1 Kings 6: Solomon builds Yahweh's house

In plain English: In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build Yahweh's house.

Good to know: "The four hundred and eightieth year" is the text's own number, and the text does not say how it was counted. The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "the four hundred and fortieth year". 2 Chronicles 3:1 says Solomon began to build Yahweh's house "on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father", on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite; 2 Samuel 24:18 calls him Araunah.

In plain English: The house that King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty cubits high.

Good to know: A cubit is a measure based on the forearm: see the note on Exodus 25:10. Chapters 6 and 7 give many sizes in cubits.

In plain English: The porch in front of the temple (or: the main hall) of the house was twenty cubits long, across the width of the house, and ten cubits wide in front of the house.

The Hebrew word: "Temple" is hekal, which the dictionary gives as "a large public building, such as a palace or temple". This Bible says "temple" about 8 times in 10 where the word is used, and "palace" in 7 verses. Here the text uses it for the front part of the house: verse 5 names "the temple and the inner sanctuary" side by side, and verse 17 gives the part in front as forty cubits long.

In plain English: He made windows for the house with fixed lattices (or: with frames that narrow; see the note).

The Hebrew words: "Windows of fixed lattice work" is word for word "windows of frames, closed". The dictionary explains the second word, shaquph, as an opening with slanted sides, and the third, atam, as "to close" and, of a window, to make it narrower by its slanted sides. Shaquph is in only 2 verses of the Bible: here and 7:4.

What changes: Read as this Bible has it, the windows were closed with fixed lattices. Read with the dictionary, they were windows set in frames that narrow. The text does not describe them further.

In plain English: Against the wall of the house he built floors (or: a side building) all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple (or: the main hall) and of the inner sanctuary. And he made side rooms all around.

The Hebrew words: "Floors" is yatsua, which the dictionary gives as "spread", and in building "an extension, i.e. wing or lean-to". "Side rooms" is tsela, the same word as "rib" in Genesis 2:22; the dictionary gives it as "a rib" and "a side". Verse 6 gives the three levels: five, six and seven cubits wide.

In plain English: The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle one six cubits wide and the third seven cubits wide. For on the outside he made ledges (this Bible: offsets) in the wall of the house all around, so that the beams would not be set into (literally: take hold in) the walls of the house.

In plain English: When the house was being built, it was built of stone made ready (literally: whole) at the quarry. No hammer, ax or any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.

In plain English: The door to the middle side rooms was on the right side (or: the south side) of the house. They went up by winding stairs to the middle floor, and from the middle floor to the third.

In plain English: So he built the house and finished it, and he roofed (this Bible: covered) the house with beams and planks of cedar.

In plain English: He built the floors (or: the side building) against all the house, each five cubits high, and they held on to (this Bible: rested on) the house with cedar timbers.

In plain English: Yahweh's word came to Solomon, saying,

In plain English: "About this house you are building: if you walk in my statutes, do my rulings (this Bible: ordinances) and keep all my commandments, walking in them, then I will make my word firm (this Bible: establish my word) with you, the word I spoke to David your father.

Good to know: These are Yahweh's own words to Solomon, so they are in gold. They join a promise to a condition: "if you will walk in my statutes". Yahweh's words about David's son are in 2 Samuel 7:12 to 7:16. The words "I will dwell among the children of Israel" in verse 13 are the same in this Bible as in Exodus 29:45; "dwell" is shakan, explained in the note on Exodus 25:8.

In plain English: I will dwell among the children of Israel, and I will not leave (this Bible: forsake) my people Israel."

In plain English: So Solomon built the house and finished it.

In plain English: He built the walls of the house on the inside with cedar boards; from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling he covered them on the inside with wood. He covered the floor of the house with cypress boards.

In plain English: He built twenty cubits at the back of the house with cedar boards, from the floor to the walls (this Bible: the ceiling). He built it inside as an inner sanctuary, the most holy place (literally: the holy of holies).

In plain English: The house, that is, the temple (or: the main hall) in front of it, was forty cubits long (see the note).

The Hebrew word: The last word of the verse, liphnay, is in only this verse of the Bible. The dictionary gives it as "anterior", that is, in front, and this Bible reads the verse that way: the forty cubits are the part of the house in front of the inner sanctuary. The STEPBible meaning for this verse gives "before me". The text does not explain the word further.

In plain English: The cedar inside the house was carved with buds (or: gourds) and open flowers. It was all cedar; no stone could be seen.

The Hebrew word: "Buds" is peqa, which the dictionary gives as "a semi-globe", a rounded shape. The STEPBible meaning gives "gourds". It is in only 2 verses of the Bible: here and 7:24, under the brim of the bronze sea.

In plain English: He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house, inside, to set the ark of Yahweh's covenant there.

In plain English: The inner sanctuary (word for word: the front of the inner sanctuary) was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold (see the note). He covered the altar with cedar (or: he overlaid an altar of cedar).

The Hebrew word: "Inner sanctuary" is debir, which the dictionary gives as "the shrine or innermost part of the sanctuary". It is in 16 verses of the Bible: 11 in 1 Kings 6 to 8, 4 in 2 Chronicles, and Psalm 28:2, where this Bible says "your Most Holy Place". Verse 16 calls it "the most holy place", word for word "the holy of holies".

The Hebrew words: "Pure gold" is word for word "shut-up gold": the second word is from sagar, which the dictionary gives as "to shut up". This Bible gives it as "pure gold" here and in verse 21. The text does not explain the words.

What changes: The end of the verse can be read "he covered the altar with cedar", as this Bible has it, or "he overlaid an altar of cedar", that is, with gold. Verse 22 speaks of "the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary" overlaid with gold.

In plain English: So Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. He drew gold chains across in front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold.

In plain English: He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid with gold the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

In plain English: In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood (literally: wood of oil), each ten cubits high.

The Hebrew words: "Olive wood" is word for word "wood of oil": shemen, which the dictionary gives as "grease, especially liquid (as from the olive, often perfumed)". The same words are used for the doors and doorposts in verses 31 to 33.

Good to know: The two cherubim of the tabernacle were of hammered gold, on the mercy seat (see the note on Exodus 25:18). These two are ten cubits high and stand in the inner sanctuary. The text does not say what they looked like; it gives only their size, their wings and their gold.

In plain English: One wing of the cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing of the cherub was five cubits long. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits.

In plain English: The other cherub was ten cubits. Both cherubim were of one size and one shape.

In plain English: One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other cherub.

In plain English: He set the cherubim in the middle of the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were spread out, so that the wing of one touched one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other, wing to wing, in the middle of the house.

In plain English: He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

In plain English: On all the walls of the house all around he carved figures of cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, inside and outside.

In plain English: He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside.

In plain English: For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and doorposts were a fifth part of the wall (or: were five-sided; see the note).

The Hebrew words: The end of the verse is short. Word for word it reads "the lintel, doorposts, fifth". "Lintel" is ayil, which the dictionary gives as "properly, strength; hence, anything strong", and in building a strong support. "Fifth" is chamishit, "fifth; also a fifth".

What changes: The text does not say a fifth of what. This Bible reads it as a fifth part of the wall. It can also be read as the shape of the door frame, with five sides. Verse 33 has the same kind of words for the doorposts of the temple: "a fourth".

In plain English: So he made two doors of olive wood, and on them he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold. He spread (literally: hammered out) the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

In plain English: In the same way he made for the entrance of the temple (or: the main hall) doorposts of olive wood, a fourth part of the wall (or: four-sided),

In plain English: and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of one door were folding (literally: turning), and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

In plain English: He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold laid evenly (this Bible: fitted) on the carved work.

In plain English: He built the inner court with three rows (this Bible: courses) of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.

In plain English: The foundation of Yahweh's house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv.

In plain English: In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and in all its plans (this Bible: specifications). So he spent seven years building it.

Good to know: The text explains both month names: Ziv is "the second month" (verse 1) and Bul is "the eighth month". "Seven years" is the text's own number for building Yahweh's house, from the fourth year in the month Ziv (verse 37) to the eleventh year in the month Bul.