The Main Hall and the Most Holy Place
Study note
The guide measured the entrance to the main hall (the Holy Place), which was about ten and a half feet wide with walls about eight and a half feet thick on each side. The main hall was about seventy feet long and thirty-five feet wide. Then the guide went into the inner room (the Most Holy Place), which was a perfect square of about thirty-five feet on each side. This inner room was the most sacred space in the temple, where God's presence would dwell.
1 He led me into the main hall of the temple and measured the doorway posts: each was about ten and a half feet wide. Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.
2 The entrance was about seventeen and a half feet wide, with walls about eight and a half feet wide on each side. He measured the main hall at about seventy feet long and about thirty-five feet wide. And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits.
3 He stepped into the inner room and measured the entrance posts: each about three and a half feet wide. The doorway was about ten and a half feet wide, and the walls on each side were about twelve and a quarter feet thick. Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits.
4 He measured the room beyond the main hall at about thirty-five feet long and thirty-five feet wide. He told me, "This is the Most Holy Place." So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place.
The Side Rooms
Study note
Built against the outer wall of the temple were three levels of side rooms, thirty rooms on each level. The walls of the temple were thinner at each higher level, creating ledges to support the floors above without putting beams into the temple wall itself. A raised platform surrounded the temple, and stairs connected the lower, middle, and upper levels of rooms.
5 He measured the temple's outer wall at about ten and a half feet thick. Side rooms surrounding the temple were about seven feet wide. After he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side.
6 These side rooms were stacked three stories high, with thirty rooms on each level. Ledges built into the temple wall supported the rooms so that the beams did not have to be embedded in the wall itself. And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house.
7 Each higher level of side rooms was wider than the one below because the temple wall got thinner at each level. A stairway connected the lowest level to the highest through the middle level. And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst.
8 I noticed the temple sat on a raised platform that served as the foundation for the side rooms. This platform was one full rod high -- about ten and a half feet. I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.
9 The outer wall of the side rooms was about eight and a half feet thick. An open area separated the temple's side rooms The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber without, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side chambers that were within.
10 from the other rooms, extending about thirty-five feet wide all around the temple. And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the house on every side.
11 The side rooms had entrances that opened onto this platform area -- one on the north and one on the south. The platform itself was about eight and a half feet wide all the way around. And the doors of the side chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about.
The Building to the West
Study note
Behind the temple to the west was a large building about one hundred and twenty-two and a half feet wide. The guide measured the temple and the open areas around it. With the building behind it, the entire complex measured about one hundred and seventy-five feet on each side. The interior of the main hall, the Most Holy Place, and the porch were all paneled with wood.
12 A large building faced the temple courtyard on the west side. It was about one hundred and twenty-two and a half feet wide. Its wall was about eight and a half feet thick all around, and the building was about one hundred and fifty-seven and a half feet long. Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits.
13 He measured the temple at about one hundred and seventy-five feet long. The temple courtyard with the building and its walls was also about one hundred and seventy-five feet. So he measured the house, an hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, an hundred cubits long;
14 The temple yard faced east. Its width, plus the temple's front, was about one hundred seventy-five feet. Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, an hundred cubits.
15 He measured the building at the back of the temple, including its side galleries, at about one hundred and seventy-five feet long. The temple's main hall, inner room, and outer porch were all paneled in wood. And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court;
Decorations of Cherubim and Palm Trees
Study note
The walls of the temple were decorated with carved cherubim and palm trees. Each cherub had two faces: a human face looking toward one palm tree and a lion's face looking toward the palm tree on the other side. These decorations covered the entire wall from floor to ceiling. The doors to both the main hall and the Most Holy Place had two leaves that swung open. A wooden altar stood in front of the Most Holy Place, which the guide called 'the table that is before the Lord.'
16 The doorways, narrow windows, and walkways on all three levels were covered in wood. The wood went from floor to ceiling. It covered the windows too. The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the door, ceiled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered;
17 Above the entrance to the inner room, and at even intervals on the walls of both the inner and outer rooms, To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure.
18 were carved decorations of cherubim and palm trees. Palm trees alternated with cherubim, and each cherub had two faces. And it was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces;
19 One face was human, looking toward the palm tree on one side; the other was a lion's face, looking toward the palm tree on the other side. These carvings covered the entire temple. So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: it was made through all the house round about.
20 Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the main hall walls from floor level all the way up past the entrance. From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made, and on the wall of the temple.
21 The doorframe of the main hall was square. In front of the Most Holy Place stood what appeared to be The posts of the temple were squared, and the face of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other.
22 a wooden altar, about five and a quarter feet tall and about three and a half feet on each side. Its corners, base, and sides were all wooden. The man told me, "This is the table that stands before the Lord." The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD.
23 Both the main hall and the Most Holy Place had double doors. And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
24 Each door consisted of two swinging panels -- two panels per door, four panels in all. And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door.
25 Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the main hall doors, matching the wall carvings. A wooden overhang sheltered the front of the outer porch. And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm trees, like as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face of the porch without.
26 Narrow windows with palm tree carvings were on both sides. They adorned the porch, the side rooms, and the overhangs. And there were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks.