2 Chronicles 3NIV
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2 Chronicles3

New International Version

1Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.

2He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

3The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide (using the cubit of the old standard).

4The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits long across the width of the building and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

5He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree and chain designs.

6He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim.

7He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.

8He built the Most Holy Place, its length corresponding to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of fine gold.

9The gold nails weighed fifty shekels. He also overlaid the upper parts with gold.

10For the Most Holy Place he made a pair of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold.

11The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and touched the temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub.

12Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub.

13The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main hall.

14He made the curtain of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim worked into it.

15For the front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits long, each with a capital five cubits high.

16He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains.

17He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 2 Chronicles 3.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: The building of the temple. (1-17).

vv1-17

There is a more particular account of the building of the temple in 1Ki 6. It must be in the place David had prepared, not only which he had purchased, but which he had fixed on by Divine direction. Full instructions enable us to go about our work with certainty and to proceed therein with comfort. Blessed be God, the Scriptures are enough to render the man of God thoroughly furnished for every good work. Let us search the Scriptures daily, beseeching the Lord to enable us to understand, believe, and obey his word, that our work and our way may be made plain, and that all may be begun, continued, and ended in him. Beholding God, in Christ, his true Temple, more glorious than that of Solomon's, may we become a spiritual house, a habitation of God through the Spirit.

Cross References

2 Chronicles 3
v11 Kings 6:1-14thematic

The primary parallel account detailing the timing and initial construction of Solomon's temple.

Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole

David offers sacrifices on Ornan's threshingfloor, and God answers by fire, consecrating the temple site.

Supported by Matthew Poole

David explicitly identifies this site as the house of the Lord God and the altar of burnt offering.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v1Genesis 22:2thematic

Identifies Mount Moriah, the temple site, as the mountain where Abraham was commanded to offer Isaac.

Supported by JFB

David gives Solomon the divinely inspired plans and specifications for building the temple.

Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole

v101 Kings 6:23-28thematic

The parallel detailed account of crafting the two colossal cherubim of olive wood.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v14Exodus 26:31-35thematic

The Mosaic pattern for the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen, with cherubim.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v171 Kings 7:21thematic

The parallel account describing the erection and naming of the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz.

Supported by Matthew Poole

The New Jerusalem is adorned with precious stones and pure gold, fulfilling the temple's typological beauty.

Supported by Matthew Henry

v81 Kings 6:20-22thematic

Parallel details of the inner oracle, its cubical dimensions, and overlaying it with gold.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v14Matthew 27:51fulfillment

The tearing of the temple veil at Christ's death, signifying open access to God.

v14Hebrews 9:3thematic

New Testament explanation of the tabernacle layout, highlighting the veil before the Most Holy place.

The historical account of David purchasing the threshingfloor from Araunah (Ornan) the Jebusite.

v51 Kings 6:15-17thematic

Parallel description of ceiling the temple walls and floors with cedar and fir planks.

Supported by JFB

v151 Kings 7:15-24thematic

Parallel engineering details of casting the massive bronze pillars and their chapiters.