Solomon Builds the House of the LORD

6¹ And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Jehovah. ² And the house that king Solomon built for Jehovah was sixty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, and thirty cubits in height. ³ And the porch, in front of the temple of the house, was twenty cubits in length, in front of the house broadways, [and] ten cubits was its breadth, in front of the house. ⁴ And for the house he made closed windows with fixed lattices. ⁵ And against the wall of the house he built floors round about, [against] the walls of the house, round about the temple and the oracle; and he made side-chambers round about. ⁶ The lowest floor was five cubits broad, and the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for in the [thickness of the wall of] the house he made resets round about outside, that nothing should be fastened in the walls of the house. ⁷ And the house, when it was being built, was built of stone entirely made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was being built. ⁸ The entrance to the side-chambers of the middle [floor] was in the right side of the house; and they went up by winding stairs into the middle [floor], and out of the middle into the third. ⁹ And he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar. ¹⁰ And he built the floors against all the house, five cubits high; and they held to the house by the timbers of cedar.

¹¹ And the word of Jehovah came to Solomon saying, ¹² As to this house which thou art building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and practise mine ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then will I perform my word as to thee which I spoke unto David thy father; ¹³ and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. ¹⁴ And 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 walls of the roof; he overlaid [them] on the inside with wood, and overlaid the floor of the house with boards of cypress. ¹⁶ And he built twenty cubits of the innermost part of the house, both floor and walls, with boards of cedar; and he built [them] for it within, to [be] the oracle, the most holy place. ¹⁷ And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits [long]. ¹⁸ And the cedar of the house within was carved with colocynths and half-open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen. ¹⁹ And he prepared the oracle in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. ²⁰ And the oracle within was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he overlaid the cedar-wood altar— ²¹ and Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold, and shut off the oracle in front with chains of gold, and overlaid it with gold. ²² And the whole house he overlaid with gold, the whole house entirely; also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold. ²³ And he made in the oracle two cherubim of olive-wood, ten cubits high; ²⁴ and one wing of the cherub was five cubits, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub, ten cubits from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing; ²⁵ and the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. ²⁶ The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so of the other cherub. ²⁷ And he set the cherubim in the midst of the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched, wing to wing, in the midst of the house. ²⁸ And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. ²⁹ And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved sculptures of cherubim, and palm-trees, and half-open flowers, within and without. ³⁰ And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. ³¹ And for the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive-wood: the lintel [and] side posts were the fifth part [of the breadth of the house]. ³² The two doors were of olive-wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, and palm-trees and half-open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm-trees. ³³ And he also made for the doorway of the temple posts of olive-wood, of the fourth part [of the breadth of the house]. ³⁴ And the two folding-doors were of cypress-wood: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. ³⁵ And he carved on them cherubim, and palm-trees, and half-open flowers; and overlaid them with gold fitted on the carved work. ³⁶ And he built the inner court of three rows of hewn stone, and a row of cedar-beams. ³⁷ In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of Jehovah laid, in the month Zif; ³⁸ and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished in all its parts, and according to all the fashion of it. So he was seven years in building it.

Solomon's Other Buildings

7¹ And Solomon was thirteen years building his own house; and he finished all his house. ² And he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was a hundred cubits, and its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar-pillars, with cedar-beams upon the pillars; ³ and it was covered with cedar above upon the side-chambers, which were on forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row. ⁴ And there were cross-beams in three rows, and window was against window in three ranks. ⁵ And all the doors and posts were square, with an architrave; and window was against window in three ranks. ⁶ And he made the porch of pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits; and there was a porch in front of them; and there were pillars, and steps in front of them. ⁷ And he made the porch for the throne where he judged, the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. ⁸ And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. And he made, like to this porch, a house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had taken. ⁹ All these [buildings] were of costly stones, hewn stones, according to the measures, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation to the coping, and on the outside as far as the great court. ¹⁰ And the foundations were of costly stones, great stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits. ¹¹ And above were costly stones, hewn stones, according to the measures, and cedar. ¹² And the great court round about had three rows of hewn stones, and a row of cedar-beams; and so it was for the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and the porch of the house.

Solomon Employs Hiram of Tyre

¹³ And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. ¹⁴ He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was full of wisdom and understanding and knowledge, to do all kinds of works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and made all his work. ¹⁵ And he formed the two pillars of brass; the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a line of twelve cubits encompassed the second pillar. ¹⁶ And he made two capitals of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits; ¹⁷ [and] nets of checker-work, wreaths of chain-work, for the capitals which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. ¹⁸ And he made pomegranates, namely two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars; and so he did for the other capital. ¹⁹ And the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily-work [as] in the porch, four cubits. ²⁰ And the capitals upon the two pillars, above also, close to the enlargement which was behind the network, had two hundred pomegranates in rows round about, [also] on the other capital. ²¹ And he set up the pillars for the porch of the temple; and he set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz. ²² And upon the top of the pillars was lily-work; and the work of the pillars was finished.

The Furnishings for the Temple

²³ And he made the sea, molten, ten cubits from brim to brim, round all about; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encompassed it round about. ²⁴ And under the brim of it round about there were colocynths, encompassing it, ten in a cubit enclosing the sea round about; two rows of colocynths, cast when it was cast. ²⁵ It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. ²⁶ And its thickness was a hand-breadth, and its brim was like the work of the brim of a cup, with lily-blossoms; it held two thousand baths. ²⁷ And he made ten bases of brass: four cubits was the length of one base, and the breadth four cubits, and the height three cubits. ²⁸ And the work of the bases was this: they had panels, and the panels were between the fillets. ²⁹ And on the panels that were between the fillets were lions, oxen and cherubim; and over the fillets there was a base above; and beneath the lions and oxen were garlands of festoon-work. ³⁰ And every base had four wheels of brass, and axles of brass; and on its four corners were shoulder-pieces: under the laver were shoulder-pieces molten, behind every garland. ³¹ And the mouth of it within the crown and above was a cubit; and its mouth was rounded, [as] the work of the base, a cubit and a half; and also upon its mouth was sculpture; but their panels were square, not round. ³² And the four wheels were under the panels; and the supports of the wheels were in the base; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. ³³ And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their supports, and their rims, and their spokes and their naves were all molten. ³⁴ And there were four shoulder-pieces to the four corners of one base; of the base itself were its shoulder-pieces. ³⁵ And in the top of the base there was a circular elevation of half a cubit round about; and on the top of the base its stays and its panels were of the same. ³⁶ And he engraved on the plates of its stays and on its panels cherubim, lions and palm-trees, according to the space upon each; and garlands were round about. ³⁷ After this [manner] he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, one form. ³⁸ And he made ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths; every laver was four cubits; upon every one of the ten bases one laver. ³⁹ And he put the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house; and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, over against the south. ⁴⁰ And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the bowls. So Hiram ended doing all the work that he made for king Solomon [for] the house of Jehovah: ⁴¹ two pillars, and the globes of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, two; and the two networks, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; ⁴² and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were upon the pillars; ⁴³ and the ten bases, and the ten lavers on the bases; ⁴⁴ and one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea; ⁴⁵ and the pots, and the shovels, and the bowls. And all these things, which Hiram made king Solomon for the house of Jehovah, were of bright brass. ⁴⁶ In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay-ground between Succoth and Zaretan. ⁴⁷ And Solomon left all the vessels [unweighed] from their exceeding number; the weight of the brass was not ascertained.

⁴⁸ And Solomon made all the vessels that were [in] the house of Jehovah: the golden altar; and the table of gold, whereon was the shewbread; ⁴⁹ and the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right, and five on the left, before the oracle; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold, ⁵⁰ and the basons, and the knives, and the bowls, and the cups, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, for the folding-doors of the inner house, the most holy place, [and] for the doors of the house, of the temple. ⁵¹ And all the work was finished that king Solomon made for the house of Jehovah. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated; the silver and the gold and the vessels he put among the treasures of the house of Jehovah.

The Question about the Resurrection

²⁷ And some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection, coming up [to him], ²⁸ demanded of him saying, Teacher, Moses wrote to us, If any one's brother, who has a wife, die, and he die childless, his brother shall take the wife and raise up seed to his brother. ²⁹ There were then seven brethren: and the first, having taken a wife, died childless; ³⁰ and the second [took the woman, and he died childless]; ³¹ and the third took her: and in like manner also the seven left no children and died; ³² and last of all the woman also died. ³³ In the resurrection therefore of which of them does she become wife, for the seven had her as wife? ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, The sons of this world marry and are given in marriage, ³⁵ but they who are counted worthy to have part in that world, and the resurrection from among [the] dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; ³⁶ for neither can they die any more, for they are equal to angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. ³⁷ But that the dead rise, even Moses shewed in [the section of] the bush, when he called [the] Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob; ³⁸ but he is not God of [the] dead but of [the] living; for all live for him.

³⁹ And some of the scribes answering said, Teacher, thou hast well spoken. ⁴⁰ For they did not dare any more to ask him anything.

The Question about David's Son

⁴¹ And he said to them, How do they say that the Christ is David's son, ⁴² and David himself says in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand ⁴³ until I put thine enemies [as] footstool of thy feet? ⁴⁴ David therefore calls him Lord, and how is he his son?

Jesus Denounces the Scribes

⁴⁵ And, as all the people were listening, he said to his disciples, ⁴⁶ Beware of the scribes, who like to walk about in long robes, and who love salutations in the market-places, and first seats in the synagogues, and first places at suppers; ⁴⁷ who devour the houses of widows, and as a pretext make long prayers. These shall receive a severer judgment.