MSB 2 CHR Chapter 3

Temple Construction Begins

(1 Kings 6:1–4)

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where [the LORD] had appeared[fn] to his father David. [This was] the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan[fn] the Jebusite. 2 [Solomon] began construction on the second [day] of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

The foundation that Solomon laid for the house of God [was] sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide,[fn] according to the old standard 4 The portico at the front, extending across the width of the temple, [was] twenty cubits [long][fn] [and] twenty [cubits] high.[fn] He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

The Temple’s Interior

(1 Kings 6:14–22)

He paneled the main room with cypress,[fn] which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains. 6 He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and its gold [was] from Parvaim. 7 He overlaid [its] beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.

Then he made the Most Holy Place;[fn] its length corresponded to the width of the temple— twenty cubits [long] and twenty cubits wide. And he overlaid [the inside] with six hundred talents of fine gold.[fn] 9 The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold.[fn] He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

The Cherubim

(1 Kings 6:23–30)

In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of sculptured work, and he overlaid them with gold. 11 The total wingspan of the cherubim [was] twenty cubits. One wing of the first [cherub] [was] five cubits [long][fn] and touched the wall of the temple, and [its] other wing [was] five cubits [long] and touched the wing of the other cherub. 12 The wing of the second cherub [also measured] five cubits and touched the wall of the temple, while [its] other wing [measured] five cubits and touched the wing of the first cherub. 13 So the total wingspan of these cherubim [was] twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the [main] room.

The Veil and Pillars

(1 Kings 7:13–22)

He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim woven into it.

In front of the temple he made two pillars, which [together] were thirty-five cubits high,[fn] each with a capital on top [measuring] five cubits.

He made interwoven chains[fn] and put them on top of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork. 17 Then he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south and one on the north. [The pillar] on the south he named Jachin,[fn] [and the pillar] on the north he named Boaz.[fn]