Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of ^fthe Sons of Korah.

The Lord Appears to Solomon

1 ^jAs soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord ^kand the king’s house and ^lall that Solomon desired to build, 2 ^mthe Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, ⁿby putting my name there forever. ^oMy eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 4 And as for you, if you will ^pwalk before me, ^qas David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5 ^rthen I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 ^sBut if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 ^tthen I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, ^uand the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, ^vand Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins.¹ Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ^w‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because ^xthey abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

15 And this is the account of ^bthe forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the Lord and his own house and ^cthe Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and ^dHazor and ^eMegiddo and Gezer 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed ^fthe Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to ^ghis daughter, Solomon’s wife; 17 so Solomon rebuilt Gezer) and ^hLower Beth-horon 18 and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,¹ 19 and all the store cities that Solomon had, and ⁱthe cities for his chariots, and the cities for ^jhis horsemen, and whatever Solomon ^kdesired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel— 21 ^ltheir descendants who were left after them in the land, ^mwhom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction²—ⁿthese Solomon drafted to be ^oslaves, and so they are to this day. 22 But ^pof the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.

23 These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work: ^q550 ^rwho had charge of the people who carried on the work.

24 But ^gPharaoh’s daughter went up from the city of David to ^sher own house that Solomon had built for her. ^tThen he built ^uthe Millo.

25 Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, making offerings with it³ before the Lord. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon built a fleet of ships at ^vEzion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 And Hiram sent ^wwith the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to ^xOphir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.

The Earthly Holy Place

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and ^man earthly place of holiness. 2 For ⁿa tent¹ was prepared, the first section, in which were ^othe lampstand and ^pthe table and ^qthe bread of the Presence.² It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind ^rthe second curtain was a second section³ called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden ^saltar of incense and ^tthe ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was ^ua golden urn holding the manna, and ^vAaron’s staff that budded, and ^wthe tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were ^xthe cherubim of glory overshadowing ^ythe mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

6 These preparations having thus been made, ^zthe priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only ^athe high priest goes, and he but ^aonce a year, and not without taking blood, ^bwhich he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that ^cthe way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age).⁴ According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered ^dthat cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with ^efood and drink and ^fvarious washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Redemption Through the Blood of Christ

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest ^gof the good things that have come,⁵ then through ^hthe greater and more perfect tent (ⁱnot made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he ^jentered ^konce for all into the holy places, not by means of ^lthe blood of goats and calves but ^mby means of his own blood, ⁿthus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if ^othe blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with ^pthe ashes of a heifer, sanctify⁶ for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will ^qthe blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit ^roffered himself without blemish to God, ^spurify our⁷ conscience ^tfrom dead works ^uto serve the living God.