Study Desk

Preparations for Building the Temple^(a)

^[a]Solomon gave orders to build a temple^(b) for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.^(c)

He conscripted 70,000 men as carriers and 80,000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 as foremen over them.^(d)

Solomon sent this message to Hiram^[b](e) king of Tyre: "Send me cedar logs^(f) as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in.

Now I am about to build a temple^(g) for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense^(h) before him, for setting out the consecrated bread⁽ⁱ⁾ regularly, and for making burnt offerings^(j) every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths,^(k) at the New Moons^(l) and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.

"The temple I am going to build will be great,^(m) because our God is greater than all other gods.⁽ⁿ⁾

But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him?^(o) Who then am I^(p) to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?

"Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers,^(q) whom my father David provided.

"Send me also cedar, juniper and algum^[c] logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there. My servants will work with yours

to provide me with plenty of lumber, because the temple I build must be large and magnificent.

I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors^[d] of ground wheat, twenty thousand cors^[e] of barley, twenty thousand baths^[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oil.^(r)"

Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon: "Because the Lord loves^(s) his people, he has made you their king."

And Hiram added: "Praise be to the Lord , the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth!^(t) He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

"I am sending you Huram-Abi,^(u) a man of great skill,

whose mother was from Dan^(v) and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained^(w) to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and blue^(x) and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord, David your father.

"Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil^(y) and wine he promised,

and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa.^(z) You can then take them up to Jerusalem."

Solomon took a census of all the foreigners^(aa) residing in Israel, after the census^(ab) his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600.

He assigned^(ac) 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.

Solomon Builds the Temple^(a)

Then Solomon began to build^(b) the temple of the Lord ^(c) in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah^[a](d) the Jebusite, the place provided by David.

He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.^(e)

The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide^[b](f) (using the cubit of the old standard).

The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits^[c] long across the width of the building and twenty^[d] cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree^(g) and chain designs.

He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim.

He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubim^(h) on the walls.

He built the Most Holy Place,⁽ⁱ⁾ its length corresponding to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents^[e] of fine gold.

The gold nails^(j) weighed fifty shekels.^[f] He also overlaid the upper parts with gold.

For the Most Holy Place he made a pair^(k) of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold.

The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits^[g] long and touched the temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub.

Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub.

The wings of these cherubim^(l) extended twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main hall.^[h]

He made the curtain^(m) of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim⁽ⁿ⁾ worked into it.

For the front of the temple he made two pillars,^(o) which together were thirty-five cubits^[i] long, each with a capital^(p) five cubits high.

He made interwoven chains^[j](q) and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates^(r) and attached them to the chains.

He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin^[k] and the one to the north Boaz.^[l]