Bible Strands
1 Kings 6:38
In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the completion of Solomon’s temple in the eleventh year of his reign, specifically during the eighth month, Bul. This statement follows the account of the foundation being laid in Solomon’s fourth year.
The words — וּבַשָּׁנָה הָאַחַת עֶשְׂרֵה (u-va-shanah ha'achat eserah) translates literally to "and in the eleventh year," while בּוּל (Bul) and הַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁמִינִי (ha-chodesh ha-shmini) denote "the eighth month."
The thread — The text contrasts this seven-year temple duration with the thirteen years required for Solomon’s palace in 1 Kings 7:1, and echoes post-exilic building timelines in Ezra 3:8 and Ezra 6:14.
Why it lands — The verse demands attention to precise chronological markers and strict adherence to divine specifications. It requires the reader to weigh the measured obedience of temple construction against the prolonged labor of royal architecture.
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 in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 7:1 Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.
- Ezra 3:8 In the second month of the second year after they had arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their associates including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years of age or older to supervise the construction of the house of the LORD.
- Ezra 6:14 So the Jewish elders built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.
- Zechariah 4:9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent me to you.
- 1 Kings 6:1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.
- 1 Kings 6:9 So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.
- Zechariah 6:13 Yes, He will build the temple of the LORD; He will be clothed in splendor and will sit on His throne and rule. And He will be a priest on His throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two.’
- John 2:20 “This temple took forty-six years to build,” the Jews replied, “and You are going to raise it up in three days?”