The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv.
Parallel translations
- WEB The foundation of Yahweh’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv.
- KJV In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif:
- NKJV In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv.
- NASB In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv.
- NLT The foundation of the Lord’s Temple was laid in midspring, in the month of Ziv, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.
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
The temple's foundation was laid in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, in the month Ziv. This anchors the great project in real history.
Overview
Together with 1 Kings 6:1, this dating ties the temple's construction to a precise point in Israel's history, roughly 480 years after the exodus. Ziv corresponds to spring, a fitting season for beginning so significant a work. The narrator's care with dates reminds us that God acts in real time and keeps His promises within history, including the promise to David fulfilled here.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- 1 Kgs 6:1In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD.
- 2 Chr 3:2Solomon began construction on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 6:37 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.