Preparations for Building the Temple

1 ¹ Now ^jHiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, ^kfor Hiram always loved David. 2 And Solomon sent word to Hiram, 3 ^l“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God ^mbecause of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. 4 ⁿBut now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. 5 And so I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, ^oas the Lord said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’ 6 Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

7 As soon as Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.” 8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message that you have sent to me. I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. 9 My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon, and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct. And I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it. And you shall meet my wishes ^pby providing food for my household.” 10 So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired, 11 while Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cors² of wheat as food for his household, and 20,000³ cors of beaten oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year. 12 And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, ^qas he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

13 King Solomon drafted ^rforced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. ^sAdoniram was in charge of the draft. 15 Solomon also ^thad 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, 16 besides Solomon’s 3,300 ^uchief officers who were over the work, ^vwho had charge of the people who carried on the work. 17 At the king’s command ^wthey quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. 18 So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and ^xthe men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

Solomon Builds the Temple

1 ^yIn the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, ^zhe began to build the house of the Lord. 2 ^aThe house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits⁴ long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. 3 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. 4 And ^bhe made for the house windows with recessed frames.⁵ 5 ^cHe also built a structure⁶ against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and ^dthe inner sanctuary. And he made ^eside chambers all around. 6 The lowest story⁷ was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

7 When the house was built, ^fit was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

8 The entrance for the lowest⁸ story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. 9 ^gSo he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. 10 He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are building, ^hif you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, ⁱwhich I spoke to David your father. 13 And ^jI will dwell among the children of Israel ^kand will not forsake my people Israel.”

14 ^lSo Solomon built the house and finished it. 15 He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, ^mand he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. 16 ⁿHe built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as ^othe Most Holy Place. 17 The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. 18 The cedar within the house was carved in the form of ^pgourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. 19 The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 The inner sanctuary⁹ was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid¹⁰ an altar of cedar. 21 And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. ^qAlso the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

23 ^rIn the inner sanctuary ^she made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. 24 Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25 The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. 26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. 27 He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. ^tAnd the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. 28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. 30 The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.¹¹ 32 He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

33 So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, 34 and two doors of cypress wood. ^uThe two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36 ^vHe built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

37 ^wIn the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

Restore Our Fortunes, O Lord

A Song of ^mAscents.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^aa prisoner for Christ Jesus, and ^bTimothy our brother,

To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and ^cArchippus our ^dfellow soldier, and ^ethe church in your house:

3 ^fGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon’s Love and Faith

4 ^gI thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I ^hhear of your love and ⁱof the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full ^jknowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.¹ 7 For I have derived much joy and ^kcomfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints ^lhave been refreshed through you.

Paul’s Plea for Onesimus

8 Accordingly, ^mthough I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do ⁿwhat is required, 9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now ^oa prisoner also for Christ Jesus— 10 I appeal to you for ^pmy child, ^qOnesimus,^{2 r}whose father I became in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me ^son your behalf ^tduring my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be ^uby compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why ^vhe was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 ^wno longer as a bondservant³ but more than a bondservant, as ^xa beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, ^yboth in the flesh and in the Lord.

17 So if you consider me ^zyour partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 ^aI, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. ^bRefresh my heart in Christ.

21 ^cConfident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 22 At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for ^dI am hoping that ^ethrough your prayers ^fI will be graciously given to you.

Final Greetings

23 ^gEpaphras, my ^hfellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24 and so do ⁱMark, ⁱAristarchus, ^jDemas, and ^jLuke, my fellow workers.

25 ^kThe grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.