Study Desk

It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace.

He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, ^(F29) with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams.

It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns-forty-five beams, fifteen to a row.

Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other.

All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other. ^(F30)

He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide. ^(F31) In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.

He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. ^(F32)

And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married.

All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and trimmed with a saw on their inner and outer faces.

The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits ^(F33) and some eight. ^(F34)

Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams.

The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the LORD with its portico.