1 Kings 6

KJV · Chapter 6/22

1And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.

2And the house which king Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.

3And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.

4And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.

5And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:

6The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

7And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

8The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.

9So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.

10And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

11And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,

12Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father:

13And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

14So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

15And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the cieling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.

16And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place.

17And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.

18And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.

19And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

20And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.

21So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.

22And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

23And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high.

24And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.

25And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubims were of one measure and one size.

26The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub.

27And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

28And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.

29And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.

30And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.

31And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.

32The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees.

33So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall.

34And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

35And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work.

36And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams.

37In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the month Zif:

38And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A detailed description of the construction of the temple in Jerusalem: its dimensions, materials, the Most Holy Place with cherubim of wood overlaid with gold, and the construction time (seven years), beginning 480 years after the Exodus.

Explanation

This is the technical chapter about the temple's construction, but its level of detail has a theological purpose: it shows the extreme care devoted to the house that would represent God's presence among the people. God's promise to Solomon in the midst of construction ('if you walk in my statutes... I will dwell among the children of Israel') makes clear that the physical structure, however magnificent, depended on the people's faithfulness, not the other way around. It is a timeless reminder that impressive religious structures do not replace obedience and genuine relationship with God.

Fun facts

  • The phrase 'neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built' indicates that the stones were cut and fitted at the quarry before being transported — an architectural planning feat for its time.
  • Archaeological excavations in Jerusalem have found ancient quarries with cutting marks consistent with this technique, and the three-chamber layout (holy place, most holy place, porch) is comparable to Canaanite temples from the Iron Age found at sites such as Tel Motza.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Kings 6:1The text anchors the building of the Temple to a count of the years since the exodus from Egypt, an ancient way of dating important events by tying them to a founding milestone. The totals do not always line up perfectly with other biblical chronologies, and scholars still debate how to reconcile these figures.
  2. 1 Kings 6:2The cubit was a measure based on the human forearm, somewhere between about 18 and 20 inches depending on the region and period. That puts the Temple at roughly 90 feet long by 30 feet wide — far smaller than a cathedral, but covered in gold inside.
  3. 1 Kings 6:3The porch in front of the Temple was twenty cubits long, matching the width of the house, and ten cubits deep.
  4. 1 Kings 6:4Solomon made narrow windows in the house — designed to let in light, not to serve as a view.
  5. 1 Kings 6:5Around the walls of the house, he built side chambers that surrounded both the main hall and the inner sanctuary.
  6. 1 Kings 6:6The chambers were built in tiers — the bottom one narrower, the middle one a bit wider, the top one wider still — so the beams could rest on ledges in the wall without needing to be set into the Temple’s sacred structure.
  7. 1 Kings 6:7The stones were cut at the quarry and only fitted together at the building site, so no sound of any tool was heard in the Temple itself while it went up. This detail reinforces the idea of a sacred place raised in silence, without the usual noise of construction.
  8. 1 Kings 6:8The entrance to the middle chamber was on the right side of the house, and internal stairs went from the bottom floor to the middle one and then up to the top.
  9. 1 Kings 6:9So Solomon built and finished the house, covering it with beams and boards of cedar.
  10. 1 Kings 6:10He also built the side chambers, each five cubits high, attached to the main structure with cedar beams.
  11. 1 Kings 6:11The word of the Lord comes to Solomon — the text interrupts the technical description of the construction to bring a message from God about it.
  12. 1 Kings 6:12God makes a conditional promise about this Temple: if Solomon follows the statutes, carries out the judgments, and keeps the commandments, He will fulfill everything He promised David.
  13. 1 Kings 6:13God promises to dwell among the people of Israel and never abandon them — the true purpose behind the whole construction.
  14. 1 Kings 6:14After God’s message, the text picks up again: Solomon built the house and finished it.
  15. 1 Kings 6:15He lined the inner walls with cedar boards from the floor to the ceiling, and covered the floor with boards of cypress.
  16. 1 Kings 6:16At the back of the house, he set apart twenty cubits with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to create the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
  17. 1 Kings 6:17The main hall in front of that sanctuary, the temple proper, measured forty cubits long.
  18. 1 Kings 6:18Inside, the cedar was all carved with gourds and open flowers — cedar on every side, not a stone in sight.
  19. 1 Kings 6:19Inside the house, Solomon prepared the inner sanctuary specifically to house the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
  20. 1 Kings 6:20The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, wide, and high, entirely overlaid with pure gold; even the cedar altar was covered with gold.
  21. 1 Kings 6:21Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold and set chains of gold across the front of the sanctuary, covering everything with gold.
  22. 1 Kings 6:22He covered the whole house with gold until it was finished, including the altar that stood before the inner sanctuary — nothing there was left without a precious covering.
  23. 1 Kings 6:23Biblical cherubim were not the little angels of later art — they were hybrid, guardian figures, similar to the winged sphinxes common in ancient Near Eastern art. Here, two of them, nearly fifteen feet tall, stood with wings spread over the place where the ark would rest.
  24. 1 Kings 6:24Each wing of a cherub measured five cubits, so from tip to tip the two wings together measured ten cubits.
  25. 1 Kings 6:25The second cherub had the same measurements as the first: ten cubits, identical in shape and size.
  26. 1 Kings 6:26Each cherub stood about fifteen feet tall, and their wings — also five cubits each — stretched out until they touched the walls on either side of the Most Holy Place.
  27. 1 Kings 6:27The cherubim stood side by side in the inner sanctuary, their wings spread so that they touched each other in the middle of the room and touched the walls on each side.
  28. 1 Kings 6:28Solomon overlaid the cherubim with gold, as he did with almost everything inside the Temple.
  29. 1 Kings 6:29All the walls of the house, inside and out, were carved with figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
  30. 1 Kings 6:30The floor of the house was also covered with gold, both in the inner and outer sections.
  31. 1 Kings 6:31At the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon made doors of olive wood, with a doorframe that took up a fifth of the width of the wall.
  32. 1 Kings 6:32The two olive-wood doors were carved with cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, all covered with gold laid over the carvings.
  33. 1 Kings 6:33At the entrance to the main hall, he made olive-wood doorframes taking up a fourth of the width of the wall.
  34. 1 Kings 6:34The two doors there were made of cypress wood, each with two folding leaves.
  35. 1 Kings 6:35Those doors were also carved with cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, covered with gold fitted precisely over the carving.
  36. 1 Kings 6:36The inner court was built with three rows of cut stone and one row of cedar beams.
  37. 1 Kings 6:37The foundation of the Temple was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Zif.
  38. 1 Kings 6:38Seven years of construction is fast for a project of this size for its time, which suggests Solomon mobilized a huge workforce at once. That fits with the levy of workers described in the previous chapter.

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