Solomon builds his palace
1 Solomon was also building a palace for himself. After 13 years, he finished it. 2 He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 46 metres long, 23 metres wide and 14 metres high. It had four rows of pillars. On top of them were beams. They used cedar wood to make the pillars and the beams. 3 They also used cedar wood to make the roof. They put the roof on top of the pillars and the beams. There were 45 beams, with 15 beams in each row. 4 There were three rows of windows on each side of the room. They were opposite each other, in groups of three windows. 5 All the doors had square corners and four sides. There were three doors in each group.
7:1Solomon's palace had 5 parts: the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon (verses 2-5), the Hall of Pillars (verse 6), the room for the king's throne (verse 7), Solomon's own house and Solomon's wife's house (verse 8).
7:2The cedar wood came from the forests in Lebanon. The pillars caused it to look like a forest. This is why it is called the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. Solomon had a large family and many servants. So his house was very large. Perhaps Solomon's house and his wife's house joined together.
6 Solomon also built a Hall of Pillars. It was 23 metres long and 14 metres wide. There was an entrance room at the front of the hall. The entrance room also had pillars and a roof.
7 Solomon also built a Throne Room. He covered the walls with cedar boards, from the floor to the ceiling. He called it the Hall of Justice. He judged people's arguments in that room.
8 Solomon also built a house for himself to live in. It was in a yard behind the Hall of Justice. It was like the other buildings. He also built a house like it for his wife who was the king of Egypt's daughter.
9 Solomon's workers used valuable, large stones to make all the buildings, from the front to the great yard that was behind. They cut the stones to the right size and shape with special saws. They used these stones for the foundations and all the way up to the roof.
10 They made the foundations with very large, valuable stones. The stones were 3.5 metres or 4.5 metres long. 11 On top of the foundation they used the best stones that they cut to the right size. They also used beams of cedar wood. 12 There was a wall around the great yard. This had three rows of special stones, then a row of cedar beams, and so on. It was like the wall around the yard of the Lord's temple and the entrance room.
