6. Each room in the lowest storey was 2.2 metres wide, in the middle storey 2.7 metres wide, and in the top storey 3.1 metres wide. The temple wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below so that the rooms could rest on the wall without having their beams built into it.
7. The stones with which the Temple was built had been prepared at the quarry, so that there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools as the Temple was being built.
8. The entrance to the lowest storey of the annexe was on the south side of the Temple, with stairs leading up to the second and third storeys.
9. So King Solomon finished building the Temple. He put in a ceiling made of beams and boards of cedar.
10. The three-storied annexe, each storey 2.2 metres high, was built against the outside walls of the Temple, and was joined to them by cedar beams.
11. The Lord said to Solomon,
12. “If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David.
13. I will live among my people Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never abandon them.”
14. So Solomon finished building the Temple.
15. The inside walls were covered with cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling, and the floor was made of pine.
16. An inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was built in the rear of the Temple. It was nine metres long and was partitioned off by cedar boards reaching from the floor to the ceiling.
17. The room in front of the Most Holy Place was eighteen metres long.
18. The cedar panels were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers; the whole interior was covered with cedar, so that the stones of the walls could not be seen.
19. In the rear of the Temple an inner room was built, where the Lord's Covenant Box was to be placed.
20. This inner room was nine metres long, nine metres wide, and nine metres high, all covered with pure gold. The altar was covered with cedar panels.
21. The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and gold chains were placed across the entrance of the inner room, which was also covered with gold.
22. The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, as well as the altar in the Most Holy Place.
23. Two winged creatures were made of olive wood and placed in the Most Holy Place, each one 4.4 metres tall.