1 Kings 6:8

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

1 Kings 6:8 in Other Translations

8 The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.

8 The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.

8 The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the Temple. There were winding stairs going up to the second floor, and another flight of stairs between the second and third floors.

8 The entrance to the ground floor was at the south end of The Temple; stairs led to the second floor and then to the third.

8 The door for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They went up a stairway to the middle [chamber], and from the middle to the third.

1 Kings 6:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 6:8

The door of the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the
house
The south side of it:

and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber];
which were outside the chambers, and which winded about for the sake of taking up less room, and which led up to the door of the middle chamber, on the south of which they went into it; according to the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine versions, they went up in the forth of a cockle, or the shell of a snail; in like manner as was the ascent of the temple of Pan at Alexandria, as Strabo ^F21 relates:

and out of the middle into the third;
the third chamber, and by winding stairs up to that; and the like might be on the north side, though not expressed, and on the west: the Jews say ^F23, that in the second temple, these winding stairs went from the northeast to the northwest, whereby they went up to the roof of the chambers, and so to the south and west; with this compare ( Ezekiel 41:7 ) ; and which may represent the windings and turnings of God's people in this present state, their many afflictions and tribulations, through which they pass from one state to another.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Geograph. l. 17. p. 547.
F23 Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 5. See Lightfoot's Prospect of the Temple c. 12. p. 1071.

1 Kings 6:8 In-Context

6 The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits and the third floor seven. He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

8 The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third.

9 So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks.

10 And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.

Footnotes

• [a]. Septuagint; Hebrew "middle"