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2 Chronicles 3

KJV · Chapter 3/36

1Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

2And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

3Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

4And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

5And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.

6And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.

7He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls.

8And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

9And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

10And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.

11And the wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long: one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.

12And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub.

13The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward.

14And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

15Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

16And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made an hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

17And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Construction of the temple begins on Mount Moriah, on the very site where David had bought the threshing floor of Ornan. Architectural details are described: dimensions, gold overlay, the carved cherubim, and the two bronze pillars at the entrance, named Jachin and Boaz.

Explanation

The temple's exact location on Mount Moriah connects this moment to two deeply significant earlier events: Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22) and David's purchase of the land after the plague (1 Chronicles 21). This geographical continuity suggests that God was guiding the history of his people through centuries toward this culminating point of establishing a permanent place of worship. The extravagant details of gold covering nearly every interior surface show the effort to visually represent the majesty and holiness of God through the physical beauty of the sacred space.

Fun facts

  • The bronze pillars at the temple entrance, named Jachin ('he shall establish') and Boaz ('in him is strength'), stood 35 cubits tall (about 16 meters/52 feet) and were likely decorative and symbolic rather than structural, visually marking the entrance to the sacred space.
  • Solomon's temple had relatively modest dimensions compared to temples of other contemporary ancient civilizations, but it was considered extraordinarily rich in precious materials, especially gold.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Chronicles 3:1The temple is built on Mount Moriah, on the very plot David bought from Ornan to raise an altar, told earlier in Chronicles. Jewish tradition links this same mountain to the place where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac in Genesis — a site with symbolic weight long before it became the temple’s address.
  2. 2 Chronicles 3:2The start of the work is dated with precision — the second month, the second day, the fourth year of Solomon’s reign — a way of anchoring the temple’s construction to an exact historical moment.
  3. 2 Chronicles 3:3The temple’s base measurements — sixty cubits long by twenty wide, a cubit being roughly a foot and a half — follow the same standard used since the tabernacle in the wilderness.
  4. 2 Chronicles 3:4The porch at the entrance had the same width as the house and an impressive height, all overlaid with pure gold inside — a portico built to impress before anyone even entered the temple.
  5. 2 Chronicles 3:5The main hall was lined with cypress wood and then covered with fine gold, decorated with carved palm trees and chains.
  6. 2 Chronicles 3:6Besides the gold, precious stones decorated the house, and the gold used came specifically from Parvaim, a place famous for that metal at the time.
  7. 2 Chronicles 3:7Beams, doorframes, walls, and doors of the temple were all covered with gold, and the walls had carved cherubim — luxury and religious symbolism side by side.
  8. 2 Chronicles 3:8The Most Holy Place, the innermost and most sacred room of the temple, was a perfect cube twenty cubits on each side, covered inside with an enormous amount of fine gold.
  9. 2 Chronicles 3:9Even the nails used there were gold, and the upper chambers were also given this overlay — a level of detail that shows how carefully the project was carried out.
  10. 2 Chronicles 3:10Inside the Most Holy Place, Solomon sets up two cherub statues covered in gold, appearing to stand upright, guarding that most sacred space.
  11. 2 Chronicles 3:11The cherubim’s wings were enormous — five cubits each — and stretched out to touch the wall on one side and the other cherub’s wing in the middle.
  12. 2 Chronicles 3:12The description continues detailing the second cherub’s wings, mirroring the first one’s measurements exactly, forming a symmetrical pair.
  13. 2 Chronicles 3:13Together, the two cherubim’s wings spanned twenty cubits wide, and the figures stood facing inward toward the temple’s main hall.
  14. 2 Chronicles 3:14The veil separating the Most Holy Place was fine linen dyed blue, purple, and crimson, embroidered with cherubim — the same combination used since Moses’s tabernacle.
  15. 2 Chronicles 3:15In front of the temple, Solomon raises two enormous bronze pillars, thirty-five cubits tall, each crowned with a five-cubit capital.
  16. 2 Chronicles 3:16Decorative chains, similar to those in the Most Holy Place, are placed on top of these pillars, along with a hundred carved pomegranates among them — purely symbolic ornament at the entrance.
  17. 2 Chronicles 3:17The two pillars at the temple entrance receive proper names, Jachin and Boaz, which in Hebrew suggest something like ‘he establishes’ and ‘in it is strength.’ They held nothing up above, being purely decorative, but they carried that symbolic meaning right at the entrance for anyone arriving.

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