1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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II Chronicles 3:1 And *Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, in Mount Moria, which had been shewn to David, his father, in the place which David had prepared in the **threshing-floor of Ornan, the Jebusite.

3 Kings 6:1. --- ** 2 Kings 24:25.; 1 Paralipomenon 21:26. 		Moria, which signifies vision; (Calmet) the place pointed out to Abraham, (Genesis 22:2.; St. Augustine, de C.[City of God?] 16:32.) and to David, 1 Paralipomenon 21:15., and 22:1.
II Chronicles 3:2 And he began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.*

Year of the World 2992. Second. Hebrew adds, (Du Hamel) "in the second day of the second month." (Protestants, etc.) (Haydock)
II Chronicles 3:3 Now these are the foundations, which Solomon laid, to build the house of God, the length by the first measure sixty cubits, the breadth twenty cubits.

By the first, or ancient measure, used before the captivity. The Babylonian cubit was a hand smaller, as Ezechiel (xl. 3.) intimates. (Calmet) --- Solomon used the same cubit as Moses, but doubled the proportions. (Menochius)
II Chronicles 3:4 And the porch in the front, which was extended in length according to the measure of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits: and the height was a hundred and twenty cubits: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

A hundred. The Arabic and some copies of the Septuagint read only twenty. Capellus and Toinard would substitute, ten cubits. A small change in the Hebrew might occasion these variations. (Calmet) --- In 3 Kings 6:2., we find the height was thirty cubits: but that might be only to the first floor. Many think that the temple was 120 cubits high: but Salien (the year of the world 3024) explains it of the four-square tower, (Menochius) in the front. (Calmet)
II Chronicles 3:5 And the greater house he ceiled with deal boards, and overlaid them with plates of fine gold throughout: and he graved in them palm trees, and like little chains interlaced with one another.

House, between the most holy place and the porch, (Tirinus) or it may comprise all but the porch. Hebrew, "he covered (or boarded) all this great house." (Calmet) --- Deal boards interspersed with those of cedar, 3 Kings 6:9. (Tirinus) --- Fine, (obrizi.) Hebrew, "of Parvaim, which is probably the same as Sepharvaim, Ophir, etc., not far from Media and Colchis. (Calmet)
II Chronicles 3:6 He paved also the floor of the temple with most precious marble, of great beauty.
II Chronicles 3:7 And the gold of the plates with which he overlaid the house, and the beams thereof, and the posts, and the walls, and the doors, was of the finest: and he graved cherubims on the walls.
II Chronicles 3:8 He made also the house of the holy of holies: the length of it, according to the breadth of the temple, twenty cubits, and the breadth of it in like manner twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with plates of gold, amounting to about six hundred talents.

Amounting to about, is not in Hebrew. (Haydock)
II Chronicles 3:9 He made also nails of gold, and the weight of every nail was fifty sicles: the upper chambers also he overlaid with gold.

Sicles. This weight seems enormous for each nail. Mariana supposes every nail weighed one sicle. But who will believe that only fifty were used? Hebrew, "And the weight of the nails was fifty," etc. The Syriac and Arabic omit this verse entirely. --- Chambers, or rather "the ceiling."
II Chronicles 3:10 He made also in the house of the holy of holies two cherubims of image-work: and he overlaid them with gold.

Work. Hebrew, "of the work of young men," or resembling them. (Munster) --- Septuagint, "the work of wood." Vulgate literally, "of sculpture work," (Haydock) as Le Clerc renders the original. Some moderns translate, "of a work like men in motion." (Mariana, Buxtorf) --- The cherubims were in an erect posture.
II Chronicles 3:11 The wings of the cherubims were extended twenty cubits, so that one wing was five cubits long, and reached to the wall of the house: and the other was also five cubits long, and reached to the wing of the other cherub.

Cubits, comprising the breadth of their body. Each occupied ten cubits.
II Chronicles 3:12 In like manner the wing of the other cherub was five cubits long, and reached to the wall: and his other wing was five cubits long, and touched the wing of the other cherub.
II Chronicles 3:13 So the wings of the two cherubims were spread forth, and were extended twenty cubits: and they stood upright on their feet, and their faces were turned toward the house without.

Toward. Hebrew, "inward;" looking at each other, (Exodus 25:20.) or towards the altar of holocausts.
II Chronicles 3:14 *He made also a veil of violet, purple, scarlet, and silk: and wrought in it cherubims.

Matthew 27:51. 		A veil. Abulensis places it between the court and the holy: but Jansenius would have it before the holy of holies. It seems rather that there was a veil in both places, (Barad. t. 2:b. 3:23.; Menochius) as Josephus ([Antiquities?] 8:2., and 12:10.) clearly intimates; and St. Paul speaks of the second veil, Hebrews 9:3. It is not certain which of them was torn at the death of Jesus Christ, Matthew 27:51. Cherubims; extraordinary figures. (Calmet)
II Chronicles 3:15 *He made also before the doors of the temple two pillars, which were five and thirty cubits high: and their chapiters were five cubits.

Jeremias 52:20. 		Five. 3 Kings 7:15., we read each was eighteen cubits. It is probable that each was 17.5 and the other half was for the crown, (Calmet) or cornice. (Haydock)
II Chronicles 3:16 He made also as it were little chains in the oracle, and he put them on the heads of the pillars: and an hundred pomegranates, which he put between the little chains.

In, or "as in." (Sa) (Menochius) --- Protestants supply as. (Haydock) --- Hundred, for one row, or 200 for both, 3 Kings. (Du Hamel)
II Chronicles 3:17 These pillars he put at the entrance of the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left: that which was on the right hand, he called Jachin: and that on the left hand, Booz.

Booz. "Stability and strength" are derived from God alone. Thus Solomon designed to insinuate that God established the harmony of the universe. (Haydock) --- An orrery, or globe, was therefore placed on each of these pillars. (Parkhurst, in con.)