New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites 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, he began to build the house of the Lord.
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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 that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits 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 vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits wide, across the width of the house. Its depth was ten cubits in front of 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 For the house he made windows with recessed frames.
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And for the house he made windows, with network across.
5 He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary; and he made side chambers all around.
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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 story was five cubits wide, the middle one was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.
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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 The house was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple 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 for the middle story was on the south side of the house: one went up by winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story 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 finished it; he roofed the house with beams and planks of cedar.
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So he put up the house and made it complete, roofing it with boards of cedar-wood.
10 He built the structure against the whole house, each story five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers 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 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon,
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(And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,
12 "Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will establish my promise with you, which I made to your father David.
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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 dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel."
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And I will be ever among the children of Israel, and will not go away from my people.
14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it.
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So Solomon made the building of the house complete.)
15 He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the rafters 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 He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the rafters, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the most 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 The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits 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 within the house had carvings of gourds and open flowers; all was cedar, no stone was seen.
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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 The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
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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 The interior of the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar 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 Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, then he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it 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 Next he overlaid the whole house with gold, in order that the whole house might be perfect; even the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.
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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 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high.
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In the inmost room he made two winged beings of olive-wood, ten cubits high;
24 Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other.
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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 The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form.
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The two winged ones were ten cubits high, of the same size and form.
26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub.
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The two of them were ten cubits high.
27 He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house; the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one was touching the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall; their other wings toward the center of the house were touching wing to wing.
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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 also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
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These winged ones were plated over with gold.
29 He carved the walls of the house all around about with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms.
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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 The floor of the house he overlaid with gold, in the inner and outer rooms.
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And the floor of the house was covered with gold, inside and out.
31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.
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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 He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; he overlaid them with gold, and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
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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 So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, four-sided each,
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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, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.
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And two folding doors of cypress-wood, with two leaves.
35 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, overlaying them with gold evenly applied upon 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 court with three courses of dressed stone to one course 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 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, 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, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in 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.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.