Today's Reading

¹Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

²For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was one hundred cubits, and its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.

³It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars; fifteen in a row.

⁴There were beams in three rows, and window was over against window in three ranks.

⁵All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was over against window in three ranks.

⁶He made the porch of pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits; and a porch before them; and pillars and a threshold before them.

⁷He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor.

⁸His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch.

⁹All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.

¹⁰The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.

¹¹Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood.

¹²The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like as the inner court of the house of the Lord, and the porch of the house.

¹³King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.

¹⁴He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work.

¹⁵For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them about.

¹⁶He made two capitals of molten brass, to set on the tops of the pillars: the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

¹⁷There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.

¹⁸So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital.

¹⁹The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.

²⁰There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows around on the other capital.

²¹He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz.

²²On the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

²³He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

²⁴Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea: the buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

²⁵It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hinder parts were inward.

²⁶It was a handbreadth thick: and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held two thousand baths.

²⁷He made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits its breadth, and three cubits its height.

²⁸The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;

²⁹and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

³⁰Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet of it had supports: beneath the basin were the supports molten, with wreaths at the side of each.

³¹The mouth of it within the capital and above was a cubit: and its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were foursquare, not round.

³²The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.

³³The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten.

³⁴There were four supports at the four corners of each base: its supports were of the base itself.

³⁵In the top of the base was there a round compass half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its stays and its panels were of the same.

³⁶On the plates of its stays, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.

³⁷In this way, he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.

³⁸He made ten basins of brass: one basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin.

³⁹He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.

⁴⁰Hiram made the basins, and the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he worked for king Solomon in the house of the Lord:

⁴¹the two pillars, and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;

⁴²and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;

⁴³and the ten bases, and the ten basins on the bases;

⁴⁴and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea;

⁴⁵and the pots, and the shovels, and the basins: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in the house of the Lord, were of burnished brass.

⁴⁶The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

⁴⁷Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: the weight of the brass could not be found out.

⁴⁸Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the show bread was, of gold;

⁴⁹and the lampstands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, of pure gold; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;

⁵⁰and the cups, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.

⁵¹Thus all the work that king Solomon worked in the house of the Lord was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

¹Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' households of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion.

²All the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

³All the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

⁴They brought up the ark of the Lord, and the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these the priests and the Levites brought up.

⁵King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.

⁶The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.

⁷For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

⁸The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen outside: and there they are to this day.

⁹There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord,

¹¹so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

¹²Then Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

¹³I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever."

¹⁴The king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood.

¹⁵He said, "Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

¹⁶'Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.'

¹⁷"Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁸But the Lord said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.

¹⁹Nevertheless, you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.'

²⁰The Lord has established his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

²¹There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."

²²Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;

²³and he said, "Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;

²⁴who have kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.

²⁵Now therefore, may the Lord, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.'

²⁶"Now therefore, God of Israel, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father.

²⁷But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

²⁸Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you this day;

²⁹that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there;' to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place.

³⁰Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

³¹"If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swear before your altar in this house;

³²then hear in heaven, and do, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

³³"When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this house:

³⁴then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers.

³⁵"When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them:

³⁶then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

³⁷"If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;

³⁸whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:

³⁹then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men;)

⁴⁰that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

⁴¹"Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for your name's sake

⁴²(for they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house;

⁴³hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

⁴⁴"If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;

⁴⁵then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn't sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;

⁴⁷yet if they shall repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, 'We have sinned, and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly;'

⁴⁸if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name:

⁴⁹then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause;

⁵⁰and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them

⁵¹(for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron);

⁵²that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.

⁵³For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord God."

⁵⁴It was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.

⁵⁵He stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

⁵⁶"Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant.

⁵⁷May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us, nor forsake us;

⁵⁸that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.

⁵⁹Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day shall require;

⁶⁰that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord, he is God. There is none else.

⁶¹"Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day."

⁶²The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord.

⁶³Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, two and twenty thousand head of cattle, and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

⁶⁴The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before the house of the Lord; for there he offered the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.

⁶⁶On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.

¹It happened, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do,

²that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

³The Lord said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

⁴As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;

⁵then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.'

⁶But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;

⁷then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

⁸Though this house is so high, yet shall everyone who passes by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, 'Why has the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house?'

⁹and they shall answer, 'Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.'"

¹⁰It happened at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house

¹¹(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

¹²Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they did not please him.

¹³He said, "What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?" He called them the land of Cabul to this day.

¹⁴Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.

¹⁵This is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it for a portion to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

¹⁷Solomon built Gezer, and Beth Horon the lower,

¹⁸and Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land,

¹⁹and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

²⁰As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel;

²¹their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, of them Solomon raised a levy of bondservants to this day.

²²But of the children of Israel Solomon made no bondservants; but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

²³These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work, five hundred fifty, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.

²⁴But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her: then he built Millo.

²⁵Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the Lord three times a year, burning incense with them, on the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house.

²⁶King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

²⁷Hiram sent in the navy his servants, sailors who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

²⁸They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

¹Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

²When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him,

³saying, "You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!"

⁴But Peter began, and explained to them in order, saying,

⁵"I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. It came as far as me.

⁶When I had looked intently at it, I considered, and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky.

⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter, kill and eat!'

⁸But I said, 'Not so, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.'

⁹But a voice answered the second time out of heaven, 'What God has cleansed, do not call unclean.'

¹⁰This was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹Behold, immediately three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent from Caesarea to me.

¹²The Spirit told me to go with them, without discriminating. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house.

¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying to him, 'Send to Joppa, and get Simon, whose surname is Peter,

¹⁴who will speak to you words by which you will be saved, you and all your house.'

¹⁵As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning.

¹⁶I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.'

¹⁷If then God gave to them the same gift as us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?"

¹⁸When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!"

¹⁹They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews only.

²⁰But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.

²¹The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

²²The report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem. They sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch,

²³who, when he had come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad. He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should remain near to the Lord.

²⁴For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and many people were added to the Lord.

²⁵Barnabas went out to Tarsus to look for Saul.

²⁶When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. It happened, that for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught many people. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

²⁷Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius.

²⁹As any of the disciples had plenty, each determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea;

³⁰which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

¹ Shout for joy to the Lord, all you lands!

²Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.

³Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name.

⁵For the Lord is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations.

¹My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.

²Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,

⁵that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.

⁶For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,

⁸passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,

⁹in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.

¹⁰Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.

¹¹She is loud and defiant. Her feet do not stay in her house.

¹²Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

¹³So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:

¹⁴"Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows.

¹⁵Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving.

¹⁹For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."

²¹With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.

²²He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

²³Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life.

²⁴Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways. Do not go astray in her paths,

²⁶for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.