Bible Strands
1 Kings 6:22
So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records Solomon’s directive to cover the temple’s interior with gold during the building project. This action follows the cedar wall plastering and precedes the placement of the inner sanctuary furnishings.
The words — The verb צִפָּה (tzi.pah) translates literally as “he overlaid” or “covered with plating.” It governs the object הַבַּיִת (ha.ba.yit, “the house”) and specifies זָהָב (za.hav, “gold”) as the material applied until תֹּם (tom, “completion”).
The thread — The instruction to plate sacred objects with gold appears in Exodus 30:1, Exodus 30:3, and Exodus 30:5 for the incense altar and its poles. These passages establish a direct structural parallel between the tabernacle’s construction and the temple’s completion.
Why it lands — The text states that gold plating was a mandatory, comprehensive covering for both the temple interior and the inner sanctuary altar. It requires the reader to separate the physical description of construction from later theological claims about divine presence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.
Cross-references
- Exodus 30:1 “You are also to make an altar of acacia wood for the burning of incense.
- Exodus 30:3 Overlay with pure gold the top and all the sides and horns, and make a molding of gold around it.
- Exodus 30:5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
- 1 Kings 6:20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.
- 2 Chronicles 3:7 He overlaid its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.