Solomon began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord [which his father had closed] and repaired them [and replaced the gold overlay].

Now they began the consecration on the first [day] of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of the Lord. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.