Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, April 11th, 2026
Saturday in Easter Week
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

1 Kings 6:8

The entrance to the ground floor was at the south end of The Temple; stairs led to the second floor and then to the third. Solomon built and completed The Temple, finishing it off with roof beams and planks of cedar. The supporting structure along the outside walls was attached to The Temple with cedar beams and the rooms in it were seven and a half feet tall.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Temple;   Thompson Chain Reference - Solomon;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Temple, the First;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Temple;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Temple, Solomon's;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Temple;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Temple of Jerusalem;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - House;   Israel;   Jerusalem;   Palm Tree;   Solomon;   Temple;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Oracle;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Chamber;   Temple;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The door for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They went up a stairway to the middle chamber, and from the middle to the third.
Hebrew Names Version
The door for the middle side- chambers was in the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle [story], and out of the middle into the third.
King James Version
The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.
English Standard Version
The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.
New Century Version
The entrance to the lower rooms beside the Temple was on the south side. From there, stairs went up to the second-floor rooms. And from there, stairs went on to the third-floor rooms.
New English Translation
The entrance to the bottom level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple; stairs went up to the middle floor and then on up to the third floor.
Amplified Bible
The entrance to the lowest side chamber was on the right [or south] side of the house; and they would go up winding stairs to the middle [level], and from the middle to the third.
New American Standard Bible
The doorway for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the house; and they would go up by a winding staircase to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The doore of the middle chamber was in the right side of the house, & men went vp with winding stayres into the middlemost, and out of the middlemost into the third.
Legacy Standard Bible
The doorway for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the house; and they would go up by winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.
Contemporary English Version
The entrance to the bottom storage rooms was on the south side of the building, and stairs to the other rooms were also there.
Complete Jewish Bible
The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the house; a spiral staircase went up to the middle floor and on to the third.
Darby Translation
The entrance to the side-chambers of the middle [floor] was in the right side of the house; and they went up by winding stairs into the middle [floor], and out of the middle into the third.
Easy-to-Read Version
The entrance to these rooms was on bottom floor at the south side of the Temple. Inside there were stairs that went up to the second floor and from there to the third floor.
George Lamsa Translation
The door of the middle chamber was on the south side of the house; and it went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.
Good News Translation
The entrance to the lowest story of the annex was on the south side of the Temple, with stairs leading up to the second and third stories.
Lexham English Bible
The doorway of the side room in the middle of the side of the temple was on the south; they went up with a stairway to the middle and from the middle to the third floor.
Literal Translation
The door for the middle side section was in the right side of the house. And they went up with winding stairs into the middle one; and from the middle one into the third.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But on the righte syde of the myddes of the house there was a dore, so yt they might go vp to the myddest stacion by a turne grese, & from the myddest stacion vnto ye thirde.
American Standard Version
The door for the middle side-chambers was in the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle story, and out of the middle into the third.
Bible in Basic English
The door to the lowest side rooms was in the right side of the house; and they went up by twisting steps into the middle rooms, and from the middle into the third.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The doore of the middle chamber was in the ryght syde of the house: and men went vp with wineding stayres into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The door for the lowest row of chambers was in the right side of the house and they went up by winding stairs into the middle row, and out of the middle into the third.
King James Version (1611)
The doore for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went vp with winding staires into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the porch of the under side was below the right wing of the house, and there was a winding ascent into the middle chamber, and from the middle to the third story.
English Revised Version
The door for the middle side–chambers was in the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle [chambers], and out of the middle into the third.
Berean Standard Bible
The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The dore of the myddil side was in the wal of the riythalf hows; and bi a vijs thei stieden in to the myddil soler, and fro the myddil soler in to the thridde soler.
Young's Literal Translation
The opening of the middle side [is] at the right shoulder of the house, and with windings they go up on the middle one, and from the middle one unto the third.
Update Bible Version
The entrance for the middle story was on the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle [story], and out of the middle into the third.
Webster's Bible Translation
The door for the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber], and out of the middle into the third;
World English Bible
The door for the middle side- chambers was in the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle [story], and out of the middle into the third.
New King James Version
The doorway for the middle story [fn] was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.
New Living Translation
The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the Temple. There were winding stairs going up to the second floor, and another flight of stairs between the second and third floors.
New Life Bible
The door for the first floor room was on the right side of the house. They would go up steps to the second floor, and from the second to the third.
New Revised Standard
The entrance for the middle story was on the south side of the house: one went up by winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The entrance of the lowest story, was on the right side of the house, - and, by winding stairs, went they up unto the middle story , and, out of the middle, into, the third.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The door, for the middle side, was on the right hand of the house: and by winding stairs they went up to the middle room, and from the middle to the third.
Revised Standard Version
The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house; and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The doorway for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the house; and they would go up by winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.

Contextual Overview

1Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's rule over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, Solomon started building The Temple of God . The Temple that King Solomon built to God was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. There was a porch across the thirty-foot width of The Temple that extended out fifteen feet. Within The Temple he made narrow, deep-silled windows. Against the outside walls he built a supporting structure in which there were smaller rooms: The lower floor was seven and a half feet wide, the middle floor nine feet, and the third floor ten and a half feet. He had projecting ledges built into the outside Temple walls to support the buttressing beams. 7 The stone blocks for the building of The Temple were all dressed at the quarry so that the building site itself was reverently quiet—no noise from hammers and chisels and other iron tools. 8The entrance to the ground floor was at the south end of The Temple; stairs led to the second floor and then to the third. Solomon built and completed The Temple, finishing it off with roof beams and planks of cedar. The supporting structure along the outside walls was attached to The Temple with cedar beams and the rooms in it were seven and a half feet tall.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

side: Heb. shoulder

went up: Ezekiel 41:6, Ezekiel 41:7

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 11:2 - in the bedchamber Ezekiel 40:6 - stairs Ezekiel 40:38 - the chambers Ezekiel 42:6 - General Ezekiel 43:17 - look toward

Cross-References

Genesis 6:17
"I'm going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.
Psalms 145:20
God sticks by all who love him, but it's all over for those who don't.
Proverbs 12:2
A good person basks in the delight of God , and he wants nothing to do with devious schemers.
Jeremiah 31:2
This is the way God put it: "They found grace out in the desert, these people who survived the killing. Israel, out looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for them!" God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love! And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again, dear virgin Israel. You'll resume your singing, grabbing tambourines and joining the dance. You'll go back to your old work of planting vineyards on the Samaritan hillsides, And sit back and enjoy the fruit— oh, how you'll enjoy those harvests! The time's coming when watchmen will call out from the hilltops of Ephraim: ‘On your feet! Let's go to Zion, go to meet our God !'"
Romans 4:4
If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.
Romans 11:6
The Loyal Minority Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that he'll have nothing more to do with them? Hardly. Remember that I, the one writing these things, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham out of the tribe of Benjamin. You can't get much more Semitic than that! So we're not talking about repudiation. God has been too long involved with Israel, has too much invested, to simply wash his hands of them. Do you remember that time Elijah was agonizing over this same Israel and cried out in prayer? God, they murdered your prophets, They trashed your altars; I'm the only one left and now they're after me! And do you remember God's answer? I still have seven thousand who haven't quit, Seven thousand who are loyal to the finish. It's the same today. There's a fiercely loyal minority still—not many, perhaps, but probably more than you think. They're holding on, not because of what they think they're going to get out of it, but because they're convinced of God's grace and purpose in choosing them. If they were only thinking of their own immediate self-interest, they would have left long ago.
1 Corinthians 15:10
But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven't I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn't amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it's all the same: We spoke God's truth and you entrusted your lives.
Titus 2:11
God's readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation's available for everyone! We're being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The door of the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the house,.... The south side of it:

and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber]; which were outside the chambers, and which winded about for the sake of taking up less room, and which led up to the door of the middle chamber, on the south of which they went into it; according to the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine versions, they went up in the forth of a cockle, or the shell of a snail; in like manner as was the ascent of the temple of Pan at Alexandria, as Strabo u relates:

and out of the middle into the third; the third chamber, and by winding stairs up to that; and the like might be on the north side, though not expressed, and on the west: the Jews say w, that in the second temple, these winding stairs went from the northeast to the northwest, whereby they went up to the roof of the chambers, and so to the south and west; with this compare Ezekiel 41:7; and which may represent the windings and turnings of God's people in this present state, their many afflictions and tribulations, through which they pass from one state to another.

u Geograph. l. 17. p. 547. w Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 5. See Lightfoot's Prospect of the Temple, &c. c. 12. p. 1071.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The door for the middle chamber - i. e., the door which gave access to the mid-most “set of chambers.” The chambers on the ground-floor were possibly reached each by their own door in the outer wall of the lean-to. The middle and upper floors were reached by a single door in the right or south wall, from which a winding staircase ascended to the second tier, while another ascended from the second to the third. The door to the stairs was in the outer wall of the building, not in the wall between the chambers and the temple. That would have desecrated the temple far more than the insertion of beams.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile