The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 It was in the 480th year after the people of Isra'el had left the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Shlomo's reign over Isra'el, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of ADONAI.
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In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year that Solomon was king of Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, the building of the Lord's house was started.
2 The house which King Shlomo built for ADONAI was 105 feet long, thirty-five feet wide and fifty-two-and-a-half feet high.
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The house which Solomon made for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.
3 The hall fronting the temple of the house was thirty-five feet long, the same as the width of the house itself, so that its seventeen-and-a-half-foot width extended frontward from the house.
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The covered way before the Temple of the house was twenty cubits long, as wide as the house, and ten cubits wide in front of the house.
4 The windows he made for the house were wide on the inside and narrow on the outside.
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And for the house he made windows, with network across.
5 Against the wall of the house he built an annex all the way around; it went all the way around the walls of the house, including both the temple and the sanctuary.
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And against the walls all round, and against the walls of the Temple and of the inmost room, he put up wings, with side rooms all round:
6 The lowest floor of the annex was eight-and-three-quarters feet wide, the middle floor ten-and-a-half feet wide and the third floor twelve-and-a-quarter feet wide; for he had made the outer part of the wall of the house step-shaped, so that the beams of the annex would not have to be attached to the house walls.
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The lowest line of them being five cubits wide, the middle six cubits wide and the third seven cubits; for there was a space all round the outside walls of the house so that the boards supporting the rooms did not have to be fixed in the walls of the house.
7 For the house, when under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; so that no hammer, chisel or iron tool of any kind was heard in the house while it was being built.
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(And the stones used in the building of the house were squared at the place where they were cut out; there was no sound of hammer or axe or any iron instrument while they were building the house.)
8 The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the house; a spiral staircase went up to the middle floor and on to the third.
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The door to the lowest side rooms was in the right side of the house; and they went up by twisting steps into the middle rooms, and from the middle into the third.
9 So he built the house, and after finishing it, he put its roof on - cedar planks over beams.
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So he put up the house and made it complete, roofing it with boards of cedar-wood.
10 Each floor of the annex surrounding the house was eight-and-three-quarters feet high and was attached to the house with beams of cedar.
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And he put up the line of side rooms against the walls of the house, fifteen cubits high, resting against the house on boards of cedar-wood.
11 Then this word of ADONAI came to Shlomo:
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(And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,
12 "Concerning this house which you are building: if you will live according to my regulations, follow my rulings and observe all my mitzvot and live by them, then I will establish with you my promise that I made to David your father-
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About this house which you are building: if you will keep my laws and give effect to my decisions and be guided by my rules, I will give effect to my word which I gave to David your father.
13 I will live in it among the people of Isra'el, and I will not abandon my people Isra'el."
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And I will be ever among the children of Israel, and will not go away from my people.
14 So Shlomo finished building the house.
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So Solomon made the building of the house complete.)
15 The insides of the walls of the house he built with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the joists of the ceiling he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.
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The walls of the house were covered inside with cedar-wood boards; from the floor to the roof of the house they were covered inside with wood; and the floor was covered with boards of cypress-wood.
16 The thirty-five-foot back portion of the house he built with boards of cedar from the floor to the joists and reserved this part of the house to be a sanctuary, the Especially Holy Place;
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And at the back of the house a further space of twenty cubits was shut in with boards of cedar-wood, for the inmost room.
17 while the rest of the house, that is, the temple in front, was seventy feet long.
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And the house, that is, the Temple, in front of the holy place was forty cubits long.
18 The cedar covering the house was carved with gourds and open flowers; all was cedar; no stone was visible.
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(All the inside of the house was cedar-wood, ornamented with designs of buds and flowers; no stonework was to be seen inside.)
19 In the inner part of the house he set up the sanctuary, so that the ark for the covenant of ADONAI could be placed there.
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And he made ready an inmost room in the middle of the house, in which to put the ark of the agreement of the Lord.
20 This sanctuary was thirty-five feet long, wide and high; and it was overlaid with pure gold. In front of it he set an altar, which he covered with cedar.
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And the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with gold.
21 Shlomo overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold and had chains of gold placed before the sanctuary, which itself he overlaid with gold.
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Solomon had all the inside of the house covered with gold, and he put chains of gold across in front of the inmost room, which itself was covered with gold.
22 The entire house he overlaid with gold until it was completely covered with it. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the sanctuary.
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Plates of gold were put all through the house till it was covered completely (and the altar in the inmost room was all covered with gold).
23 Inside the sanctuary he made two k'ruvim of olive-wood, each seventeen-and-a-half feet high.
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In the inmost room he made two winged beings of olive-wood, ten cubits high;
24 Each of the two wings of one of the k'ruvim was eight-and-three quarters feet long, so that the distance from the end of one wing to the end of the other was seventeen-and-a-half feet.
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With outstretched wings five cubits wide; the distance from the edge of one wing to the edge of the other was ten cubits.
25 Likewise the [wingspread of the] other keruv was seventeen-and-a-half feet; both k'ruvim were identical in shape and size.
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The two winged ones were ten cubits high, of the same size and form.
26 The height of the one keruv was seventeen-and-a-half feet, likewise that of the other.
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The two of them were ten cubits high.
27 He set the k'ruvim in the inner house; the wings of the k'ruvim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other keruv touched the other wall; their wings touched each other in the middle of the house.
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These were placed inside the inner house, their outstretched wings touching the walls of the house, one touching one wall and one the other, while their other wings were touching in the middle.
28 He overlaid the k'ruvim with gold.
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These winged ones were plated over with gold.
29 All around the walls of the house, both inside the sanctuary and outside it, he carved figures of k'ruvim, palm trees and open flowers.
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And all the walls of the house inside and out were ornamented with forms of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers.
30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, both inside the sanctuary and outside it.
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And the floor of the house was covered with gold, inside and out.
31 For the entrance to the sanctuary he made doors of olive-wood, set within a five-sided door-frame.
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For the way into the inmost room he made doors of olive-wood, the arch and the door supports forming a five-sided opening.
32 On the two olive-wood doors he carved figures of k'ruvim, palm trees and open flowers. He overlaid the doors with gold, forcing the gold into the shapes of the k'ruvim and palm trees as well.
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On the olive-wood doors were cut designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, all of them, with the doors, plated with gold.
33 For the entrance to the temple he also made doorposts of olive-wood, set within a rectangular door-frame,
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Then he made pillars of olive-wood for the way into the Temple; the pillars were square:
34 and two doors of cypress-wood; the two leaves of the one door were folding, as were the two leaves of the other.
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And two folding doors of cypress-wood, with two leaves.
35 On them he carved k'ruvim, palm trees and open flowers, overlaying them with gold fitted to the carved work.
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These were ornamented with designs of winged ones and palm-trees and open flowers, plated over with gold.
36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.
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And the inner space was walled with three lines of squared stones and a line of cedar-wood boards.
37 The foundation of the house of ADONAI was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv.
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In the fourth year the base of the house was put in its place, in the month Ziv.
38 In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, all parts of the house were completed exactly as designed. Thus he was seven years building it.
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And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the building of the house was complete in every detail, as it had been designed. So he was seven years building it.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.