1snDuring the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning.
2tnHeb “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.
3tnHeb “twenty cubits.”
4tnHeb “thirty cubits.”
5tnHeb “twenty cubits.”
6tnHeb “ten cubits.”
7tnHeb “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.”
8tnHeb “five cubits.”
9tnHeb “six cubits.”
10tnHeb “seven cubits.”
11tn Or “offsets” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “offset ledges.”
12tnHeb “so that [the beams] would not have a hold in the walls of the temple.”
13tnHeb “finished stone of the quarry,” i.e., stones chiseled and shaped at the time they were taken out of the quarry.
14tc The Hebrew text has “middle,” but the remainder of the verse suggests this is an error.
15tnHeb “by stairs they went up.” The word translated “stairs” occurs only here. Other options are “trapdoors” or “ladders.”
16tc The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate הַשְּׁלִשִׁית (hash˙lishit, “the third”) rather than MT הַשְּׁלִשִׁים (hash˙lishim, “the thirty”).
17tnHeb “ built the house and completed it.”
18tnHeb “the house.”
19tn The word occurs only here; the precise meaning is uncertain.
20tnHeb “and rows with cedar wood.”
21tnHeb “five cubits.” This must refer to the height of each floor or room.
22tc The LXX lacks vv. 11-14.
23tnHeb “the word of the Lord was.”
24tnHeb “walk in.”
25tnHeb “do.”
26tnHeb “and keep all my commandments by walking in them.”
27tnHeb “I will establish my word with you which I spoke to David your father.”
28tnHeb “ built the house and completed it.”
29tc The MT reads קִירוֹת (qirot, “walls”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה.
30tnHeb “He built twenty cubits from the rear areas of the temple with cedar planks from the floor to the walls, and he built it on the inside for an inner sanctuary, for a holy place of holy places.”
31tc The MT has קְלָעִים (q˙la’im, “curtains”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה.
32tnHeb “and the house was forty cubits, that is, the main hall before it.”
33tnHeb “Cedar was inside the temple, carvings of gourds (i.e., gourd-shaped ornaments) and opened flowers; the whole was cedar, no stone was seen.”
34tnHeb “twenty cubits” (this measurement occurs three times in this verse).
35tnHeb “with plated gold” (or perhaps, “with pure gold”).
36tnHeb “he plated [the] altar of cedar.”
37tnHeb “with plated gold” (or perhaps, “with pure gold”).
38tnHeb “it.”
39tnHeb “all the temple he plated with gold until all the temple was finished; and the whole altar which was in the inner sanctuary he plated with gold.”
40tnHeb “ten cubits” (a cubit was a unit of measure roughly equivalent to 18 inches or 45 cm).
41tnHeb “The first wing of the [one] cherub was five cubits, and the second wing of the cherub was five cubits, ten cubits from the tips of his wings to the tips of his wings.”
42tnHeb “and the second cherub was ten cubits, the two cherubs had one measurement and one shape.”
43tnHeb “the height of the first cherub was ten cubits; and so was the second cherub.”
44tnHeb “in the midst of the inner house,” i.e., in the inner sanctuary.
45tnHeb “and their wings were in the middle of the room, touching wing to wing.”
46snInside and out probably refers to the inner and outer rooms within the building.
47tnHeb “carved engravings of carvings.”
48snInside and out probably refers to the inner and outer rooms within the building.
49tnHeb “the pillar, doorposts, a fifth part” (the precise meaning of this description is uncertain).
50tnHeb “carved carvings of.”
51tnHeb “he plated [with] gold” (the precise object is not stated).
52tnHeb “and he hammered out the gold on the cherubs and the palm trees.”
53tnHeb “and so he did at the entrance of the main hall, doorposts of olive wood, from a fourth.”
54tn The words “he also made” are added for stylistic reasons.
55tcHeb “two of the leaves of the first door were folding, and two of the leaves of the second door were folding.” In the second half of the description, the MT has קְלָעִים (q˙la’im, “curtains”), but this is surely a corruption of צְלָעִים (ts˙la’im, “leaves”) which appears in the first half of the statement.
56snIn the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning.
57tn The words “of Solomon’s reign” are added for clarification. See v. 1.
58snIn the month Bul. This would be October-November 959 b.c. in modern reckoning.