Solomon & The Temple

So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.

One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits.

The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,

and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.

And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched.

He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.

The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.

In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.

The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.

He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold, hammered evenly over the carvings.

Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.

The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv.

In his eleventh year and eighth month, the month of Bul, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.

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

He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, with four rows of cedar pillars supporting the cedar beams.

The house was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen per row.

There were three rows of high windows facing one another in three tiers.

All the doorways had rectangular frames, with the openings facing one another in three tiers.

Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico.

In addition, he built a hall for the throne, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.

And the palace where Solomon would live, set further back, was of similar construction. He also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.