The house which King Solomon built for the LORD: It may be unnecessary to repeat the idea contained in these words since it has already been expressed in the previous verse. However, if the repetition is not unnatural, translators should feel free to restate this idea here. Even though the context makes it clear that many workmen actually built the Temple, it may be necessary in some languages to say something like “The Temple that King Solomon caused to be built.”

Sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high: A cubit is about 45 centimeters or 18 inches. It is based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger of an adult male. Peregrino rounds off the size of the Temple in metric measurements as “thirty meters long, ten [meters] wide, and fifteen [meters] high” (also Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant, La Bible du Semeur). The Temple was basically rectangular in shape.

Twenty cubits wide is literally “twenty wide.” But Revised Standard Version and many other versions have supplied the word cubits as the context requires.

Thirty cubits high reflects what is in the Masoretic Text. The Septuagint, however, says that it was twenty-five cubits high (about 12.5 meters or 37.5 feet); and this is followed by New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible. There is an advantage in reading twenty-five cubits since verse 20 says that the inner sanctuary (the Most Holy Place) was only twenty cubits high, not thirty cubits. This apparently means that there was a space between the ceiling of the inner sanctuary and the roof of the Temple or that the inner sanctuary was raised from the ground with steps leading into it (see the discussion on verse 30). If the Temple is only twenty-five cubits high, then the distance between the ceiling of the inner sanctuary and the ceiling of the Temple is reduced to five cubits (about 2.5 meters or 7.5 feet) instead of ten. Or if the inner sanctuary is raised off the ground, it means the steps for climbing up to it were only five cubits high. Translators should, however, follow the meaning of the Masoretic Text here, which Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recommends with a {B} rating.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .