1I Salomons fjerde regeringsår, i måneden ziv, det vil sige årets anden måned,[1] påbegyndte han tempelbyggeriet—480 år efter, at Israels folk havde forladt Egypten.2Templet blev 27 m langt, 9 m bredt og 13,5 m højt.3Foran indgangen til templet blev der bygget en forhal, 9 m på den lange led svarende til templets bredde og 4,5 m på den korte led.4Hele vejen rundt på tempelbygningen var der smalle vinduesåbninger.5-6Rundt langs templets ydermur byggede Salomon en række mindre rum i tre etager. Stueetagen var 2,25 m bred, førstesalen var 2,7 m bred, og andensalen var 3,15 m bred. De bjælker der dannede gulv og loft, hvilede på nogle fremspring i tempelmuren, således at man ikke behøvede at bryde hul i muren for at lave denne tilbygning.7Tempelbygningens sten var blevet færdighugget i stenbruddet, hvilket betød, at bygningen blev rejst i stilhed uden støj fra hamre, mejsler eller andre jernredskaber.8Der var kun adgang til den udvendige tilbygning gennem en dør, der vendte mod syd, og trapper førte op til første og anden sal.9Templets tag bestod af tværbjælker og planker af cedertræ.10Det var også tværbjælker og planker af cedertræ, der forbandt tilbygningen med templet. Hver etage i tilbygningen var 2,25 m høj.11-12Herren talte til Salomon om det tempel, han var i færd med at bygge. „Hvis du nøje følger mine instrukser og adlyder mine befalinger,” sagde han, „vil jeg opfylde det løfte, jeg gav din far, David.13Jeg vil tage bolig iblandt mit folk Israel og ikke forlade dem.”14Da selve tempelbygningen var færdig, fortsatte Salomon med den indvendige indretning.15Væggene blev beklædt med cedertræspaneler fra gulv til loft, og gulvbrædderne var af cyprestræ.16-22Der blev lavet et inderrum på 9 m gange 9 m gange 9 m. Det var det allerhelligste rum. Også det rum blev beklædt på alle sider med cedertræsplanker. Det største rum i templet, som kaldtes det hellige, blev således 18 m langt. Cedertræspaneler dækkede alle murene fuldstændigt, og de blev dekoreret med udskårne figurer af blomsterknopper og udsprungne blomster. I templets inderste rum, det allerhelligste, blev pagtens ark anbragt. Røgelsesalteret, som skulle stå foran indgangen til det allerhelligste rum, blev lavet af cedertræ. Templets indersider blev derefter belagt med rent guld, både i det hellige og det allerhelligste. Også cedertræsalteret blev belagt med guld.23-28I det allerhelligste rum anbragte Salomon to keruber, udskåret af vildt oliventræ. De var 4,5 m høje. Hver vinge var 2,25 m lang, og hver kerubs vingefang var således 4,5 m. De to keruber var nøjagtig ens, og de var begge belagt med guld. De var anbragt således, at deres udbredte vinger tilsammen nåede fra væg til væg, og det sted, hvor deres vingespidser rørte hinanden, var nøjagtig midt i rummet.29Figurer, der skulle forestille keruber, palmetræer og blomster, var sirligt udskåret i panelerne i begge tempelrum,30og selv gulvet i begge rum blev belagt med guld.31-32Salomon lod fremstille to dørfløje af vildt oliventræ til at lukke af for det allerhelligste rum, og rammen omkring døråbningen blev lavet med en gavl, så den var en femkant.[2] Dørene blev udsmykket med udskårne keruber, palmetræer og blomster, og det hele blev belagt med guld.33Ved indgangen til det hellige rum lod han også lave en dørramme af vildt oliventræ, men den var firkantet.34Der blev lavet to fløjdøre af cyprestræ, hvor hver fløj havde to dørflader, som drejede på hængsler.35På fløjdørene lod han udskære keruber, palmetræer og blomster, som blev belagt med guld.36Han lod bygge en mur rundt om den indre forgård med tre lag sten og et lag cedertræsbjælker.37Tempelbyggeriet startede som sagt i årets anden måned i Salomons fjerde regeringsår,38og det var færdigt til mindste detalje i bul måned, det vil sige den ottende måned, i Salomons 11. regeringsår. Det tog altså godt syv år at opføre templet.
1In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord. (2.Krøn 3,1; Ap G 7,47)2The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits[1] long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. (2.Krøn 3,3)3The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.4And he made for the house windows with recessed frames.[2] (Ez 40,16; Ez 41,16; Ez 41,26)5He also built a structure[3] against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around. (1.Kong 6,16; 1.Kong 6,19; 1.Kong 6,23; 1.Kong 6,31; 1.Kong 7,49; 1.Kong 8,6; 1.Kong 8,8; 2.Krøn 4,20; 2.Krøn 5,7; 2.Krøn 5,9; Salm 28,2; Ez 41,5; Ez 41,6)6The lowest story[4] was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.7When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built. (5.Mos 27,5; 1.Kong 5,18)8The entrance for the lowest[5] story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.9So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. (1.Kong 6,14; 1.Kong 6,38)10He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.11Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon,12“Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. (2.Sam 7,13; 1.Kong 2,4; 1.Kong 9,4; 1.Krøn 22,10)13And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.” (2.Mos 25,8; 5.Mos 31,6; 5.Mos 31,8; Josva 1,5)14So Solomon built the house and finished it. (1.Kong 6,9; 1.Kong 6,38)15He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. (1.Kong 7,7)16He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. (2.Mos 26,33; 1.Kong 7,50; 1.Kong 8,6; 2.Krøn 3,8; Ez 45,3; Heb 9,3)17The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long.18The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. (1.Kong 7,24)19The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.20The inner sanctuary[6] was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid[7] an altar of cedar.21And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold.22And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. (2.Mos 30,1; 2.Mos 30,3; 2.Mos 30,6)23In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. (2.Mos 37,7; 2.Krøn 3,10)24Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other.25The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form.26The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub.27He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. (2.Mos 25,20; 2.Mos 37,9; 1.Kong 8,7; 2.Krøn 5,8)28And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.29Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms.30The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.31For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.[8]32He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.33So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square,34and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. (Ez 41,24)35On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work.36He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams. (1.Kong 7,12)37In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. (1.Kong 6,1)38And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.