Discovery Box1 Kings 6:5-10 
Context6:5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and holy place and constructed side rooms in it. 1 6:6 The bottom floor of the extension was seven and a half feet 2 wide, the middle floor nine feet 3 wide, and the third floor ten and a half 4 feet wide. He made ledges 5 on the temple’s outer walls so the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls. 6 6:7 As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry 7 were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built. 6:8 The entrance to the bottom 8 level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple; stairs went up 9 to the middle floor and then on up to the third 10 floor. 6:9 He finished building the temple 11 and covered it 12 with rafters 13 and boards made of cedar. 14 6:10 He built an extension all around the temple; it was seven and a half feet high 15 and it was attached to the temple by cedar beams.
1 tn Heb “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.”
2 tn Heb “five cubits.”
3 tn Heb “six cubits.”
4 tn Heb “seven cubits.”
5 tn Or “offsets” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “offset ledges.”
6 tn Heb “so that [the beams] would not have a hold in the walls of the temple.”
7 tn Heb “finished stone of the quarry,” i.e., stones chiseled and shaped at the time they were taken out of the quarry.
8 tc The Hebrew text has “middle,” but the remainder of the verse suggests this is an error.
9 tn Heb “by stairs they went up.” The word translated “stairs” occurs only here. Other options are “trapdoors” or “ladders.”
10 tc The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew
11 tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.”
12 tn Heb “the house.”
13 tn The word occurs only here; the precise meaning is uncertain.
14 tn Heb “and rows with cedar wood.”
15 tn Heb “five cubits.” This must refer to the height of each floor or room.
