[2:17] King Solomon took a census of all the foreigners living in the land of Israel, similar to the census his father David had taken. There were 153,600 resident foreigners.
[2:18] He assigned 70,000 of them to transport materials and 80,000 to cut stones in the mountains, and appointed 3,600 supervisors to make sure the work was done.
[3:1] King David, Solomon's father, had already prepared a place for the Temple. It was in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David, at the place which Araunah the Jebusite had used as a threshing place. King Solomon began the construction
[3:2] in the second month of the fourth year that he was king.
[3:3] The Temple which King Solomon built was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide.
[3:4] The entrance room was the full width of the Temple, 30 feet, and was 180 feet high. The inside of the room was overlaid with pure gold.
[3:5] The main room was paneled with cedar and overlaid with fine gold, in which were worked designs of palm trees and chain patterns.
[3:6] The king decorated the Temple with beautiful precious stones and with gold imported from the land of Parvaim.
[3:7] He used the gold to overlay the Temple walls, the rafters, the entryways, and the doors. On the walls the workers carved designs of winged creatures.
[3:8] The inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was 30 feet long and 30 feet wide, which was the full width of the Temple. Twenty-Five tons of gold were used to cover the walls of the Most Holy Place;
[3:9] twenty ounces of gold were used for making nails, and the walls of the upper rooms were also covered with gold.
[3:10] The king also had his workers make two winged creatures out of metal, cover them with gold, and place them in the Most Holy Place,
[3:14] A curtain for the Most Holy Place was made of linen and of other material, which was dyed blue, purple, and red, with designs of the winged creatures worked into it.