Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the house, that is, the temple before it,.... The holy place, which was before the of holies:

was forty cubits long; and which, with the most holy place, being twenty cubits, as in the preceding verse, made the length of the whole house sixty cubits, as in 1 Kings 6:2.

Geneva Study Bible

(i) For when he spoke of the house in the first verse, he meant both the oracle and the temple.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.

House — That is, the holy place.

Temple — This is added, to restrain the signification of the word house, which otherwise notes the whole building.

It — The oracle.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

1 Kings 6:17 And the house, that [is], the temple before it, was forty cubits [long].

Ver. 17. The temple.] That is, The holy place; whither none but the priests might come.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

The house, i.e. the holy place. That is, the temple: this is added to restrain the signification of the word house, which otherwise notes the whole building. Before it, i.e. before the oracle. Or, as it is in the Hebrew, before my face, i.e. before the place of my presence. Or it may be said to be before God, because he being pleased to describe himself as sitting upon the cherubim, hath his face towards this house, where he beholds the services of his people. So this part of the house, distinct from the most holy, hath its harmonious proportions also. The length 40, to the height 30, is sesquiterian, or 4 to 3 (which is that of a fourth in music); the length to the breadth, 40 to 20, as 2 to 1; the height to the breadth, 30 to 20, as 3 to 2.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

17.The house, that is, the temple before it — The temple before the most holy place; the anterior part of the main building after partitioning off twenty cubits from the hinder end for the holy of holies. Was forty cubits long, and twenty wide, and thirty high, as stated in 1 Kings 6:2. (B in plan.)

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Itself. Where the priests were stationed. This part was double the length, but of the same breadth, as the most holy place. (Haydock)

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.

The house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long - from east to west; i:e., from the porch to the oracle.