6. The rooms touched the Temple wall, but their beams were not built into that wall. The Temple wall became thinner at the top, so the rooms on the upper floors were larger than the ones below them. The rooms on the bottom floor were 5 cubits wide. The rooms on the middle floor were 6 cubits wide. The rooms above that were 7 cubits wide.
7. The stones were completely finished before they were brought into the Temple area, so there was no noise of hammers, axes, or any other iron tools in the Temple.
8. The entrance to these rooms was on bottom floor at the south side of the Temple. Inside there were stairs that went up to the second floor and from there to the third floor.
9. Solomon finished building the main part of the Temple and then covered it inside with cedar boards.
10. Then he finished building the rooms around the Temple. Each story was 5 cubits tall. The cedar beams in these rooms rested on a ledge of the Temple wall.
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 the children of Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never leave the people of Israel.”
14. When Solomon finished the stonework on the Temple,
15. the stone walls inside the Temple were covered with cedar boards from floor to ceiling. Then the stone floor was covered with pine boards.
16. They built an inner room 20 cubits long in the back part of the Temple. This room was called the Most Holy Place. They covered the walls in this room with cedar boards, from floor to ceiling.
17. In front of the Most Holy Place was the main part of the Temple. This room was 40 cubits long.
18. They covered the walls in this room with cedar boards—none of the stones in the walls could be seen. They carved pictures of flowers and gourds into the cedar.
19. Solomon finished the inner room in the back part of the Temple. This room was for the Box of the Lord’S Agreement.
20. This room was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high. Solomon covered this room with pure gold. He also covered the cedar altar with gold.
21. He covered the inside of the Temple with pure gold and wrapped gold chains around it.
22. The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and the altar in front of the Most Holy Place was covered with gold.