1Ki 6:2-10 | NETfull | STEP | The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

1 Kings 6:2-10

2 The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet ^{▼▼ Heb “sixty cubits.” A cubit was a unit of measure roughly equivalent to 18 inches or 45 cm. Measurements in vv. 2–10 have been converted to feet in the translation for clarity.} long, 30 feet ^{▼▼ Heb “twenty cubits.”} wide, and 45 feet ^{▼▼ Heb “thirty cubits.”} high. 3 The porch in front of the main hall of the temple was 30 feet ^{▼▼ Heb “twenty cubits.”} long, corresponding to the width of the temple. It was 15 feet ^{▼▼ Heb “ten cubits.”} wide, extending out from the front of the temple. 4 He made framed windows for the temple. 5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and holy place and constructed side rooms in it. ^{▼▼ Heb “and he built on the wall of the temple an extension all around, the walls of the temple all around, for the main hall and for the holy place, and he made side rooms all around.”} 6 The bottom floor of the extension was seven and a half feet ^{▼▼ Heb “five cubits.”} wide, the middle floor nine feet ^{▼▼ Heb “six cubits.”} wide, and the third floor ten and a half ^{▼▼ Heb “seven cubits.”} feet wide. He made ledges ^{▼▼ Or “offsets” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “offset ledges.”} on the temple’s outer walls so the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls. ^{▼▼ Heb “so that [the beams] would not have a hold in the walls of the temple.”} 7 As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry ^{▼▼ Heb “finished stone of the quarry,” i.e., stones chiseled and shaped at the time they were taken out of the quarry.} were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built. 8 The entrance to the bottom ^{▼▼ The Hebrew text has “middle,” but the remainder of the verse suggests this is an error.} level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple; stairs went up ^{▼▼ Heb “by stairs they went up.” The word translated “stairs” occurs only here. Other options are “trapdoors” or “ladders.”} to the middle floor and then on up to the third ^{▼▼ The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate הַשְּׁלִשִׁית (hash^elishit, “the third”) rather than MT הַשְּׁלִשִׁים (hash^elishim, “the thirty”).} floor. 9 He finished building the temple ^{▼▼ Heb “ built the house and completed it.”} and covered it ^{▼▼ Heb “the house.”} with rafters ^{▼▼ The word occurs only here; the precise meaning is uncertain.} and boards made of cedar. ^{▼▼ Heb “and rows with cedar wood.”} 10 He built an extension all around the temple; it was seven and a half feet high ^{▼▼ Heb “five cubits.” This must refer to the height of each floor or room.} and it was attached to the temple by cedar beams.