2 Chronicles 7:11-8:18

New International Version

The Lord Appears to Solomon^(A)

¹¹When Solomon had finished^(B) the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, ¹²the Lord appeared^(C) to him at night and said:

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen^(D) this place for myself^(E) as a temple for sacrifices.

¹³“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain,^(F) or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴if my people, who are called by my name,^(G) will humble^(H) themselves and pray and seek my face^(I) and turn^(J) from their wicked ways, then I will hear^(K) from heaven, and I will forgive^(L) their sin and will heal^(M) their land. ¹⁵Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.^(N) ¹⁶I have chosen^(O) and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

¹⁷“As for you, if you walk before me faithfully^(P) as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees^(Q) and laws, ¹⁸I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted^(R) with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor^(S) to rule over Israel.’^(T)

¹⁹“But if you^[a] turn away^(U) and forsake^(V) the decrees and commands I have given you^[b] and go off to serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰then I will uproot^(W) Israel from my land,^(X) which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule^(Y) among all peoples. ²¹This temple will become a heap of rubble. All^[c] who pass by will be appalled^(Z) and say,^(AA) ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ ²²People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them^(AB)—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’”

Solomon’s Other Activities^(AC)

8 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built the temple of the Lord and his own palace,^(AD) ²Solomon rebuilt the villages that Hiram^[d] had given him, and settled Israelites in them. ³Solomon then went to Hamath Zobah and captured it. ⁴He also built up Tadmor in the desert and all the store cities he had built in Hamath.^(AE) ⁵He rebuilt Upper Beth Horon^(AF) and Lower Beth Horon as fortified cities, with walls and with gates and bars, ⁶as well as Baalath^(AG) and all his store cities, and all the cities for his chariots and for his horses^[e]—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

⁷There were still people left from the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites^(AH) (these people were not Israelites). ⁸Solomon conscripted^(AI) the descendants of all these people remaining in the land—whom the Israelites had not destroyed—to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day. ⁹But Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites for his work; they were his fighting men, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and charioteers. ¹⁰They were also King Solomon’s chief officials—two hundred and fifty officials supervising the men.

¹¹Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter^(AJ) up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”

¹²On the altar^(AK) of the Lord that he had built in front of the portico, Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord, ¹³according to the daily requirement^(AL) for offerings commanded by Moses for the Sabbaths,^(AM) the New Moons^(AN) and the three^(AO) annual festivals—the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^(AP) the Festival of Weeks^(AQ) and the Festival of Tabernacles.^(AR) ¹⁴In keeping with the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions^(AS) of the priests for their duties, and the Levites^(AT) to lead the praise and to assist the priests according to each day’s requirement. He also appointed the gatekeepers^(AU) by divisions for the various gates, because this was what David the man of God^(AV) had ordered.^(AW) ¹⁵They did not deviate from the king’s commands to the priests or to the Levites in any matter, including that of the treasuries.

¹⁶All Solomon’s work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid until its completion. So the temple of the Lord was finished.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and Elath on the coast of Edom. ¹⁸And Hiram sent him ships commanded by his own men, sailors who knew the sea. These, with Solomon’s men, sailed to Ophir and brought back four hundred and fifty talents^[f] of gold,^(AX) which they delivered to King Solomon.

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 7:19 The Hebrew is plural.
2 Chronicles 7:19 The Hebrew is plural.
2 Chronicles 7:21 See some Septuagint manuscripts, Old Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Targum; Hebrew And though this temple is now so imposing, all
2 Chronicles 8:2 Hebrew Huram, a variant of Hiram; also in verse 18
2 Chronicles 8:6 Or charioteers
2 Chronicles 8:18 That is, about 17 tons or about 15 metric tons

Acts 19:1-7

New International Version

Paul in Ephesus

19 While Apollos^(A) was at Corinth,^(B) Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.^(C) There he found some disciples ²and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit^(D) when^[a] you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

⁴Paul said, “John’s baptism^(E) was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”^(F) ⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.^(G) ⁶When Paul placed his hands on them,^(H) the Holy Spirit came on them,^(I) and they spoke in tongues^[b]^(J) and prophesied. ⁷There were about twelve men in all.