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He began building on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign.[a]

Solomon laid the foundation for God’s temple;[b] its length (determined according to the old standard of measure) was 90 feet, and its width 30 feet.[c] The porch in front of the main hall was 30 feet long, corresponding to the width of the temple,[d] and its height was 30 feet.[e] He plated the inside with pure gold.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 3:2 sn This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning.
  2. 2 Chronicles 3:3 tn Heb “and these are the founding of Solomon to build the house of God.”
  3. 2 Chronicles 3:3 tn Heb “the length [in] cubits by the former measure was 60 cubits, and a width of 20 cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches (45 cm) for the standard cubit, the length of the foundation would be 90 feet (27 m) and its width 30 feet (9 m).
  4. 2 Chronicles 3:4 tc Heb “and the porch which was in front of the length corresponding to the width of the house, 20 cubits.” The phrase הֵיכַל הַבַּיִת (hekhal habbayit, “the main hall of the temple,” which appears in the parallel account in 1 Kgs 6:3) has been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton after עַל־פְּנֵי (’al pene, “in front of”). Note that the following form, הָאֹרֶךְ (haʿorekh, “the length”), also begins with the Hebrew letter he (ה). A scribe’s eye probably jumped from the initial he on הֵיכַל to the initial he on הָאֹרֶךְ, leaving out the intervening letters in the process.
  5. 2 Chronicles 3:4 tc The Hebrew text has “one hundred and 20 cubits,” i.e., (assuming a cubit of 18 inches) 180 feet (54 m). An ancient Greek witness and the Syriac version read “20 cubits,” i.e., 30 feet (9 m). It is likely that מֵאָה (meʾah, “a hundred”) should be emended to אַמּוֹת (ʾammot, “cubits”).

He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.(A)

The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide[a](B) (using the cubit of the old standard). The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits[b] long across the width of the building and twenty[c] cubits high.

He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 3:3 That is, about 90 feet long and 30 feet wide or about 27 meters long and 9 meters wide
  2. 2 Chronicles 3:4 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters; also in verses 8, 11 and 13
  3. 2 Chronicles 3:4 Some Septuagint and Syriac manuscripts; Hebrew and a hundred and twenty