1 Kings 6:1-7

The Building of the Temple

1 ¹Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

2 As for the house which King Solomon built for the LORD, its length was sixty cubits and its width twenty cubits and its height thirty cubits.

3 The porch in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits in length, corresponding * to the width of the house, and its depth along the front of the house was ten cubits.

4 Also for the house ²he made windows with artistic frames.

5 ³Against the wall of the house he built stories encompassing the walls of the house around both the nave and the ⁴inner sanctuary; thus he made ⁵side chambers all around.

6 The lowest story was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around in order that the beams would not be inserted in the walls of the house.

7 ⁶The house, while it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built.

1 Kings 6:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 6

This chapter gives an account of the building of the temple, for which preparations were before made and begins with the time of its building, 1Ki 6:1; gives the dimensions of it and the porch before it, 1Ki 6:2,3; observes the windows in it and chambers about it, 1Ki 6:4-10; and while it was building, Solomon had a word from the Lord relative to it, 1Ki 6:11-14; and then the account goes on concerning the walls of the house, and the flooring of it, 1Ki 6:15-18; and the oracle in it, and the cherubim in that, 1Ki 6:19-30; and the doors into it, and the carved work of them, 1Ki 6:31-36; and the chapter is concluded with observing the time when it was begun and finished 1Ki 6:37,38.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Chronicles 3:1, 2
• 2. Ezekiel 40:16; Ezekiel 41:16
• 3. Ezekiel 41:6
• 4. 1 Kin 6:16, 19, 20
• 5. Ezekiel 41:5
• 6. Exodus 20:25; Deuteronomy 27:5, 6

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "built"
• [b]. I.e. One cubit equals approx 18 in.
• [c]. Lit "in its length"
• [d]. Lit "on the face of"
• [e]. Lit "width"
• [f]. Lit "gave"
• [g]. Lit "take hold"
• [h]. Lit "finished"