1 Kingschapter 6

A.Four hundred and eighty years later, the house is foundedvv. 1-10

1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD. 2 The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. 3 The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple. 4 He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple. 5 Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms. 6 The bottom floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits, and the third floor seven cubits. He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple, so that nothing would be inserted into its walls. 7 The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. 8 The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor. 9 So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar. 10 He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.

B.If thou wilt walk in my statutes, I will dwell among Israelvv. 11-13

11 Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying: 12 “As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. 13 And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”

C.Cedar within, gold overlaid — no stone left showingvv. 14-22

14 So Solomon built the temple and finished it. 15 He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards. 16 He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17 And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. 18 The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen. 19 Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

D.Two olive-wood cherubim, wings touching wall to wallvv. 23-30

23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood. 24 One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits. 25 The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape, 26 and the height of each cherub was ten cubits. 27 And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched. 28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold. 29 Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. 30 And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

E.Doors of olive and fir; seven years in the buildingvv. 31-38

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts. 32 The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. 33 In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance. 34 The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels. 35 He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold, hammered evenly over the carvings. 36 Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams. 37 The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv. 38 In his eleventh year and eighth month, the month of Bul, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

← Back: 1 Kings 5 Continue: 1 Kings 7 →

Chapter summary

The chronological hinge of the Old Testament: in the four hundred and eightieth year after Israel came out of Egypt, in Solomon's fourth year, the house of Jehovah is begun.

Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾Show less ▴

The chronological hinge of the Old Testament: in the four hundred and eightieth year after Israel came out of Egypt, in Solomon's fourth year, the house of Jehovah is begun. Sixty cubits long, twenty broad, thirty high, with porch, side-chambers, and windows of fixed lattice-work. The stone is made ready at the quarry, 'so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building' (6:7). The inner oracle is overlaid with pure gold and guarded by two olive-wood cherubim ten cubits high, wing touching wing. The word comes with a condition: walk in my statutes, and I will dwell among my people. Seven years to finish.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.

Context

History · Jeremiah — 1 Kings overview

A. 1–10 Four hundred and eighty years later, the house is founded
B. 11–13 If thou wilt walk in my statutes, I will dwell among Israel
C. 14–22 Cedar within, gold overlaid — no stone left showing
D. 23–30 Two olive-wood cherubim, wings touching wall to wall
E. 31–38 Doors of olive and fir; seven years in the building

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

1 Kings 610 verses
- 1 Kings 6:1In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD.
- 1 Kings 6:2The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
- 1 Kings 6:5Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.
- 1 Kings 6:9So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.
- 1 Kings 6:14So Solomon built the temple and finished it.
- 1 Kings 6:16He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
- Read 1 Kings 6: 4 more there →
2 Chronicles 35 verses
- 2 Chronicles 3:1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
- 2 Chronicles 3:2Solomon began construction on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
- 2 Chronicles 3:3The foundation that Solomon laid for the house of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, according to the old standard.
- 2 Chronicles 3:7He overlaid its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.
- 2 Chronicles 3:8Then he made the Most Holy Place; 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.
- Read 2 Chronicles 3 →
Ezekiel 415 verses
- Ezekiel 41:1Then the man brought me into the outer sanctuary and measured the side pillars to be six cubits wide on each side.
- Ezekiel 41:6The side rooms were arranged one above another in three levels of thirty rooms each. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be fastened into the wall of the temple itself.
- Ezekiel 41:16as well as the thresholds and the beveled windows and the galleries all around with their three levels opposite the threshold, were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows, and the windows were covered.
- Ezekiel 41:23Both the outer sanctuary and the inner sanctuary had double doors,
- Ezekiel 41:26There were beveled windows and palm trees on the sidewalls of the portico. The side rooms of the temple also had canopies.
- Read Ezekiel 41 →
1 Kings 75 verses
- 1 Kings 7:1Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.
- 1 Kings 7:7In addition, he built a hall for the throne, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.
- 1 Kings 7:12The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the LORD.
- 1 Kings 7:24Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.
- 1 Kings 7:48Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar; the golden table on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;
- Read 1 Kings 7 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

2 Chronicles 53 verses
- 2 Chronicles 5:7Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.
- 2 Chronicles 5:8For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.
- 2 Chronicles 5:9The poles of the ark extended far enough that their ends were visible from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.
- Read 2 Chronicles 5 →
Exodus 302 verses
- Exodus 30:1“You are also to make an altar of acacia wood for the burning of incense.
- Exodus 30:3Overlay with pure gold the top and all the sides and horns, and make a molding of gold around it.
- Read Exodus 30 →
Ezekiel 402 verses
- Ezekiel 40:1In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month—in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been struck down—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He took me there.
- Ezekiel 40:16The gate chambers and their side pillars had beveled windows all around the inside of the gateway. The porticos also had windows all around on the inside. Each side pillar was decorated with palm trees.
- Read Ezekiel 40 →
Ezra 62 verses
- Ezra 6:3In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide,
- Ezra 6:14So the Jewish elders built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.
- Read Ezra 6 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.