2 Chronicles 3:1-17

Solomon Builds the Temple 1Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah Hebrew Ornan, a variant of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.

2He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign. 3The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide That is, about 90 feet long and 30 feet wide or about 27 meters long and 9 meters wide (using the cubit of the old standard).

4The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters; also in verses 8, 11 and 13 long across the width of the building and twenty Some Septuagint and Syriac manuscripts; Hebrew and a hundred and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold. 5He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree and chain designs. 6He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim.

7He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls. 8He built the Most Holy Place, its length corresponding to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents That is, about 23 tons or about 21 metric tons of fine gold.

9The gold nails weighed fifty shekels. That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams He also overlaid the upper parts with gold. 10For the Most Holy Place he made a pair of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold. 11The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters; also in verse 15 long and touched the temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub. 12Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub.

13The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main hall. Or facing inward

14He made the curtain of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim worked into it. 15For the front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits That is, about 53 feet or about 16 meters long, each with a capital five cubits high. 16He made interwoven chains Or possibly made chains in the inner sanctuary; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. 17He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin Jakin probably means he establishes. and the one to the north Boaz. Boaz probably means in him is strength.