I Kings 6:1 · Bible study
1 Kings 6:1 Commentary: The 480 Years from Exodus to Temple
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore the debated chronology of Solomon's temple in 1 Kings 6:1, its theological weight, and what the 480 years mean for God's redemptive plan.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The temple foundation is dated precisely to 480 years after the Exodus, anchoring it in Israel’s history.
- Key words: “Ziv” (brightness), “build” (banah), “Yahweh’s house” (the temple as divine dwelling).
- Main debate: Is 480 a literal chronological figure, a schematic number, or a later textual addition?
- Theological theme: The temple fulfils God’s promise of a permanent dwelling place, uniting redemption (Exodus) with rest (Solomon’s reign).
- Best use: This verse serves as a chronological anchor for Old Testament history and a pointer to Christ as the true temple.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD.
WEB World English Bible 2000
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build Yahweh’s house.
KJV King James Version 1769
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Jehovah.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And it cometh to pass, in the four hundred and eightieth year of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year--in the month of Zif, it is the second month--of the reigning of Solomon over Israel, that he buildeth the house for Jehovah.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Jehovah.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month Zio, (the same is the second month) he began to build a house to the Lord.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y FUÉ en el año cuatrocientos|strong="H0702, H3967" ochenta después que los hijos de Israel salieron de Egipto|strong="H0776, H4714", en el cuarto año del principio del reino de Salomón sobre Israel, en el mes de Ziph, que es el mes segundo, que él comenzó á edificar la casa de Jehová.
E foi no ano quatrocentos oitenta depois que os filhos de Israel saíram do Egito, no quarto ano do princípio do reino de Salomão sobre Israel, no mês de Zife, que é o mês segundo, que ele começou a edificar a casa do SENHOR.
Ce fut la quatre cent quatre-vingtième année après la sortie des enfants d’ Israël du pays d’ Égypte que Salomon bâtit la maison à l’ Éternel, la quatrième année de son règne sur Israël, au mois de Ziv, qui est le second mois.
Im vierhundertachtzigsten Jahr nach dem Ausgang der Kinder Israel aus Ägyptenland, im vierten Jahr des Königreichs Salomo über Israel, im Monat Siv, das ist der zweite Monat, ward das Haus des HERRN gebaut.
Het geschiedde nu in het vierhonderd en tachtigste jaar, na den uitgang der kinderen Israels uit Egypte, in het vierde jaar van het koninkrijk van Salomo over Israel, in de maand Ziv (deze is de tweede maand), dat hij het huis des HEEREN bouwde.
Or il quattrocentottantesimo anno dopo l’uscita dei figliuoli d’Israele dal paese d’Egitto, nel quarto anno del suo regno sopra Israele, nel mese di Ziv, che è il secondo mese, Salomone cominciò a costruire la casa consacrata all’Eterno.
I stało się czterechsetnego i ośmdziesiątego roku po wyjściu synów Izraelskich z ziemi Egipskiej, miesiąca Kwietnia (ten jest miesiąc wtóry,) roku czwartego królowania Salomonowego nad Izraelem, że począł budować dom Panu.
В четыреста восьмидесятом году по исшествии сынов Израилевых из земли Египетской, в четвертый год царствования Соломонова над Израилем, в месяц Зиф, который есть второй месяц, начал он строить храм Господу.
以色列 人 出 埃及 地 後四 百 八十 年，所羅門 作 以色列 王 第四 年 西弗 月，就是 二 月，開工建造 耶和華的 殿。
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year that Solomon was king of Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, the building of the Lord's house was started.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · I Kings 6:1
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that 1 Kings 6:1 intentionally ties the start of Solomon’s temple to key events in Israel’s history. Keil and Delitzsch call the building of the temple “an important epoch,” marked by dating from both the Exodus and the king’s reign. However, sharp disagreement surrounds the historicity of the 480-year figure. Barnes notes that the received chronology depends entirely on this verse, yet he finds it hard to reconcile with other Old Testament data and even suggests it may be an interpolation. Clarke lists over a dozen conflicting proposals from ancient and later chronologists, concluding that the Hebrew text “is as likely to be the true one as any of the others.” Cambridge adds that it is “impossible to discover how this date is arrived at” given the figures in Judges. Despite the chronological impasse, all sides affirm the verse’s theological intent: the temple stands as a fixed dwelling for God’s name, a promise given through Nathan, and a permanent pledge of Israel’s inheritance (Keil). The 480 years thus function as more than a number, they anchor the house of God in the story of redemption.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: High
Main views:
- Literal historical: MT reading; defended by Keil and Gill as accurate chronology.
- Symbolic / computational: Twelve generations of 40 years each; proposed by Thenius and noted by Cambridge.
- Interpolation: Barnes argues the verse may have been added later, since it is absent from some early Christian citations.
What is clear: The temple was built in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, and that event is intentionally linked to the Exodus as a defining moment in God’s relationship with his people.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| The 480-year interval | Christians agree that the verse connects the temple to the Exodus. | Some read the number as literal history (Keil, Gill), while others see it as a symbolic or computed figure (Thenius). A few consider it a later insertion (Barnes). |
| The name 'Ziv' for the month | It denotes the second month of the Hebrew calendar (April-May). | Clarke suggests named months like Ziv show Babylonian influence after the exile, making the verse's dating controversial among historians. |
| The site of the temple (Mount Moriah) | It is the location where David prepared the threshing floor of Ornan (2 Chronicles 3:1). | Some traditions emphasize this as the place of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac; others focus on it as the place where God answered David’s prayer to stop the plague. |
| The theological meaning of 'build' | All see the building of the physical temple as significant. | Catholic and Orthodox traditions see the temple as a type of the Church and the Eucharist; many Protestants see it as a type of Christ’s body; some Pentecostal traditions focus on the believer as a temple of the Holy Spirit. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The temple was built on Mount Moriah, the site where David had received divine instruction after the plague (2 Chronicles 3:1). The chosen month, Ziv (later called Iyyar), corresponded to the spring harvest. The Targum calls it “the month of splendour of flowers” (Gill). This verse is the only place in the Old Testament where a year is counted from the Exodus as an era (Barnes). Elsewhere, dates refer to a king’s reign. That unique formula suggests the writer saw the temple’s foundation as the climax of a long arc of redemption.
But the precise number, 480, has caused centuries of struggle. The LXX already read 440 (Clarke), while Josephus gave 592. If we add up the numbers in the books of Judges, Samuel and Kings, the sum exceeds 480 years considerably (Cambridge). This may point to overlapping judgeships or round-number schematization, perhaps twelve generations of forty years each, a proposal Cambridge attributes to Thenius. The month Ziv is also named in 1 Kings 6:37 for the foundation, and the chronicler confirms the same year and month (2 Chronicles 3:2). This consistency strengthens the case that the author believed he was recording a fixed moment: from the mobile tabernacle of the Exodus to a stone sanctuary that would stand for centuries.
Textual Notes
The Masoretic Text reads 480 years; the Septuagint reads 440 (Clarke). Origen, Theophilus of Antioch, and Clement of Alexandria may have known the verse without a specific year (Barnes). Josephus gives 592 years, and later chronologers propose a wide range (Clarke lists over a dozen). The differences suggest the number was transmitted with some uncertainty, though the MT reading is the traditional standard.
Reception History
Early Christian writers such as Origen, Theophilus, and Clement of Alexandria apparently cited the verse without the precise number (Barnes). Jewish and Christian chronographers from the second century onward used this verse to calculate the age of the world and the date of the first temple. The Septuagint’s 440 years influenced many early chronologies, including that of Eusebius. During the Reformation, the verse was anchored in the Hebrew text by Protestant scholars. Modern scholarship often cites the number as a schematized figure, while conservative traditions maintain its literal historical accuracy. The verse is read liturgically in churches that follow the lectionary for the dedication of a building, linking Solomon’s temple to the Church as God’s dwelling.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- A Date with a Story. The verse ties the temple to the Exodus. God’s acts of deliverance and his act of dwelling among his people belong together.
- When God Builds. Months and years matter. God’s timing is purposeful, not random.
- The House as a Promise. The temple is not just architecture. It is a sign of God’s presence, a sign that finds its ultimate fulfilment in Christ (Zechariah 6:12-13).
Five-point outline
- From Red Sea to Sanctuary. The 480 years span from the Exodus to the first stone of the temple.
- A Precise Calendar. God works in history, not apart from it. Every detail is recorded.
- The Man and the Moment. Solomon, the peaceful king, inherits David’s work.
- Cost and Care. The preparation David made (1 Chronicles 29:19) and the silent building, with stone ready beforehand (1 Kings 6:7).
- A Kingdom Established. The temple becomes the centre of national and spiritual life, a permanent home for God’s name.
Illustration hooks
- The foundation ceremony of a building that took one man’s lifetime and then his son’s to see.
- A date carved on a cornerstone that connects back to a family’s most defining story.
- A promise given to grandparents that was only fulfilled decades later, in the generation of their grandchildren.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why does it matter that the temple construction is dated from the Exodus?
- What do we do with a Bible verse whose numbers seem hard to square with other passages?
- How does the Old Testament temple foreshadow Jesus’ work? (Consider Zechariah 6:12-13)
Leading a Discussion
This small-group guide walks through a verse that has puzzled historians and encouraged believers for centuries. The key is not to resolve every chronological debate but to hear the theological message: God builds his dwelling among his people, and he does so on his own timeline.
Discussion questions
- Read 1 Kings 6:1. What details does the writer include? Why do you think he gives both the year from the Exodus and the year of Solomon’s reign?
- How does the number 480 compare with other time spans in the Old Testament (see Judges 11:26)? What do you make of the differences?
- The temple is called “Yahweh’s house” in this verse. What does that language imply about God’s relationship with Israel?
- Some scholars think 480 is a schematic number (12 x 40). Does knowing that change how you read the passage? Why or why not?
- This verse emphasizes that God builds his dwelling place among his people. Where do we see that promise fulfilled in the New Testament? (Refer to Zechariah 6:12-13, John 2:19-21)
- How might this careful dating help you trust that God works in specific times and places in your own life?
- What does the temple teach us about worship, both public and personal?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Numbers 1:1 | Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, |
| Judges 11:26 | Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the side of the Arnon for three hundred years! Why didn’t you recover them within that time? |
| I Kings 6:37 | The foundation of Yahweh’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv. |
| I Chronicles 29:19 | and give to Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for which I have made provision.” |
| II Chronicles 3:1 | Then Solomon began to build Yahweh’s house at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. |
| II Chronicles 3:2 | He began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. |
| Zechariah 6:12 | and speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch! He will grow up out of his place; and he will build Yahweh’s temple. |
| Zechariah 6:13 | He will build Yahweh’s temple. He will bear the glory, and will sit and rule on his throne. He will be a priest on his throne. The counsel of peace will be between them both. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke catalogs over a dozen conflicting scholarly calculations for the years since the exodus, then observes that the common Hebrew text's number is as likely correct as any. He also points out that the month names Zif, Bul, and Ethanim appear to be Chaldean, suggesting this book was written after the Babylonian captivity.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes argues that the 480-year figure in this verse is probably a later addition to the text. He points out it is the only Old Testament passage dating events from an era, was unknown to early writers like Josephus, and conflicts with other biblical timelines that suggest a much longer interval.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible School notes that the 480-year timeline from Exodus to Solomon's temple cannot be reconciled with other biblical numbers. The frequent round figures and overlapping judgeships make precise chronology impossible. The Septuagint's 440-year total likely came from adding only judges' years and omitting periods like the Philistine oppression.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note highlights the precise historical timing given for the temple’s construction: 480 years after the Exodus, in Solomon’s fourth year. This exact dating anchors the building of the Lord’s house firmly within Israel’s redemption story, connecting the moment directly to God’s deliverance from Egypt.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill carefully defends the 480-year figure by aligning it with the periods from the Exodus through Joshua, the judges, Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon's fourth year. He notes the month Zif, meaning splendour or flowers, was a fitting spring season to begin the temple.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
CHAPTER 6 1 Ki 6:1-4 . THE BUILDING OF SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch see the temple as a decisive turning point in Israel's history, ending the provisional stage of their possession of Canaan. They insist the 480-year date given for its construction is not a symbolic round number but a reliable historical figure, carefully calculated from the exodus onward.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange insists the temple is not a symbol of the kingdom of God or theocracy, but a representation of heaven itself as God's true dwelling place. He argues that the cube-shaped holy of holies and the repeated number ten point to this heavenly reality, making the temple uniquely Israelite in its ethical-religious meaning rather than borrowed from pagan architecture.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry highlights that the temple was called the house of the Lord because God himself directed and designed every detail. The stones were cut and shaped away from the site so that no sound of hammer or tool was heard during construction, showing that God's house is built in quiet reverence and not by human noise or effort.