Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
Parallel translations
- WEB He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams.
- KJV And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams.
- NKJV And he built the inner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.
- NASB And he built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.
- NLT The walls of the inner courtyard were built so that there was one layer of cedar beams between every three layers of finished stone.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Solomon built the inner court with three layers of cut stone topped by a row of cedar beams. This bordered the sacred area immediately around the temple.
Overview
The inner court set apart the immediate space for priestly ministry and sacrifice. Its construction of dressed stone and cedar matched the dignity of the temple itself. Such graded zones of holiness, from outer court to Most Holy Place, taught Israel that sinful people could not casually approach a holy God, a barrier later removed through Christ's atoning work.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Kgs 7:12The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the LORD.
- Exod 38:9–20Then he constructed the courtyard. The south side of the courtyard was a hundred cubits long and had curtains of finely spun linen,
- Exod 27:9–19You are also to make a courtyard for the tabernacle. On the south side of the courtyard make curtains of finely spun linen, a hundred cubits long on one side,
- 2 Chr 4:9He made the courtyard of the priests and the large court with its doors, and he overlaid the doors with bronze.
- 2 Chr 7:7Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar he had made could not contain all these offerings.
- Rev 11:2But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 6:36 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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