The Father's House Begins to Rise
6 1 In 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. 2 The house King Solomon built for our Father was about ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. 3 The 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. 4 And for the house he made windows with recessed frames.
5 He 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. 6 The 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. 7 The house was built with stone finished at the quarry, so no hammer, axe, or any iron tool was heard in it during construction. 8 The 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. 9 So he built the house and finished it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks. 10 He built the side structure against the whole house, each level about seven and a half feet high, joined to the house with cedar timbers.
11 Then 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. 13 I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.
14 So Solomon built the house and finished it. 15 He 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. 16 He built the back twenty cubits of the house with cedar boards, floor to walls, setting it apart inside as the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17 The house—the main hall before the inner sanctuary—was about sixty feet long. 18 The cedar inside the house was carved with gourds and open flowers; all cedar, no stone visible. 19 He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the house to place the ark of our Father's covenant there. 20 The inner sanctuary was thirty feet long, wide, and high; he covered it with pure gold, and covered the cedar altar too. 21 Solomon plated the house's interior with pure gold, drew gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and plated it with gold. 22 He covered the whole house with gold until the entire house was finished; also the whole altar of the inner sanctuary he covered with gold.
23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each about fifteen feet high. 24 One 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. 25 The second cherub also measured about fifteen feet; both cherubim had one measure and one form. 26 The height of the one cherub was about fifteen feet, and so also was the other. 27 He 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. 28 He covered the cherubim with gold.
29 On all the walls around the house, in the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. 30 He covered the floor of the house with gold, inner and outer rooms.
31 For the inner sanctuary entrance he made olive-wood doors; the lintel and doorposts formed five sides. 32 The 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. 33 So also for the entrance of the main hall he made doorposts of olive wood, four-sided, 34 and two doors of cypress wood; both leaves of one door folded, and both leaves of the other folded. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and plated them with gold evenly applied over the carving.
36 He built the inner court with three courses of dressed stone and one course of cedar beams.
37 In the fourth year the foundation of our Father's house was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38 The house was finished in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, the eighth month, in every detail as planned. He built it seven years.
