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3
1 Then Solomon began building the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had provided—the former threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 Solomon began construction on the second day of the second month in his fourth year as king.
3 The size of the foundation Solomon laid for the Temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, (according to the old cubit measurement). 4 The front porch that ran across the width of the Temple was twenty cubits long and twenty* The Hebrew reads “one hundred and twenty” but this is surely a scribal error, since the height of the main Temple according to 1 Kings 6:2 was 30 cubits. cubits high. He covered the inside of the porch with pure gold. 5 He paneled the main room with cypress overlaid with fine gold, with images of palm trees and chains. 6 He decorated the Temple with beautiful gems, and with gold he imported from Parvaim. 7 He covered the beams, thresholds, walls, and doors of the Temple with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.
8 He made the room of the Most Holy Place to correspond with the width of the Temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He covered the interior with six hundred talents of fine gold. 9 The weight of the nails was one shekel for every fifty shekels of gold.† “One shekel for every fifty shekels of gold”: Septuagint reading.
10 He made for the Most Holy Place two wooden cherubim covered with gold. 11 The wingspan of the cherubim together was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and touched one Temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, and touched the second cherub. 12 In similar fashion, one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched one Temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, and touched the first cherub. 13 So the wingspan of these cherubim together was twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main room.
14 He made the veil‡ “Veil”: a curtain separating the Most Holy Place from the main room. of blue, purple, and crimson embroidery on fine linen, with images of cherubim on it. 15 He made two columns for the front of the Temple, thirty-five cubits, each having a capital five cubits high. 16 He made chains like in the Most Holy Place and he placed them on top of the columns. He also made one hundred ornamental pomegranates and attached them to each chain.§ It seems there were four chains each holding one hundred ornamental pomegranates (see 4:13, 1 Kings 7:42). 17 He set up the columns in front of the Temple, one on the south, and one on the north. The column on the south he named Jachin, and the column on the north he named Boaz.

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*3:4 The Hebrew reads “one hundred and twenty” but this is surely a scribal error, since the height of the main Temple according to 1 Kings 6:2 was 30 cubits.

†3:9 “One shekel for every fifty shekels of gold”: Septuagint reading.

‡3:14 “Veil”: a curtain separating the Most Holy Place from the main room.

§3:16 It seems there were four chains each holding one hundred ornamental pomegranates (see 4:13, 1 Kings 7:42).

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher