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Building the Temple

¹ Then Solomon began^(C1) to build the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah^(C2) where the Lord^(F1) had appeared to his father David, at the site David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan^(F2) the Jebusite. ² He began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign. ³ These are Solomon’s foundations^(F1) for building God’s temple: the length^(F2) was ninety feet,^(F3) and the width thirty feet.^{(F4) 4} The portico, which was across the front extending across the width of the temple, was thirty feet wide; its height was thirty feet;^(F1) he overlaid its inner surface with pure gold. ⁵ The larger room^(F1) he paneled with cypress wood, overlaid with fine gold, and decorated with palm trees and chains. ⁶ He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was the gold of Parvaim. ⁷ He overlaid the temple—the beams, the thresholds, its walls and doors—with gold,^(C1) and he carved cherubim on the walls.^(C2)

The Most Holy Place

⁸ Then he made the most holy place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple, 30 feet, and its width was 30 feet.^(C1) He overlaid it with forty-five thousand pounds^(F1) of fine gold. ⁹ The weight of the nails was twenty ounces^(F1) of gold, and he overlaid the ceiling with gold.

¹⁰ He made^(C1) two cherubim of sculptured work, for the most holy place, and he overlaid them with gold. ¹¹ The overall length of the wings of the cherubim was 30 feet: the wing of one was 7½ feet,^(F1) touching the wall of the room; its other wing was 7½ feet, touching the wing of the other cherub. ¹² The wing of the other^(F1) cherub was 7½ feet, touching the wall of the room; its other wing was 7½ feet, reaching the wing of the other cherub. ¹³ The wingspan of these cherubim was 30 feet. They stood on their feet and faced the larger room.^(F1)

¹⁴ He made the curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, and he wove cherubim into it.^(C1)

The Bronze Pillars

¹⁵ In front of the temple^(C1) he made two pillars, each 27 feet^(F1) high. The capital on top of each was 7½ feet high. ¹⁶ He had made chainwork in the inner sanctuary and also put it on top of the pillars.^(C1) He made a hundred pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork. ¹⁷ Then he set up the pillars in front of the sanctuary, one on the right and one on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin^(F1) and the one on the left Boaz.^(F2)