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The Construction of the Temple

In the four hundred eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month named Ziv,[a] which is the second month, Solomon began to build the house for the Lord.

The house which King Solomon built for the Lord was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high.[b] The porch[c] in front of the temple building[d] was thirty feet wide, the same as the width of the building. It extended out fifteen feet from the front of the building.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 6:1 Ziv corresponds to April/May.
  2. 1 Kings 6:2 Sixty cubits, twenty cubits, and thirty cubits respectively, using a cubit of eighteen inches. Since the numbers of the temple measurements do not seem to have symbolic values, the translation converts them into modern measurements.
  3. 1 Kings 6:3 Or portico, entry hall, or vestibule. It is uncertain whether this was an unroofed porch or a roofed, enclosed vestibule or foyer.
  4. 1 Kings 6:3 Literally in front of the temple of the house. In this section of Kings, the Hebrew word bayit, which has the base meaning house, sometimes refers to the whole temple building, including both rooms. The word hekal, which often means temple or palace, sometimes refers only to the first room inside the temple building, that is, the front room or main hall, which is also called the Holy Place.

Solomon Builds the Temple(A)

In the four hundred and eightieth[a] year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month,(B) he began to build the temple of the Lord.(C)

The temple(D) that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.[b] The portico(E) at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits,[c] and projected ten cubits[d] from the front of the temple.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 6:1 Hebrew; Septuagint four hundred and fortieth
  2. 1 Kings 6:2 That is, about 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 27 meters long, 9 meters wide and 14 meters high
  3. 1 Kings 6:3 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters; also in verses 16 and 20
  4. 1 Kings 6:3 That is, about 15 feet or about 4.5 meters; also in verses 23-26