Where did Solomon begin the temple, and what does this chapter record about its building?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He began in Jerusalem on mount Moria, at Ornan the Jebusite’s thrashingfloor prepared by David, in the second month of his fourth year. The account records the building’s measures, gold and marble work, holy of holies, cherubims, veil and named entrance pillars.

Chapter breakdown

The chapter describes the temple’s plan and ornaments, cherubims, veil and pillars.

Solomon began building the Lord’s house in Jerusalem on mount Moria, which had been shown to David his father. The place was the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, prepared by David. Building began in the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.

The foundations Solomon laid for God’s house were 60 cubits long by the first measure and 20 cubits broad. The porch across the front extended 20 cubits in length, matching the house’s breadth. Its height was 120 cubits, and Solomon overlaid its interior with pure gold.

Solomon covered the ceiling of the greater house with deal boards and overlaid them throughout with fine gold plates. He engraved palm trees and shapes like little chains interlaced with one another. He paved the temple floor with most precious marble of great beauty. The gold plates covering the house, its beams, posts, walls and doors were of the finest gold. He engraved cherubims on the walls.

The house of the holy of holies was 20 cubits long, matching the temple’s breadth, and also 20 cubits broad. Solomon overlaid it with gold plates amounting to about 600 talents. He made gold nails, each weighing 50 sicles, and overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

In the holy of holies Solomon made two cherubims of image work and overlaid them with gold. Their extended wings spanned 20 cubits. One cherub’s outer wing was five cubits long and reached the wall; its other wing was also five cubits long and reached the other cherub’s wing. The other cherub likewise had a five-cubit wing reaching the wall and another five-cubit wing touching the first cherub’s wing. Together their spread wings extended 20 cubits. They stood upright on their feet, with their faces turned toward the house outside.

Solomon made a veil of violet, purple, scarlet and silk, with cherubims worked in it. Before the temple doors he made two pillars 35 cubits high, with chapiters, or heads, of five cubits. He made shapes like little chains in the oracle and placed them on the pillar heads, with 100 pomegranates between the chains. He set the pillars at the temple entrance, one on the right and one on the left. He named the right pillar Jachin and the left Booz.

The story inside

The account first fixes the building’s place and starting date, linking the site to what had been shown to David and what David had prepared. It then gives the foundations and porch measures before describing the greater house’s ceiling, floor and gold coverings. The description turns to the holy of holies, its approximate gold weight and the individual nail weight. The two cherubims’ wings reach opposite walls and meet each other across a total span of 20 cubits. Their upright posture and outward-facing position are also recorded. Finally the account describes the veil and the decorated entrance pillars, locating Jachin on the right and Booz on the left. This is a description of the recorded work, without an added explanation of the ornaments’ symbolism or a claim that the entire temple project has finished.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The place and date are part of the building record. Jerusalem, mount Moria and Ornan the Jebusite’s thrashingfloor identify the site, while David’s preparation links it to Solomon’s work. The second month of the fourth year gives the stated starting time without supplying an unstated day.
2
The measures describe particular parts, and their limits matter. The foundations are 60 by 20 cubits by the first measure; the porch extends 20 cubits and is 120 cubits high. The holy of holies has a 20-cubit length and breadth, but this chapter does not give its height. Its gold amounts to about 600 talents, and every gold nail weighs 50 sicles; the approximate total must stay approximate.
3
The cherubims and pillars have carefully stated positions. Each cherub has two five-cubit wings, one reaching a wall and the other meeting its partner, making a 20-cubit combined span. The figures stand upright and face outward. At the entrance, Jachin is on the right and Booz on the left, with five-cubit heads, chains and 100 pomegranates. Keeping the arrangement explains the description without inventing meanings for the names.

Test your recall

David’s prepared place on mount Moria → Solomon begins the Lord’s house there in his fourth year’s second month. The foundation measures establish the house’s length and breadth → the porch length corresponds to that breadth. The holy of holies is 20 cubits broad → the paired five-cubit wings reach the walls and each other across 20 cubits. The two pillars are placed at opposite sides of the entrance → the right is identified as Jachin and the left as Booz.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 44545–44548
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 3 The plan and ornaments of the temple: the cherubims, the veil, and the pillars.
Lines 44550–44555
3:1. And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, in mount Moria, which had been shewn to David his father, in the place which David had prepared in the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 3:2. And he began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.
Lines 44557–44564
3:3. Now these are the foundations, which Solomon laid, to build the house of God, the length by the first measure sixty cubits, the breadth twenty cubits. 3:4. And the porch in the front, which was extended in length according to the measure of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits: and the height was a hundred and twenty cubits: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
Lines 44566–44575
3:5. And the greater house he ceiled with deal boards, and overlaid them with plates of fine gold throughout: and he graved in them palm trees, and like little chains interlaced with one another. 3:6. He paved also the floor of the temple with most precious marble, of great beauty. 3:7. And the gold of the plates with which he overlaid the house, and the beams thereof, and the posts, and the walls, and the doors was of the finest: and he graved cherubims on the walls.
Lines 44577–44583
3:8. He made also the house of the holy of holies: the length of it according to the breadth of the temple, twenty cubits, and the breadth of it in like manner twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with plates of gold, amounting to about six hundred talents. 3:9. He made also nails of gold, and the weight of every nail was fifty sicles: the upper chambers also he overlaid with gold.
Lines 44585–44599
3:10. He made also in the house of the holy of holies two cherubims of image work: and he overlaid them with gold. 3:11. The wings of the cherubims were extended twenty cubits, so that one wing was five cubits long, and reached to the wall of the house: and the other was also five cubits long, and reached to the wing of the other cherub. 3:12. In like manner the wing of the other cherub, was five cubits long, and reached to the wall: and his other wing was five cubits long, and touched the wing of the other cherub. 3:13. So the wings of the two cherubims were spread forth, and were extended twenty cubits: and they stood upright on their feet, and their faces were turned toward the house without.
Lines 44601–44613
3:14. He made also a veil of violet, purple, scarlet, and silk: and wrought in it cherubims. 3:15. He made also before the doors of the temple two pillars, which were five and thirty cubits high: and their chapiters were five cubits. 3:16. He made also as it were little chains in the oracle, and he put them on the heads of the pillars: and a hundred pomegranates, which he put between the little chains. 3:17. These pillars he put at the entrance of the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left: that which was on the right hand, he called Jachin: and that on the left hand, Booz.