3:1 Solomon began building the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem 1 on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David prepared at the threshing floor of Ornan 2 the Jebusite.
3:8 He made the most holy place; 5 its length was 30 feet, 6 corresponding to the width of the temple, and its width 30 feet. 7 He plated it with 600 talents 8 of fine gold.
3:15 In front of the temple he made two pillars which had a combined length 9 of 52½ feet, 10 with each having a plated capital seven and one-half feet high. 11
5:7 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its assigned 15 place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place under the wings of the cherubs.
6:18 “God does not really live with humankind on the earth! 16 Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!
6:24 “If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy 17 because they sinned against you, then if they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, 18 and pray for your help 19 before you in this temple,
6:32 “Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your great reputation 20 and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds; 21 they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple.
6:34 “When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, 22 and they direct their prayers to you toward this chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, 23
12:9 King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.
26:16 But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. 44 He disobeyed 45 the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’s temple to offer incense on the incense altar.
29:15 They assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves. Then they went in to purify the Lord’s temple, just as the king had ordered, in accordance with the word 49 of the Lord.
30:1 Hezekiah sent messages throughout Israel and Judah; he even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, summoning them to come to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem 54 and observe a Passover celebration for the Lord God of Israel.
30:15 They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt sacrifices to the Lord’s temple.
34:14 When they took out the silver that had been brought to the Lord’s temple, Hilkiah the priest found the law scroll the Lord had given to Moses.
35:20 After Josiah had done all this for the temple, 55 King Necho of Egypt marched up to do battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates River. 56 Josiah marched out to oppose him.
1 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
2 tn In 2 Sam 24:16 this individual is called אֲרַוְנָא (“Aravna”; traditionally “Araunah”). The form of the name found here also occurs in 1 Chr 21:15; 18-28.
3 tc Heb “and the porch which was in front of the length corresponding to the width of the house, twenty cubits.” The phrase הֵיכַל הַבַּיִת (heykhal habbayit, “the main hall of the temple,” which appears in the parallel account in 1 Kgs 6:3) has been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton after עַל־פְּנֵי (’al-pÿney, “in front of”). Note that the following form, הָאֹרֶךְ (ha’orekh, “the length”), also begins with the Hebrew letter he (ה). A scribe’s eye probably jumped from the initial he on הֵיכַל to the initial he on הָאֹרֶךְ, leaving out the intervening letters in the process.
4 tc The Hebrew text has “one hundred and twenty cubits,” i.e. (assuming a cubit of 18 inches) 180 feet (54 m). An ancient Greek witness and the Syriac version read “twenty cubits,” i.e., 30 feet (9 m). It is likely that מֵאָה (me’ah, “a hundred”), is a corruption of an original אַמּוֹת (’ammot, “cubits”).
5 tn Heb “the house of the holy place of holy places.”
6 tn Heb “twenty cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), this would give a length of 30 feet (9 m).
7 tc Heb “twenty cubits.” Some suggest adding, “and its height twenty cubits” (see 1 Kgs 6:20). The phrase could have been omitted by homoioteleuton.
8 tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the gold plating was 40,380 lbs. (18,360 kg).
9 sn The figure given here appears to refer to the combined length of both pillars (perhaps when laid end-to-end on the ground prior to being set up; cf. v. 17); the figure given for the height of the pillars in 1 Kgs 7:15, 2 Kgs 25:17, and Jer 52:21 is half this (i.e., eighteen cubits).
10 tc The Syriac reads “eighteen cubits” (twenty-seven feet). This apparently reflects an attempt at harmonization with 1 Kgs 7:15, 2 Kgs 25:17, and Jer 52:21.
11 tn Heb “and he made before the house two pillars, thirty-five cubits [in] length, and the plated capital which was on its top [was] five cubits.” The significance of the measure “thirty-five cubits” (52.5 feet or 15.75 m, assuming a cubit of 18 inches) for the “length” of the pillars is uncertain. According to 1 Kgs 7:15, each pillar was eighteen cubits (27 feet or 8.1 m) high. Perhaps the measurement given here was taken with the pillars lying end-to-end on the ground before they were set up.
12 tn Or “one on the south and the other on the north.”
13 tn The name “Jachin” appears to be a verbal form and probably means, “he establishes.”
14 tn The meaning of the name “Boaz” is uncertain. For various proposals, see BDB 126-27 s.v. בֹּעַז. One attractive option is to revocalize the name asבְּעֹז (bÿ’oz, “in strength”) and to understand it as completing the verbal form on the first pillar. Taking the words together and reading from right to left, one can translate the sentence, “he establishes [it] in strength.”
15 tn The word “assigned” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
16 tn Heb “Indeed, can God really live with mankind on the earth?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not,” the force of which is reflected in the translation “God does not really live with mankind on the earth.”
17 tn Or “are struck down before an enemy.”
18 tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”
19 tn Heb “and they pray and ask for help.”
20 tn Heb “your great name.” The word “name” sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor (thus the translation here, “your great reputation
21 tn Heb “and your strong hand and your outstretched arm.”
22 tn Heb “When your people go out for battle against their enemies in the way which you send them.”
23 tn Heb “toward this city which you have chosen and the house which I built for your name.”
24 tn Heb “I have heard.”
25 tn Heb “temple of sacrifice.” This means the
26 tn Heb “them.” The switch from the second to the third person pronoun is rhetorically effective, for it mirrors God’s rejection of his people – he has stopped addressing them as “you” and begun addressing them as “them.” However, the switch is awkward and confusing in English, so the translation maintains the direct address style.
27 tn Heb “them.” See the note on “you” earlier in this verse.
28 tc Instead of “I will throw away,” the parallel text in 1 Kgs 9:7 has “I will send away.” The two verbs sound very similar in Hebrew, so the discrepancy is likely due to an oral transmissional error.
tn Heb “and this temple which I consecrated for my name I will throw away from before my face.”
29 tn Heb “him,” which appears in context to refer to Israel (i.e., “you” in direct address). Many translations understand the direct object of the verb “make” to be the temple (NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “it”).
30 tn Heb “and I will make him [i.e., Israel] a proverb and a taunt,” that is, a proverbial example of destruction and an object of reproach.
31 tn Heb “the food on his table.”
32 tn Heb “the seating of his servants and the standing of his attendants.”
33 tc The Hebrew text has here, “and his upper room [by] which he was going up to the house of the
34 tn Or “it took her breath away”; Heb “there was no breath still in her.”
35 tn Heb “tracks.” The parallel text in 1 Kgs 10:12 has a different term whose meaning is uncertain: “supports,” perhaps “banisters” or “parapets.”
36 tn Two types of stringed instruments are specifically mentioned in the Hebrew text, the כִּנּוֹר (kinnor, “zither”) and נֶבֶל (nevel, “harp”).
37 tn Heb “there was not seen like these formerly in the land of Judah.”
38 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoiada the priest, cf. v. 8) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
39 tn Heb “all the people.”
40 tn Heb “house.”
41 tn Heb “and be with the king in his coming out and in his going out.”
42 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 24).
43 tn Heb “served.”
44 tn Heb “his heart was high [i.e., proud] to destroy.”
45 tn Or “was unfaithful to.”
46 tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the
47 tn Heb “except he did not enter the house of the
48 tn Heb “fathers.”
49 tn Heb “words” (plural).
50 tn Heb “filled your hand.”
51 tn Or “tokens of thanks.”
52 tn Heb “and all who were willing of heart.”
53 tn Or “established.”
54 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
55 tn Heb “After all this, [by] which Josiah prepared the temple.”
56 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
57 tn Heb “sent and brought him.”
58 tn Heb “and he made Zedekiah his brother king.” According to the parallel text in 2 Kgs 24:17, Zedekiah was Jehoiachin’s uncle, not his brother. Therefore many interpreters understand אח here in its less specific sense of “relative” (NEB “made his father’s brother Zedekiah king”; NASB “made his kinsman Zedekiah king”; NIV “made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, king”; NRSV “made his brother Zedekiah king”).
59 tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”
60 tn Heb “killed with the sword.”
61 tn Heb “in the house of their sanctuary.”
62 tn Or “show compassion to.”
63 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.