Later, Solomon intermarried with the family of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt by taking his daughter and bringing her to the City of David to live until he had completed building his own palace, the LORD's Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem.

The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to the LORD.

"You know that my father David was unable to build a temple dedicated to the LORD his God because he was busy fighting wars all around him until the LORD defeated his enemies.

So now I'm planning to build a temple dedicated to the LORD my God, just as the LORD told my father when he said, "Your son, whom I will set on your throne to replace you, will build the Temple dedicated to me.'

The king specified that large, expensive stones be quarried so the foundation of the Temple could be laid with cut stones.

As a result, Solomon's builders worked with Hiram's builders, accompanied by the Gebalites, to quarry the stone and to prepare the timber and other stone for the Temple's construction.

During the month of Ziv, which was the second month of the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, 480 years after the Israelis left the land of Egypt, Solomon began to build the LORD's Temple.

The Temple for the LORD that Solomon was building was 60 cubits long and 20 cubits wide.

A portico extended in front of the Temple for 20 cubits outward, corresponding to the width of the Temple. Along the front of the Temple its depth was ten cubits.

Solomon also constructed windows in the Temple with specially designed frames.

Against the wall of the Temple he built a series of rooms that encompassed the exterior of the Temple walls around the inner sanctuary. He built these side chambers all around the building.

The lower structures were five cubits wide, the middle structures were six cubits wide and the third structures were seven cubits wide. Offsets were placed all around the Temple so that beams would not protrude through the walls of the Temple.

The Temple was constructed of stone precut at the quarry so that no hammer, axe, or any other iron implement would be heard in the Temple while it was being built.

A passageway to the side chamber was constructed on the south side of the Temple by which people could ascend winding stairs to the middle story, then from there to the third story.

After Solomon built the Temple and finished it, he covered the Temple with beams and planks made of cedar.

He constructed this structure to adjoin the entire Temple, five cubits high, and fastened it to the Temple with cedar timbers.

"Concerning this Temple that you're building, if you live your life according to my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all of my commands, and live according to them, then I will do what I promised to your father David.

So Solomon kept on building the Temple and finished it.

Then he built the inside walls of the Temple, lining them from floor to ceiling with cedar boards, and overlaying the Temple floor with boards made of cypress wood.

He lined 20 cubits of the rear part of the Temple from floor to ceiling with cedar boards specially constructed for the inside to serve as the Most Holy Place.

Cedar carvings in the form of gourds and blooming flowers covered the entire interior of the Temple so that no stone could be seen.

Solomon also prepared an inner sanctuary within the Temple where the LORD's Ark of the Covenant was placed.

Solomon overlaid the inside of the Temple with pure gold, fastened gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold.

He finished the Temple by overlaying it entirely with gold, including overlaying with gold the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary.

Solomon also inlaid all the inner walls of the Temple both the inner and outer sanctuaries with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers.

He also overlaid the floor of the Temple with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

The foundation for the LORD's Temple was laid in the month of Ziv during the fourth year of Solomon's reign,

and the Temple was completely finished according to its plans and specifications in the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, that is, during the month of Bul. It took about seven years to build.

So the great court was surrounded by three rows of cut stone, along with a row of cedar beams, just like the inner court of the LORD's Temple and the porch surrounding the Temple.

He set five of the stands on the right side of the Temple and five on the left side of the Temple. He set the bronze sea on the right side of the Temple eastward facing the south.

Hiram also made the basins, shovels, and bowls to complete the work that he performed for King Solomon in the LORD's Temple,

and the pots, shovels, and bowls all of these utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon for the LORD's Temple were made from polished bronze.

Solomon made all the furnishings that were placed in the LORD's Temple, including the golden altar and the golden table on which the bread of the Presence was placed,

and the cups, snuffers, bowls, spoons, and the fire pans, all made of pure gold, and hinges for the doors of the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, and for the gates of the Temple that led to the nave, also of gold.

Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the LORD's Temple was finished. Then Solomon brought in the articles that had been dedicated by his father David, including silver, gold, and other utensils, and he placed them into storage in the treasuries of the LORD's Temple.

After this, the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD to the place prepared for it, into the inner sanctuary of the Temple, under the wings of the cherubim in the Most Holy Place.

When the priests left the Holy Place after setting the ark in place, the cloud filled the LORD's Temple

so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's Temple.

Now I have been constructing a magnificent Temple dedicated to you that will serve as a place for you to inhabit forever."

"From the day I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name might reside. I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'

"My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

"Therefore, since you determined to build a temple for my name, you acted well, because it was your choice to do so. Nevertheless, you are not to build the Temple, but your son who will be born to you is to build a temple for my name.'

"The LORD has brought to fulfillment what he promised, and now here I stand, having succeeded my father David to sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the Temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

and yet, will God truly reside on earth? Look! Neither the sky nor the highest heaven can contain you! How much less this Temple that I have built!

Let your eyes always look toward this Temple night and day, toward the location where you have said "My name will reside there.' Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction.

"If a man should sin against his neighbor and he is required to take an oath, and he then comes to take an oath in front of your altar in this Temple,

"If your people Israel are defeated in a battle with their enemy because they have sinned against you, when they return to you and confess to you, pray, and in this Temple they ask you to show grace to them,

whatever prayer or request is made, no matter whether it's made by a single man or by all of your people Israel, each praying out of his own hurting heart and anguish and stretching out his hands toward this Temple,

(for people will hear of your great name, your mighty acts, and your obvious power), when he comes and prays facing this Temple,

then hear in heaven where you reside, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, fear you as do your people Israel, and so they may know that this Temple that I have built is called by your name.

"When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name,

if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, as they pray to you in the direction of their land that you have given to their ancestors and to the city that you have chosen, and to the Temple that I have built for your name,

Solomon offered peace offerings to the LORD consisting of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelis dedicated the LORD's Temple.

That same day, the king consecrated the middle court that stood in front of the LORD's Temple, because that was where he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat from the peace offerings and because the bronze altar that was in the LORD's presence was too small to hold the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat from the peace offerings.

Later, after Solomon had finished building the LORD's Temple, the royal palace, and everything else that Solomon wanted to do,

The LORD told him: "I've heard your prayer and your request that you made to me. I have consecrated this Temple that you have built by placing my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there continuously.

then I will eliminate Israel from the land that I gave them and from the Temple that I've consecrated for my name. I will throw them out of my sight, and Israel will become the butt of jokes and a means of ridicule among people worldwide!

"This Temple will become a pile of ruins. Everyone who passes by it will be so astounded that they will ask, "Why did the LORD do this to this land and to this Temple?'

It took 20 years for Solomon to finish working on the two houses the LORD's Temple and the royal palace

Here is a summary of the conscripted labor that King Solomon required to build the LORD's Temple, his royal palace, the terrace ramparts in the City of David, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

Three times every year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he had built to the LORD, burning incense with the offerings in the presence of the Lord. This concludes the record of the Temple construction.

the food set at his table, his servants who sat with him, his ministers in attendance and how they were dressed, his personal staff and how they were dressed, and even his personal stairway by which he went up to the LORD's Temple, she was breathless!

The king used the algum wood to have supports made for the LORD's Temple and for the royal palace, as well as lyres and harps for the choir, and nothing like that wood has ever come again or even been seen since right to this day.

Jeroboam built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi.

because what he predicted by a message from the LORD against the altar in Bethel and the temples built in the high places of the cities of Samaria will certainly come about."

He stripped the LORD's Temple and the royal palace of their treasures. He took everything, even the gold shields that Solomon had made.

Whenever the king entered the LORD's Temple, the guards would carry them to and from the guard's quarters.

Asa brought into the LORD's Temple the things that his father had dedicated, as well as his own dedicated gifts such as silver, gold, and temple service implements.

But Asa removed all the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord's Temple and from his royal palace, placed them into the care of some servants, and then sent them to Tabrimmon's son King Ben-hadad of Aram, the grandson of Hezion, who lived in Damascus.

He built an altar for Baal in a temple for Baal that he constructed in Samaria.