In the Old Testament, how many years did Solomon’s Temple take to build?

In the Old Testament, Solomon’s Temple took seven years to build.

First Kings says construction of the temple began in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign and was completed in his eleventh year, after seven years of work. The building was constructed in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah and became the central sanctuary of the united monarchy of Israel.

The temple project used materials and labor organized on a large scale, including cedar from Lebanon and skilled craftsmen. Its dedication is described in 1 Kings 8, where the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the inner sanctuary. The account presents the temple as the permanent house built for the name of the God of Israel.

Readers sometimes confuse the seven-year construction period with the much longer time associated with later temples or with Solomon’s thirteen-year construction of his own palace complex. The First Temple was later destroyed by the Babylonian army in 586 BCE, according to the conventional historical chronology.