The large courtyard had three layers of cut stone blocks and a layer of cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of the Lord’s temple and the entrance hall.
Solomon designated the courtyard in front of the Lord’s temple as a holy place. He sacrificed the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat because the bronze altar that he had made and that was in front of the Lord was not able to hold all of them.
Then Baruch read the scroll containing Jeremiah’s words. Baruch read it to all the people in the Lord’s temple in the room of the scribe Gemariah, son of Shaphan, in the upper courtyard at the entrance of New Gate of the Lord’s temple.