1 Kings 6 - Easy To Read Version

¹ So Solomon began to build the temple. This was 480 years [30] after the people of Israel left Egypt. This was during Solomon’s fourth year as king of Israel. It was in the month of Ziv, the second month of the year.

² The temple was 60 cubits [31] long, 20 cubits [32] wide, and 30 cubits [33] high.

³ The porch of the temple was 20 cubits long and 10 cubits [34] wide. The porch ran along the front of the main part of the temple itself. Its length was equal to the width of the temple.

⁴ There were narrow windows in the temple. These windows were narrow on the outside and larger on the inside. [35]

⁵ Then Solomon built a row of rooms around the main part of the temple. These rooms were built on top of each other. {This row of rooms was three stories tall.}

⁶ The rooms touched the temple wall, but their beams were not built into that wall. {That temple wall became thinner at the top.} So the wall which made one side of those rooms was thinner than the wall below it. The rooms on the bottom floor were 5 cubits [36] wide. The rooms on the middle floor were 6 cubits [37] wide. The rooms above that were 7 cubits [38] wide.

⁷ The workers used large stones to build the walls. The workers cut the stones at the place where they got them out of the ground. So there was no noise of hammers, axes, or any other iron tools in the temple.

⁸ The entrance to the bottom rooms was on the south side of the temple. Inside, there were stairs that went up to the second floor rooms and from there to the third floor rooms.

⁹ So, Solomon finished building the temple. Every part in the temple was covered with cedar boards.

¹⁰ Solomon also finished building the rooms around the temple. Each story was 5 cubits [39] tall. The cedar beams in those rooms touched the temple.

¹¹ The Lord said to Solomon,

¹² “If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do the thing for you that I promised your father David.

¹³ And I will live among the children of Israel in this temple that you are building. I will never leave the people of Israel.”

¹⁴ So Solomon finished building the temple.

¹⁵ The stone walls inside the temple were covered with cedar boards. The cedar boards went from the floor to the ceiling. The stone floor was covered with pine boards.

¹⁶ They built a room 20 cubits [40] long deep inside the back part of the temple. They covered the walls in this room with cedar boards. The cedar boards went from the floor to the ceiling. This room was called the Most Holy Place.

¹⁷ In front of the Most Holy Place, was the main part of the temple. This room was 40 cubits [41] long.

¹⁸ They covered the walls in this room with cedar boards—none of the stones in the walls could be seen. They carved pictures of flowers and gourds [42] into the cedar.

¹⁹ Solomon prepared the room deep inside the back part of the temple. This room was for the Lord’s Box of the Agreement. [43]

²⁰ This room was 20 cubits [44] long, 20 cubits [45] wide, and 20 cubits high.

²¹ Solomon covered this room with pure gold. He built an {incense} altar in front of this room. He covered the altar with gold, and wrapped gold chains around it. There were two statues of Cherub angels [46] in that room. Those statues were covered with gold.

²² All of the temple was covered with gold. Also, the altar in front of the Most Holy Place was covered with gold.

^23-26 The workers made two statues of Cherub angels [47] with wings. The workers made the statues from olive wood. These Cherub angels were put in the Most Holy Place. Each angel was 10 cubits [48] tall.

²⁷ These Cherub angels were put in the Most Holy Place. They stood beside each other. Their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. The other two wings touched each side wall.

²⁸ The two Cherub angels were covered with gold.

²⁹ The walls around the main room and the inner room were carved with pictures of Cherub angels, [51] palm trees, and flowers.

³⁰ The floor of both rooms was covered with gold.

³¹ The workers made two doors from olive wood. They put those doors at the entrance of the Most Holy Place. The frame around the doors was made with five sides. [52]

³² They made the two doors from olive wood. The workers carved pictures of Cherub angels, [53] palm trees, and flowers on the doors. Then they covered the doors with gold.

³³ They also made doors for the entrance to the main room. They used olive wood to make a square door frame.

³⁴ Then they used fir [54] to make the doors.

³⁵ There were two doors. Each door had two parts, so the two doors folded. They carved pictures of Cherub angels, [55] {palm} trees, and flowers on the doors. Then they covered them with gold.

³⁶ Then they built the inner yard. They built walls around this yard. Each wall was made from three rows of cut stones and one row of cedar timbers.

³⁷ They started working on the temple in the month of Ziv, the second month of the year. This was during Solomon’s fourth year as king of the Israel.

³⁸ The temple was finished in the month of Bul, the eighth month of the year. This was during the eleventh year that Solomon ruled over the people. It took seven years to build the temple. The temple was built exactly the way it was planned.