Salomão edifica o templo
(2 Cr 3.1-4)
1Foi na primavera do quarto ano do reinado de Salomão que ele começou a construção do templo; 480 anos depois do povo de Israel ter deixado a escravidão do Egito.
2O templo, que o rei Salomão construiu para o Senhor, tinha 30 metros de comprimento, 10 metros de largura e 15 metros de altura. 3A fachada principal tinha um pórtico com 10 metros de largura e 5 metros de fundo. 4Tinha janelas com grades.
5Fez também edificar compartimentos em todo o comprimento de ambos os lados do templo, contra as paredes exteriores. 6Estas salas tinham a altura de três andares, tendo o primeiro piso de 2,5 metros de largura, o segundo piso 3 metros e o de cima 3,5 metros. Os compartimentos estavam ligados à parede do templo por vigas presas em blocos no exterior da parede; as vigas não estavam mesmo inseridas na parede.
7As pedras usadas na construção do templo foram assentadas sem o ruído de martelo nem de qualquer instrumento semelhante.
8Para o andar inferior dos compartimentos laterais entrava-se pelo lado direito do templo e havia umas escadas em caracol até ao segundo andar; um outro lanço de escadas levava até ao último piso, o terceiro. 9Acabada a edificação, Salomão mandou revesti-la completamente de cedro, incluindo as traves e os pilares. 10Como se disse, havia de cada lado da construção, encostado às paredes laterais, um anexo ligado ao edifício por vigas de cedro. Cada andar desse anexo media 2,5 metros de altura.
11Então o Senhor deu a Salomão a seguinte mensagem 12respeitante ao templo que estava a construir: “Se andares de acordo com a minha palavra e seguires os meus mandamentos e instruções, farei o que disse ao teu pai David: 13Viverei no meio do povo de Israel e nunca o desampararei.”
O interior do templo
(2 Cr 3.5-14)
14Por fim, o templo ficou acabado. 15Todo o seu interior foi revestido de cedro, do chão ao teto. 16O sobrado foi feito com pranchas de cipreste. Igual revestimento recebeu a câmara interior ao fundo do templo, o lugar santíssimo, também do chão ao teto, com tábuas de cedro; estas tiveram de ser cortadas à medida do compartimento, tábuas com 10 metros. 17Para o resto do templo empregaram-se tábuas com 20 metros. 18Por todo o edifício, o revestimento de cedro que cobria a pedra das paredes tinha incrustados botões de flores e flores abertas.
19O compartimento interior era onde estava a arca da aliança do Senhor. 20Este santuário interior tinha 10 metros de comprimento, 10 metros de largura e 10 metros de altura. As paredes e o teto estavam cobertas de ouro puro. Salomão fez um altar de cedro para esta sala. 21-22Depois mandou revestir o resto do interior do templo com ouro puro, incluindo o altar de cedro. Fez também cadeias de ouro para proteger a entrada do lugar santíssimo.
23Para o interior deste, fez dois querubins de madeira de oliveira, cada um com 5 metros de altura. 24-28Foram postos lado a lado, de forma a que as asas abertas, do lado exterior, tocassem as paredes laterais e as do interior se tocassem no centro da peça. Cada asa media 2,5 metros e cada querubim, com as asas abertas, atingia o dobro dessa medida. Os dois querubins tinham a mesma medida e estavam revestidos de ouro.
29Havia figuras de querubins, palmeiras e flores abertas gravadas nas paredes do templo e do santuário interior. 30O chão de ambos os lugares também estava revestido de ouro.
31-32A entrada para o lugar santíssimo era uma porta com cinco lados feita de madeira de oliveira; também tinha querubins entalhados, palmeiras e flores abertas, e tudo era revestido a ouro.
33Mandou fazer igualmente ombreiras de madeira de oliveira para a entrada do templo. 34Colocaram-se duas portas duplas feitas de madeira de cipreste e cada porta dobrava-se sobre si mesma. 35Estas portas também tinham os mesmos entalhes: querubins, palmeiras e flores abertas, e eram todas revestidas a ouro.
36As paredes do átrio interior tinham três fiadas de pedras lavradas intercaladas com uma viga de cedro.
37Os alicerces do templo foram colocados no mês de Ziv6.37 Mês de Ziv. Entre a lua nova do mês de abril e o mês de maio. do quarto ano do reinado de Salomão. 38O edifício ficou inteiramente pronto, com todos os seus acabamentos, no mês de Bul6.38 Mês de Bul. Entre a lua nova do mês de outubro e o mês de novembro. do décimo primeiro ano do seu reinado. Levou 7 anos a ser construído.
Solomon Builds the Temple
1Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord. It was 480 years after the Israelites came out of Egypt. It was in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel. He started in the second month. That was the month of Ziv.
2The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long. It was 30 feet wide. And it was 45 feet high. 3The temple had a porch in front of the main hall. The porch was as wide as the temple itself. It was 30 feet wide. It came out 15 feet from the front of the temple. 4Solomon made narrow windows high up in the temple walls. 5He built side rooms around the temple. They were built against the walls of the main hall and the Most Holy Room. 6On the first floor the side rooms were seven and a half feet wide. On the second floor they were nine feet wide. And on the third floor they were ten and a half feet wide. Solomon made the walls of the temple thinner as they went up floor by floor. The result was ledges along the walls. So the floor beams of the side rooms rested on the ledges. The beams didn’t go into the temple walls.
7All the stones used for building the temple were shaped where they were cut. So hammers, chisels and other iron tools couldn’t be heard where the temple was being built.
8The entrance to the first floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the second floor. From there it went on up to the third floor. 9So Solomon built the temple and finished it. He made its roof out of beams and cedar boards. 10He built side rooms all along the temple. Each room was seven and a half feet high. They were joined to the temple by cedar beams.
11A message came to Solomon from the Lord. The Lord said, 12“You are now building this temple. Follow my orders. Keep my rules. Obey all my commands. Then I will make the promise I gave your father David come true. I will do it through you. 13I will live among my people Israel. I will not desert them.”
14So Solomon built the temple and finished it. 15He put cedar boards on its inside walls. He covered them from floor to ceiling. He covered the temple floor with juniper boards. 16He put up a wall 30 feet from the back of the temple. He made it with cedar boards from floor to ceiling. That formed a room inside the temple. It was the Most Holy Room. 17The main hall in front of the room was 60 feet long. 18The inside of the temple was covered with cedar wood. Gourds and open flowers were carved on the wood. Everything was cedar. There wasn’t any stone showing anywhere.
19Solomon prepared the Most Holy Room inside the temple. That’s where the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be placed. 20The Most Holy Room was 30 feet long. It was 30 feet wide. And it was 30 feet high. Solomon covered the inside of it with pure gold. He prepared the cedar altar for burning incense. He covered it with gold. 21Solomon covered the inside of the main hall with pure gold. He placed gold chains across the front of the Most Holy Room. That room was covered with gold. 22So Solomon covered the inside of the whole temple with gold. He also covered the altar for burning incense with gold. It was right in front of the Most Holy Room.
23For the Most Holy Room Solomon made a pair of cherubim. He made them out of olive wood. Each cherub was 15 feet high. 24One wing of the first cherub was seven and a half feet long. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long. So the wings measured 15 feet from tip to tip. 25The second cherub’s wings also measured 15 feet from tip to tip. The two cherubim had the same size and shape. 26Each cherub was 15 feet high. 27Solomon placed the cherubim inside the Most Holy Room in the temple. Their wings were spread out. The wing tip of one cherub touched one wall. The wing tip of the other touched the other wall. The tips of their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28Solomon covered the cherubim with gold.
29On the walls all around the temple he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. He carved them on the walls of the Most Holy Room and the main hall. 30He also covered the floors of those two rooms with gold.
31For the entrance to the Most Holy Room he made two doors out of olive wood. Each door was one-fifth of the width of the Most Holy Room. 32On the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. He covered the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. 33In the same way he made olive wood doorposts for the entrance to the main hall. Each doorpost was one-fourth of the width of the hall. 34He also made two doors out of juniper wood. Each door had two parts. They turned in bases shaped like cups. 35He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on the doors. He covered the doors with gold. He hammered the gold evenly over the carvings.
36He used blocks of stone to build a wall around the inside courtyard. The first three layers of the wall were made out of stone. The top layer was made out of beautiful cedar wood.
37The foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid in Solomon’s fourth year. It was in the month of Ziv. 38The temple was finished in his 11th year. It was in the month of Bul. That was the eighth month. Everything was finished just as the plans required. Solomon had spent seven years building the temple.
