1
Solomon Builds His Palace
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.