Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Ethan: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 200 and 14
it was in mid-spring in the month
of Ziv during the fourth year of
Solomon's reign that he began to
construct the temple of the Lord.
The, this was 480 years after the
people of Israel were rescued from
their slavery in the land of Egypt.
The temple that King Solomon built
for the Lord was 90 feet long.
30 feet wide and 45 feet high.
The entry room at the front of the
temple was 30 feet wide, running
across the entire width of the temple.
It projected outward 15 feet
from the front of the temple.
Solomon also made narrowed recessed
windows throughout the temple.
He built a complex of rooms against the
outer walls of the temple all the way
around the sides and rear of the building.
The complex was three stories high.
The bottom floor being
seven and a half feet wide.
The second floor nine feet wide, and
the top floor 10 and a half feet wide.
The rooms were connected to the walls of
the temple by beams, resting on ledges
built out from the wall, so the beams were
not inserted into the walls themselves.
The stones used in the construction of
the temple were finished at the quarry.
So there was no sound of hammer, ax, or
any other iron tool at the building site.
The entrance to the bottom floor
was on the south side of the temple.
There were winding stairs going up to the
second floor and another flight of stairs
between the second and third floors.
After completing the temple
structure, Solomon put in a ceiling
made of cedar beams and planks.
As already stated, he built a complex of
rooms along the sides of the building.
Attached to the temple
walls by Cedar Timbers.
Each story of the complex was
seven and a half feet high.
Then the Lord gave this message to Solomon
concerning this temple you are building.
If you keep all my decrees and
regulations and obey all my commands,
I will fulfill through you the
promise I made to your father David.
I will live among the Israelites
and will never abandon my people.
Israel.
So Solomon finished building the temple.
The entire inside from floor to
ceiling was paneled with wood.
He paneled the walls and ceilings with
cedar, and he used planks of Cyprus.
For the floors.
He partitioned off an inner
sanctuary, the most holy place
at the far end of the temple.
It was 30 feet deep and was paneled
with cedar from floor to ceiling.
The main room of the temple outside
the most holy place was 60 feet long
Cedar paneling completely covered the
stone walls throughout the temple,
and the paneling was decorated with
carvings of gourds and open flowers.
He prepared the inner sanctuary at the
far end of the temple where the Ark of
the Lord's covenant would be placed.
This inner sanctuary was 30 feet
long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high.
He overlaid the inside with solid gold.
He also overlaid the altar made of cedar.
Then Solomon overlaid the rest of the
temple's interior with solid gold,
and he made gold chains to protect
the entrance to the most holy place.
So he finished overlaying the entire
temple with gold, including the altar
that belonged to the most holy place.
He made two cherubim of wild olive wood.
Each 15 feet tall and placed
them in the inner sanctuary.
The wingspan of each of the
cherubim was 15 feet, each wing
being seven and a half feet long.
The two cherubim were
identical in shape and size.
Each was 15 feet tall.
He placed them side by side in
the inner sanctuary of the temple.
Their outspread wings reached from
wall to wall while their inner wings
touched at the center of the room.
He overlaid the two cherubim with gold.
He decorated all the walls of the inner
sanctuary and the main room with carvings
of cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.
He overlaid the floor
in both rooms with gold.
For the entrance to the inner sanctuary,
he made double doors of wild olive
wood with five-sided doorposts.
These double doors were decorated
with carvings of cherubim,
palm trees and open flowers.
The doors, including the
decorations of cherubim and palm
trees, were overlaid with gold.
Then he made four-sided doorposts of wild
olive wood for the entrance to the temple.
There were two folding doors of
Cyprus wood, and each door was
hinged to fold back upon itself.
These doors were decorated with carvings
of cherubim, palm trees and open
flowers, all overlaid evenly with gold.
The walls of the inner courtyard
were built so that there was one
layer of cedar beams between every
three layers of finished stone.
The foundation of the Lord's temple was
laid in mid-spring in the month of Ziv
during the fourth year of Solomon's reign.
The entire building was completed in
every detail by mid-autumn in the month
of bull during the 11th year of his reign.
So it took seven years
to build the temple.
Solomon also built a palace for
himself, and it took him 13 years
to complete the construction.
One of Solomon's buildings was called
the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
It was 150 feet long, 75 feet
wide, and four five feet high.
There were four rows of cedar pillars and
great cedar beams rested on the pillars.
The hall had a cedar roof.
Above the beams on the pillars
were 45 side rooms arranged
in three tiers of 15 each.
On each end of the long haul were three
rows of windows facing each other.
All the doorways and doorposts had
rectangular frames and were arranged
in sets of three facing each other.
Solomon also built the Hall of Pillars,
which was 75 feet long and 45 feet wide.
There was a porch in front, along
with a canopy supported by pillars.
Solomon also built the throne
room known as the Hall of Justice,
where he sat to hear legal matters.
It was paneled with cedar
from floor to ceiling.
Solomon's living quarters surrounded
a courtyard behind this hall, and
they were constructed the same way.
He also built similar living quarters for
Pharaoh's daughter whom he had married.
From foundation to eaves, all these
buildings were built from huge blocks
of high quality stone cut with saws and
trimmed to exact measure on all sides.
Some of the huge foundation stones were
15 feet long and some were 12 feet long.
The blocks of high quality stone used
in the walls were also cut to measure,
and cedar beams were also used.
The walls of the great courtyard were
built so that there was one layer
of cedar beams between every three
layers of finished stone, just like
the walls of the inner courtyard of
the Lord's temple with its entry room.
This concludes today's
immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.