Commentaria in III Regum
Chapter 6. Synopsis of the Chapter
Solomon builds the temple.
1. In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month Zio (the same is the second month), the house was begun to be built to the Lord. 2. And the house which king Solomon built to the Lord was threescore cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height. 3. And there was a porch before the temple of twenty cubits in length, according to the measure of the breadth of the temple, and it was ten cubits in breadth before the face of the temple. 4. And he made in the temple oblique windows. 5. And upon the wall of the temple he built floors round about, in the walls of the house round about the temple and the oracle, and he made sides round about. 6. The floor that was lowest was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. And he set beams in the house round about on the outside, that they should not be fastened to the walls of the temple. 7. And when the house was building, it was built of stones hewed and made ready: so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house when it was building. 8. The door for the middle side was on the right hand of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and from the middle into the third.
9. So he built the house, and finished it, and he covered the house with roofs of cedar. 10. And he built a floor over all the house, five cubits high, and covered the house with timber of cedar. 11. And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: 12. Concerning this house which thou art building, if thou wilt walk in my precepts, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments, walking in them, I will fulfil my word to thee, which I spoke to David thy father. 13. And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. 14. So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 15. And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the top of the walls, and to the roof, he covered it with boards of cedar within, and he covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. 16. And he built twenty cubits at the hinder part of the temple with boards of cedar from the floor to the top, and he made the inner house of the oracle for the holy of holies. 17. And the temple itself, before the doors of the oracle, was forty cubits. 18. And the whole house within was covered with cedar, having the turnings and joinings thereof artificially wrought, and carvings projecting: all was covered with boards of cedar, and no stone could be seen in the wall. 19. And he made the oracle in the midst of the house, in the inner part, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20. And the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height, and he overlaid it, and covered it with the purest gold: he covered also the altar with cedar. 21. And the house before the oracle he overlaid with the purest gold, and fastened the plates with nails of gold. 22. And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold: the whole altar of the oracle also he covered with gold. 23. And he made in the oracle two cherubims of olive tree, ten cubits high. 24. One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub was five cubits: that is, ten cubits from the end of one wing to the end of the other. 25. The second cherub also was ten cubits: the measure and work was the same in both the cherubims: 26. that is, one cherub was ten cubits high, and in like manner the second cherub. 27. And he set the cherubims in the midst of the inner temple: and the cherubims stretched forth their wings, and the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall: and the other wings in the midst of the temple touched one another. 28. And he overlaid the cherubims with gold. 29. And all the walls of the temple round about he carved with divers figures and carvings: and he made in them cherubims and palm trees, and divers pictures, as it were standing out from the wall, and coming forth. 30. The floor also of the house he overlaid with gold within and without. 31. And in the entrance of the oracle he made little doors of olive tree, and posts of five corners. 32. And two doors of olive tree: and he carved upon them the picture of cherubims, and the figures of palm trees, and very prominent carvings: and he overlaid them with gold: and he covered both the cherubims and the palm trees and the other things with gold. 33. And he made in the entrance of the temple posts of olive tree squared, 34. and two doors of fir tree on each side, and each door was double, and opened by folding one upon the other. 35. And he carved cherubims, and palm trees, and carvings standing out very much: and covered all with plates of gold, of square work, by rule. 36. And he built the inner court with three rows of polished stones, and one row of beams of cedar. 37. In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the month Zio, 38. and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul (which is the eighth month) the house was finished in all its works, and in all its appurtenances, and he built it in seven years.