each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit high.On these were placed the utensils used to slaughter the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices.

⁴³The double-pronged hooks,each a handbreadth long,were fastened all around the inside of the room, and the flesh of the offering was to be placed on the tables.

Chambers for Ministry

⁴⁴Outside the inner gate, within the inner court, were two chambers,one beside the north gate and facing south, and another beside the south gateand facing north.

⁴⁵Then the man said to me: “The chamber that faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple,

⁴⁶and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, the only Levites who may approach the LORD to minister before Him.”

The Inner Court

⁴⁷Next he measured the court. It was square, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide. And the altar was in front of the temple.

⁴⁸Then he brought me to the portico of the temple and measured the side pillars of the portico to be five cubits on each side. The width of the gateway was fourteen cubits and its sidewalls were three cubits on either side.

⁴⁹The portico was twenty cubits wideand twelve cubits deep,and ten steps led up to it.There were columns by the side pillars, one on each side.

The Beginning of Knowledge

¹These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David,king of Israel,

²for gaining wisdom and discipline,for comprehending words of insight,

³and for receiving instruction in wise livingand in righteousness, justice, and equity.

⁴To impart prudence to the simpleand knowledge and discretion to the young,

⁵let the wise listen and gain instruction,and the discerning acquire wise counsel

⁶by understanding the proverbs and parables,the sayings and riddles of the wise.

⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,but foolsdespise wisdom and discipline.

The Enticement of Sin

⁸Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction,and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.

⁹For they are a garland of grace on your headand a pendant around your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you,do not yield to them.

¹¹If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood,let us ambush the innocent without cause,

¹²let us swallow them alive like Sheol,and whole like those descending into the Pit.

¹³We will find all manner of precious goods;we will fill our houses with plunder.

¹⁴Throw in your lot with us;let us all share one purse”—

¹⁵my son, do not walk the road with themor set foot upon their path.

¹⁶For their feet run to evil,and they are swift to shed blood.

¹⁷How futile it is to spread the netwhere any bird can see it!

¹⁸But they lie in wait for their own blood;they ambush their own lives.

¹⁹Such is the fate of all who are greedy,whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

Wisdom Calls Aloud

²⁰Wisdom calls out in the street,she lifts her voice in the square;

²¹in the main concourseshe cries aloud,at the city gates she makes her speech:

²²“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways?How long will scoffers delight in their scornand fools hate knowledge?

²³If you had repented at my rebuke,then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you;I would have made my words known to you.

²⁴Because you refused my call,and no one took my outstretched hand,

²⁵because you neglected all my counsel,and wanted none of my correction,

²⁶in turn I will mock your calamity;I will sneer when terror strikes you,

²⁷when your dread comes like a storm,and your destruction like a whirlwind,when distress and anguish overwhelm you.

²⁸Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.

²⁹For they hated knowledgeand chose not to fear the LORD.

³⁰They accepted none of my counsel;they despised all my reproof.

³¹So they will eat the fruit of their own way,and be filled with their own devices.

³²For the waywardness of the simple will slay them,and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

³³But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety,secure from the fear of evil.”