It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel, the month of Ziv (that is the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh. Now the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits in its length and twenty cubits in its width and thirty cubits in its height. The vestibule on the face of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits in its length, and the width of the temple was ten cubits wide on the face of the temple. And he made for the temple specially designed framed windows, and he built a structure against the wall of the temple running all along the walls of the house, for the outer sanctuary and for the inner sanctuary, and made side rooms all around. The lower structure was five cubits in its width and the middle was six cubits in its width and the third was seven cubits in its width, for he made niches for the temple all around to the outside, so that beams would not attach to the walls of the temple. Now while the temple was being built, it was built with stones finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or stone shaping tool or any instrument of iron was heard in the temple as it was being built. The doorway of the side room in the middle of the side of the temple was on the south; they went up with a stairway to the middle and from the middle to the third floor. So he built the house and finished it. He covered the temple with rafters and wood planks and with the cedars. He also built the structure against all of the temple five cubits in height and fastened it to the temple with beams of cedar.

Then the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying, "Regarding this temple that you are building: if you walk in my ordinances and if you do my judgments and you keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my promise with you which I made to David your father. And I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will not forsake my people Israel."

So Solomon built the temple and finished it. He lined the walls of the inside of the house with boards of cedar; from the floor of the temple up to the rafters of the ceiling he covered them with wood on the inside. He also covered the floor of the temple with cypress boards. He built twenty cubits from the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor up to the ceiling, and he built for it an inner sanctuary on the inside, as the most holy place. The main hall of the temple was forty cubits in front of the inner sanctuary, with the cedar within the inner house having carvings of gourds and buds of flowers. It was entirely of cedar; there was not a stone visible. Now in the inner sanctuary in the middle of the temple he prepared the inside to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there. In front, the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar. Solomon overlaid the temple on the inside with pure gold, and he drew across it with golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary, which he overlaid with gold.

All of the temple he overlaid with gold until all of the temple was finished; all of the altar which belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. He made two cherubim of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, ten cubits high. Five cubits was the first wing of the cherub, and five cubits the second wing of the cherub, from the tip of his one wing up to the tip of his other wing. The second cherub was ten cubits according to the same measurement, and there was one shape for the two cherubim. The height of the first cherub was ten cubits and so was the second cherub.

He placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner house, and they spread out the wings of the cherubim; the wing of the first cherub touched against the wall and the wing of the second cherub was touching against the second wall; their wings spread to the middle of the house and were touching wing to wing. He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

On all of the walls around the house, he carved engravings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers both inside and out. He overlaid the floor of the house with gold both inside and out. He made doors of olive wood for the doorway of the inner sanctuary, as well as for the doorpost of the fifth doorframe. On the two doors of olive wood he made carvings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers, and he overlaid them with gold by beating out the gold on the cherubim and the palm tree images. Thus he made doorframes of olive wood on four sides for the doorway of the main hall and two doors of cypress wood; one door with two folding panels and the second door with two folding panels. He carved cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers and overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. Then he built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and a row of cedar beams. In the fourth year, the house of Yahweh was founded in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished according to all his specifications and according to all his plans. He had built it in seven years.

Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had established, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And he began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.

Now these were the measurements of Solomon for building the house of God: the length in cubits by the former measurement was sixty cubits, and the width was twenty cubits. The length of the portico that was in front was the same as the front of the width of the house: twenty cubits. And its height was one hundred and twenty cubits. And he overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. And the great house itself he covered with cypress wood, then he overlaid it with pure gold. And he put on it palm tree images and ornate chains. Then he overlaid the house with precious stone as decoration. (Now the gold was the gold of Parvaim.) And he overlaid the house with gold—the beams, the thresholds, the walls, and the doors. And he carved cherubim upon the walls. Then he made the most holy place. Its length was equal to the width of the house: twenty cubits. And its breadth was twenty cubits. And he overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold. And the weight for the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid its upper rooms with gold. And he made two sculpted wood cherubim in the most holy place, and he overlaid them with gold. The length of the outstretched wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits; one wing of five cubits touched the wall of the house, and the other wing of five cubits was touching the outstretched wing of the other cherub. And the wing of five cubits of the other cherub was touching the wall of the house, and its other wing five cubits long touching the wing of the first cherub. The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits, and they were standing on their feet, their faces toward the house. And he made the curtain of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen, and put cherubim on it. And at the front of the house he made two columns, thirty-five cubits high, and the capital on their top was five cubits. And he made decorative chains in the inner sanctuary and put them on top of the columns. And he made one hundred pomegranate ornaments, and put them on the chains. And he erected the columns in front of the temple, one on the south and one on the north. He called the name of the southern one Jakin, and the name of the northern one Boaz.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my true child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Just as I urged you when I traveled to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus, so that you may instruct certain people not to teach other doctrine, and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause useless speculations rather than God’s plan that is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a faith without hypocrisy, from which some have deviated, and have turned away into fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law, although they do not understand either the things which they are saying or the things concerning which they are speaking confidently.

But we know that the law is good, if anyone makes use of it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not given for a righteous person but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and totally worldly, for the one who kills his father and the one who kills his mother, for murderers, sexually immoral people, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God that I was entrusted with.

I give thanks to the one who strengthens me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me faithful, placing me into ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, but I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord abounded with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and worthy of all acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But because of this I was shown mercy, in order that in me foremost, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his total patience, for an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, to the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

I am setting before you this instruction, Timothy my child, in accordance with the prophecies spoken long ago about you, in order that by them you may fight the good fight, having faith and a good conscience, which some, because they have rejected these, have suffered shipwreck concerning their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, in order that they may be taught not to blaspheme.