English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
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So Solomon broke ground, launched construction of the house of God in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the place where God had appeared to his father David. The precise site, the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, had been designated by David.
2 He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.
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He broke ground on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his rule.
3 These are Solomon's measurements for building the house of God: the length, in cubits of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.
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These are the dimensions that Solomon set for the construction of the house of God: ninety feet long and thirty feet wide.
4 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold.
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The porch in front stretched the width of the building, that is, thirty feet; and it was thirty feet high.
5 The nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold and made palms and chains on it.
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He paneled the main hall with cypress and veneered it with fine gold engraved with palm tree and chain designs.
6 He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim.
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He decorated the building with precious stones and gold from Parvaim.
7 So he lined the house with gold--its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors--and he carved cherubim on the walls.
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Everything was coated with gold veneer: rafters, doorframes, walls, and doors. Cherubim were engraved on the walls.
8 And he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold.
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He made the Holy of Holies a cube, thirty feet wide, long, and high. It was veneered with 600 talents (something over twenty-two tons) of gold.
9 The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
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The gold nails weighed fifty shekels (a little over a pound). The upper rooms were also veneered in gold.
10 In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood and overlaid them with gold.
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He made two sculptures of cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, for the Holy of Holies, both veneered with gold.
11 The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub;
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The combined wingspread of the side-by-side cherubim (each wing measuring seven and a half feet) stretched from wall to wall, thirty feet.
12 and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub.
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13 The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. The cherubim stood on their feet, facing the nave.
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They stood erect facing the main hall.
14 And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.
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He fashioned the curtain of violet, purple, and crimson fabric and worked a cherub design into it.
15 In front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each.
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He made two huge free-standing pillars, each fifty-two feet tall, their capitals extending another seven and a half feet.
16 He made chains like a necklace and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.
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The top of each pillar was set off with an elaborate filigree of chains, like necklaces, from which hung a hundred pomegranates.
17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; that on the south he called Jachin, and that on the north Boaz.
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He placed the pillars in front of The Temple, one on the right, and the other on the left. The right pillar he named Jakin (Security) and the left pillar he named Boaz (Stability).
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.