And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to Solomon: for he heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram had always been David’s friend.

And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying:

Thou knowest the will of David, my father, and that he could not build a house to the name of the Lord his God, because of the wars that were round about him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.

But now the Lord my God hath given me rest round about; and there is no adversary nor evil occurrence.

Wherefore I purpose to build a temple to the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying: Thy son, whom I will set upon the throne, in thy place, he shall build a house to my name.

Give orders, therefore, that thy servants cut me down cedar trees, out of Libanus, and let my servants be with thy servants: and I will give thee the hire of thy servants whatsoever thou wilt ask: for thou knowest how there is not among my people a man that has skill to hew wood like to the Sidonians.

Now when Hiram had heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced exceedingly, and said: Blessed be the Lord God this day, who hath given to David a very wise son over this numerous people.

And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have heard all thou hast desired of me; and I will do all thy desire concerning cedar trees, and fir trees.

My servants shall bring them down from Libanus to the sea: and I will put them together in floats, on the sea, and convey them to the place, which thou shalt signify to me, and will land them there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt allow me necessaries to furnish food for my household.

So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees, and fir trees, according to all his desire.

And Solomon allowed Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat, for provision for his house, and twenty measures of the purest oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram every year.

And the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they two made a league together.

And king Solomon chose workmen out of all Israel, and the levy was of thirty thousand men.

And he sent them to Libanus, ten thousand every month, by turns, so that two months they were at home: and Adoniram was over this levy.

And Solomon had seventy thousand to carry burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountain:

Besides the overseers who were over every work, in number three thousand and three hundred, that ruled over the people, and them that did the work.

And the king commanded that they should bring great stones, costly stones, for the foundation of the temple, and should square them:

And the masons of Solomon, and the masons of Hiram, hewed them: and the Giblians prepared timber and stones to build the house.

And it came to pass 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) he began to build a house to the Lord.

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.

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.

And he made in the temple oblique windows.

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 chambers in the sides round about.

The floor that was underneath was five cubits in breadth, and the middle floor was six cubits in breadth, and the third floor was seven cubits in breadth. And he put beams in the house round about on the outside, that they might not be fastened in the walls of the temple.

And the house, when it was in building, 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 in building.

The door, for the middle side, was on the right hand of the house: and by winding stairs they went up to the middle room, and from the middle to the third.

So he built the house, and finished it: and he covered the house with roofs of cedar.

And he built a floor over all the house, five cubits in height, and he covered the house with timber of cedar.

And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying:

As for this house, which thou art building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, 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.

And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and I will not forsake my people Israel.

So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

And he built the walls of the house on the inside, with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the top of the walls, and to the roofs, he covered it with boards of cedar on the inside: and he covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.

And he built up twenty cubits with boards of cedar at the hinder part of the temple, from the floor to the top: and made the inner house of the oracle to be the holy of holies.

And the temple itself, before the doors of the oracle, was forty cubits long.

And all the house was covered within with cedar, having the turnings, and the joints thereof artfully wrought, and carvings projecting out: all was covered with boards of cedar: and no stone could be seen in the wall at all.

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.

Now the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height. And he covered it, and overlaid it with most pure gold. And the altar also he covered with cedar.

And the house before the oracle he overlaid with most pure gold, and fastened on the plates with nails of gold.

And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold: the whole altar of the oracle he covered also with gold.

And he made in the oracle two cherubims of olive tree, of ten cubits in height.

One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub was five cubits: that is, in all ten cubits, from the extremity of one wing to the extremity of the other wing.

The second cherub also was ten cubits: and the measure, and the work was the same in both the cherubims:

That is to say, one cherub was ten cubits high, and in like manner the other cherub.

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 other cherub touched the other wall: and the other wings in the midst of the temple touched one another.

And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.

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 representations, as it were standing out, and coming forth from the wall.

And the floor of the house he also overlaid with gold within and without.

And in the entrance of the oracle, he made little doors of olive tree, and posts of five corners,

And two doors of olive tree: and he carved upon them figures of cherubims, and figures of palm trees, and carvings very much projecting; and he overlaid them with gold: and he covered both the cherubims and the palm trees, and the other things, with gold.

And he made in the entrance of the temple posts of olive tree foursquare:

And two doors of fir tree, one of each side: and each door was double, and so opened with folding leaves.

And he carved cherubims, and palm trees, and carved work standing very much out: and he overlaid all with golden plates in square work by rule.

And he built the inner court with three rows of polished stones, and one row of beams of cedar.

In the fourth year was the house of the Lord founded, in the month Zio:

And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul. (which is the eighth month) the house was finished in all the works thereof, and in all the appurtenances thereof: and he was seven years in building it.

And Solomon determined to build a house to the name of the Lord, and a palace for himself.

And he numbered out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.

He sent also to Hiram king of Tyre, saying: As thou didst with David my father, and didst send him cedars, to build him a house, in which he dwelt:

So do with me that I may build a house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to burn incense before him, and to perfume with aromatical spices, and for the continual setting forth of bread, and for the holocausts, morning and evening, and on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and the solemnities of the Lord our God for ever, which are commanded for Israel.

For the house which I desire to build, is great: for our God is great above all gods.

Who then can be able to build him a worthy house? if heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain him: who am I that I should be able to build him a house? but to this end only, that incense may be burnt before him.

Send me therefore a skilful man, that knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, in purple, in scarlet and in blue, and that hath skill in engraving, with the artificers, which I have with me in Judea and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

Send me also cedars, and fir trees, and pine trees from Libanus: for I know that thy servants are skilful in cutting timber in Libanus, and my servants shall be with thy servants,

To provide me timber in abundance. For the house which I desire to build, is to be exceeding great, and glorious.

And I will give thy servants the workmen that are to cut down the trees, for their food twenty thousand cores of wheat, and as many cores of barley, and twenty thousand measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil.

And Hiram king of Tyre sent a letter to Solomon, saying: Because the Lord hath loved his people, therefore he hath made thee king over them.

And he added, saying: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who hath given to king David a wise and knowing son, endued with understanding and prudence, to build a house to the Lord, and a palace for himself.

I therefore have sent thee my father Hiram, a wise and most skilful man,

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a Tyrian, who knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, and in marble, and in timber, in purple also, and violet, and silk and scarlet: and who knoweth to grave all sort of graving, and to devise ingeniously all that there may be need of in the work with thy artificers, and with the artificers of my lord David thy father.

The wheat therefore, and the barley and the oil, and the wine, which thou, my lord, hast promised, send to thy servants.

And we will cut down as many trees out of Libanus, as thou shalt want, and will convey them in floats by sea to Joppe: and it will be thy part to bring them thence to Jerusalem.

And Solomon numbered all the proselytes in the land of Israel, after the numbering which David his father had made, and they were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred.

And he set seventy thousand of them to carry burdens on their shoulders, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains: and three thousand and six hundred to be overseers of the work of the people.

And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, in mount Moria, which had been shewn to David his father, in the place which David had prepared in the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And he began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

Now these are the foundations, which Solomon laid, to build the house of God, the length by the first measure sixty cubits, the breadth twenty cubits.

And the porch in the front, which was extended in length according to the measure of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits: and the height was a hundred and twenty cubits: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

And the greater house he ceiled with deal boards, and overlaid them with plates of fine gold throughout: and he graved in them palm trees, and like little chains interlaced with one another.

He paved also the floor of the temple with most precious marble, of great beauty.

And the gold of the plates with which he overlaid the house, and the beams thereof, and the posts, and the walls, and the doors was of the finest: and he graved cherubims on the walls.

He made also the house of the holy of holies: the length of it according to the breadth of the temple, twenty cubits, and the breadth of it in like manner twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with plates of gold, amounting to about six hundred talents.

He made also nails of gold, and the weight of every nail was fifty sicles: the upper chambers also he overlaid with gold.

He made also in the house of the holy of holies two cherubims of image work: and he overlaid them with gold.

The wings of the cherubims were extended twenty cubits, so that one wing was five cubits long, and reached to the wall of the house: and the other was also five cubits long, and reached to the wing of the other cherub.

In like manner the wing of the other cherub, was five cubits long, and reached to the wall: and his other wing was five cubits long, and touched the wing of the other cherub.

So the wings of the two cherubims were spread forth, and were extended twenty cubits: and they stood upright on their feet, and their faces were turned toward the house without.

He made also a veil of violet, purple, scarlet, and silk: and wrought in it cherubims.

He made also before the doors of the temple two pillars, which were five and thirty cubits high: and their chapiters were five cubits.

He made also as it were little chains in the oracle, and he put them on the heads of the pillars: and a hundred pomegranates, which he put between the little chains.

These pillars he put at the entrance of the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left: that which was on the right hand, he called Jachin: and that on the left hand, Booz.