1 Kings 5:18--6:2

5:18 Solomon’s and Hiram’s construction workers, 1  along with men from Byblos, 2  did the chiseling and prepared the wood and stones for the building of the temple. 3 

The Building of the Temple

6:1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, during the month Ziv 4  (the second month), he began building the Lord’s temple. 6:2 The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet 5  long, 30 feet 6  wide, and 45 feet 7  high.

1 tn Heb “builders.”

2 tn Heb “the Gebalites.” The reading is problematic and some emend to a verb form meaning, “set the borders.”

3 tc The LXX includes the words “for three years.”

4 sn During the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning.

5 tn 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.

6 tn Heb “twenty cubits.”

7 tn Heb “thirty cubits.”