| 1 |
It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. |
| 2 |
He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. |
| 3 |
It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns–forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. |
| 4 |
Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. |
| 5 |
All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other. |
| 6 |
He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide. In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof. |
| 7 |
He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. |
| 8 |
And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married. |
| 9 |
All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and trimmed with a saw on their inner and outer faces. |
| 10 |
The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight. |
| 11 |
Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. |
| 12 |
The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the LORD with its portico. |
