Discovery Box1 Kings 6:9-18 
Context6:9 He finished building the temple 1 and covered it 2 with rafters 3 and boards made of cedar. 4 6:10 He built an extension all around the temple; it was seven and a half feet high 5 and it was attached to the temple by cedar beams.
6:11 6 The Lord said 7 to Solomon: 6:12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow 8 my rules, observe 9 my regulations, and obey all my commandments, 10 I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. 11 6:13 I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”
6:14 So Solomon finished building the temple. 12 6:15 He constructed the walls inside the temple with cedar planks; he paneled the inside with wood from the floor of the temple to the rafters 13 of the ceiling. He covered the temple floor with boards made from the wood of evergreens. 6:16 He built a wall 30 feet in from the rear of the temple as a partition for an inner sanctuary that would be the most holy place. 14 He paneled the wall with cedar planks from the floor to the rafters. 15 6:17 The main hall in front of the inner sanctuary was 60 feet long. 16 6:18 The inside of the temple was all cedar and was adorned with carvings of round ornaments and of flowers in bloom. Everything was cedar; no stones were visible. 17
1 tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.”
2 tn Heb “the house.”
3 tn The word occurs only here; the precise meaning is uncertain.
4 tn Heb “and rows with cedar wood.”
5 tn Heb “five cubits.” This must refer to the height of each floor or room.
7 tn Heb “the word of the
8 tn Heb “walk in.”
9 tn Heb “do.”
10 tn Heb “and keep all my commandments by walking in them.”
11 tn Heb “I will establish my word with you which I spoke to David your father.”
12 tn Heb “ built the house and completed it.”
13 tc The MT reads קִירוֹת (qirot, “walls”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה.
14 tn Heb “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.”
15 tc The MT has קְלָעִים (qÿla’im, “curtains”), but this should be emended to קוֹרוֹת (qorot, “rafters”). See BDB 900 s.v. קוֹרָה.
16 tn Heb “and the house was forty cubits, that is, the main hall before it.”
17 tn Heb “Cedar was inside the temple, carvings of gourds (i.e., gourd-shaped ornaments) and opened flowers; the whole was cedar, no stone was seen.”
