The Father's House Begins to Rise
Seven years of quiet work: stone dressed at the quarry so no iron tool is heard, cedar and gold over every surface, olive-wood cherubim filling the inner room. Midway our Father tells Solomon the promise holds only if he obeys.
6 1In the 480th year after Israel left Egypt, Solomon's fourth year ruling Israel, in Ziv, the second month, he began building the house of our Father. 2The house King Solomon built for our Father was about ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. 3The portico in front of the main hall was about thirty feet long, matching the width of the house, and about fifteen feet deep in front of it. 4And for the house he made windows with recessed frames.
5He built against the house's wall a structure all around—against the house's walls all around—for both the main hall and inner sanctuary; and he made side chambers all around. 6The lowest story was seven.Five feet wide, the middle nine feet wide, and the third ten.Five feet wide; around the outside he set offsets in the wall, so the beams would not be inserted into the walls of the house. 7The house was built with stone finished at the quarry, so no hammer, axe, or any iron tool was heard in it during construction. 8The entrance to the lowest side room was on the south side of the house; a stairway led up to the middle story, and from there to the third. 9So he built the house and finished it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks. 10He built the side structure against the whole house, each level about seven and a half feet high, joined to the house with cedar timbers.
11Then the word of our Father came to Solomon, saying:
12"About this house you are building: if you walk in my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by following them, I will fulfill for you the promise I made to David your father. 13I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel."
14So Solomon built the house and finished it. 15He lined the walls inside with cedar boards; from the floor to the ceiling rafters he covered them with wood inside, and floored the house with cypress boards. 16He built the back thirty feet of the house with cedar boards, floor to walls, setting it apart inside as the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17The house—the main hall before the inner sanctuary—was about sixty feet long. 18The cedar inside the house was carved with gourds and open flowers; all cedar, no stone visible. 19He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the house to place the ark of our Father's covenant there. 20The inner sanctuary was about thirty feet long, about thirty feet wide, and about thirty feet high; he covered it with pure gold, and covered the cedar altar too. 21Solomon plated the house's interior with pure gold, drew gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and plated it with gold. 22He covered the whole house with gold until the entire house was finished; also the whole altar of the inner sanctuary he covered with gold.
23In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each about fifteen feet high. 24One wing of the cherub was seven and a half feet, the other seven and a half feet; fifteen feet from wing tip to wing tip. 25The second cherub also measured about fifteen feet; both cherubim had one measure and one form. 26The height of the one cherub was about fifteen feet, and so also was the other. 27He set the cherubim inside the inner house, their wings spread out, so that one's wing touched one wall and the other's wing touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the house. 28He covered the cherubim with gold.
29On all the walls around the house, in the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. 30He covered the floor of the house with gold, inner and outer rooms.
31For the inner sanctuary entrance he made olive-wood doors; the lintel and doorposts formed five sides. 32The two doors were olive wood; on them he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, then covered them with gold, hammering it onto the cherubim and palm trees. 33So also for the entrance of the main hall he made doorposts of olive wood, four-sided, 34and two doors of cypress wood; both leaves of one door folded, and both leaves of the other folded. 35He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and plated them with gold evenly applied over the carving.
36He built the inner court with three courses of dressed stone and one course of cedar beams.
37In the fourth year the foundation of our Father's house was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38The house was finished in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, the eighth month, in every detail as planned. He built it seven years.
