Verses 31-35 describe the way that the doors in the Temple were made, and verse 36 tells about the construction of the inner courtyard. New Jerusalem Bible includes these verses together in a separate section called “The doors. The court.”Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente is similar to New Jerusalem Bible (see the discussion on the section heading to verses 1-14). These verses contain several technical terms whose exact meanings are no longer clear. This uncertainty is reflected in the various translations cited below.

Doors: Verse 32 states that there were two doors. Good News Translation brings this information forward into verse 31 by saying “A double door” (similarly Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). These doors separated the nave from the Most Holy Place. This would be a single opening with two doors in it. In some languages it may be better to use the singular, “door” or “opening,” and speak of two “boards” or “pieces of wood” to close it.

For olivewood see the comments on verse 23.

The lintel and the doorposts formed a pentagon: It is not likely that the Hebrew noun meaning “one-fifth” should be translated here as pentagon or “pentagonal” (Revised English Bible). New Revised Standard Version says “five-sided,” and then adds in a footnote that the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. The translations “a pointed arch” (Good News Translation) and “came to a point at the top” (Contemporary English Version) are similar to pentagon.

Anchor Bible says “the jamb (and) the doorposts were a fifth (of the wall),” and Nouvelle Bible Segond has “the pillar and the posts were equal to a fifth of the wall.” King James Version similarly says “the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.” If this interpretation is accepted, the doors would have been four cubits wide since the Temple was twenty cubits wide. Another way of interpreting the sense of “a fifth” could be that the jamb and the doorposts were a fifth of the width of the door itself rather than a fifth of the entire wall.

But in light of archaeological discoveries of interlocking doorframes, the sense seems to be rather that there were five interlocking olivewood doorframes, one built inside the other. That is, the first doorframe had another doorframe built inside of it, the second doorframe had another built inside of it, and so on, until there were a total of five doorframes. New Jerusalem Bible seems to express the correct meaning with “and door jambs with five indented sections” (similarly Bible de Jérusalem, Peregrino). Bible en français courant seems to follow this same interpretation by saying “the lintel and the doorposts had five mouldings.”

The exact meaning of the Hebrew word translated lintel is uncertain, but it seems to refer to the support behind the doorposts. The Hebrew word translated doorposts is found elsewhere in Exo 12.7 and 1 Sam 1.9. It refers to the sides of the doorframe. The Hebrew word here later came to have a very different meaning, referring to small containers holding Scripture verses, but this should not influence the translation here.

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 .