English Standard Version ESV
New Living Translation NLT
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.
1
So Solomon began to build the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David, his father. The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the site that David had selected.
2 He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.
2
The construction began in midspring, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.
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.
3
These are the dimensions Solomon used for the foundation of the Temple of God (using the old standard of measurement). It was 90 feet long and 30 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.
4
The entry room at the front of the Temple was 30 feet wide, running across the entire width of the Temple, and 30 feet high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.
5 The nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold and made palms and chains on it.
5
He paneled the main room of the Temple with cypress wood, overlaid it with fine gold, and decorated it with carvings of palm trees and chains.
6 He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim.
6
He decorated the walls of the Temple with beautiful jewels and with gold from the land of 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.
7
He overlaid the beams, thresholds, walls, and doors throughout the Temple with gold, and he carved figures of cherubim 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.
8
He made the Most Holy Place 30 feet wide, corresponding to the width of the Temple, and 30 feet deep. He overlaid its interior with 23 tons of fine gold.
9 The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
9
The gold nails that were used weighed 20 ounces each. He also overlaid the walls of the upper rooms with gold.
10 In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood and overlaid them with gold.
10
He made two figures shaped like cherubim, overlaid them with gold, and placed them in the Most Holy Place.
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;
11
The total wingspan of the two cherubim standing side by side was 30 feet. One wing of the first figure was 7 feet long, and it touched the Temple wall. The other wing, also 7 feet long, touched one of the wings of the second figure.
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.
12
In the same way, the second figure had one wing 7 feet long that touched the opposite wall. The other wing, also 7 feet long, touched the wing of the first figure.
13 The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. The cherubim stood on their feet, facing the nave.
13
So the wingspan of the two cherubim side by side was 30 feet. They stood on their feet and faced out toward the main room of the Temple.
14 And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.
14
Across the entrance of the Most Holy Place he hung a curtain made of fine linen, decorated with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and embroidered with figures of cherubim.
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.
15
For the front of the Temple, he made two pillars that were 27 feet tall, each topped by a capital extending upward another 7 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.
16
He made a network of interwoven chains and used them to decorate the tops of the pillars. He also made 100 decorative pomegranates and attached them to the chains.
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.
17
Then he set up the two pillars at the entrance of the Temple, one to the south of the entrance and the other to the north. He named the one on the south Jakin, and the one on the north Boaz.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.