1 Kings 6:8-23

8 The entrance to the bottom ^[a] floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.

9 So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.

10 He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.

God’s Promise to Solomon

11 Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying:

12 “As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.

13 And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”

The Temple’s Interior

14 So Solomon built the temple and finished it. ¹

15 He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress ^[b] boards.

16 He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. ^[c]

17 And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. ^[d]

18 The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

19 Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.

20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. ^[e]

21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains ^[f] across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.

22 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.

The Cherubim

23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood. ²

1 Kings 6:8-23 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 3:5–9)
• 2. (2 Chronicles 3:10–13)

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX and Targum; Hebrew middle
• [b]. Or pine or juniper or fir; also in verse 34
• [c]. Or the Holy of Holies
• [d]. 40 cubits is approximately 60 feet or 18.3 meters.
• [e]. Or with cedar
• [f]. Or made gold chains to draw (the curtains)