¹⁷ In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, ^(A)the tabernacle was erected. ¹⁸ Moses erected the tabernacle. He laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars. ¹⁹ And he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁰ He ^(B)took the testimony and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark and set the mercy seat above on the ark. ²¹ And he brought the ark into the tabernacle and ^(C)set up the veil of the screen, and screened ^(D)the ark of the testimony, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^22 (E)He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil, ²³ and arranged the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^24 (F)He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, ^25 (G)and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^26 (H)He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil, ²⁷ and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^28 (I)He put in place the screen for the door of the tabernacle. ^29 (J)And he set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the ^(K)grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^30 (L)He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, ³¹ with which Moses and ^(M)Aaron and his sons ^(N)washed their hands and their feet. ³² When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the Lord commanded Moses. ^33 (O)And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So ^(P)Moses finished the work.

The Glory of the Lord

³⁴ Then ^(Q)the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and ^(R)the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶ Throughout all their journeys, ^(S)whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. ³⁷ But ^(T)if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. ³⁸ For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

Solomon Turns from the Lord

11 Now ^(A)King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, ^(B)“You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³ He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and ^(C)his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, ^(D)as was the heart of David his father. ⁵ For Solomon went after ^(E)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after ^(F)Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for ^(G)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^(H)Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸ And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

The Lord Raises Adversaries

⁹ And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because ^(I)his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(J)who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰ and ^(K)had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. ¹¹ Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, ^(L)I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. ¹² Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ However, ^(M)I will not tear away all the kingdom, but ^(N)I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem ^(O)that I have chosen.”

¹⁴ And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom. ¹⁵ For ^(P)when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom ¹⁶ (for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom). ¹⁷ But Hadad fled to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father's servants, Hadad still being a little child. ¹⁸ They set out from Midian and came to ^(Q)Paran and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him an allowance of food and gave him land. ¹⁹ And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. ²⁰ And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh. ²¹ But when Hadad heard in Egypt ^(R)that David slept with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.” ²² But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country?” And he said to him, “Only let me depart.”

²³ God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master ^(S)Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴ And he gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band, ^(T)after the killing by David. And they went to Damascus and lived there and made him king in Damascus. ²⁵ He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria.

The Utter Destruction of Babylon

^(W)The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of ^(X)the Medes, because ^(Y)his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, ^(Z)for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for ^(AA)his temple.

Who Can Stand Before You?

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. A Psalm of ^(B)Asaph. A Song.

¹⁵ for he will be ^(A)great before the Lord. And ^(B)he must not drink wine or strong ^(C)drink, and ^(D)he will be ^(E)filled with the Holy Spirit, ^(F)even from his mother's womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷ and ^(G)he will go before him ^(H)in the spirit and power of Elijah, ^(I)to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and ^(J)the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ^(K)to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

¹⁸ And Zechariah said to the angel, ^(L)“How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” ¹⁹ And the angel answered him, “I am ^(M)Gabriel. ^(N)I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰ And behold, ^(O)you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” ²¹ And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in ^(P)the temple. ²² And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in ^(Q)the temple. And ^(R)he kept making signs to them and remained mute. ²³ And ^(S)when his time of ^(T)service was ended, he went to his home.

²⁴ After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, ²⁵ “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, ^(U)to take away my reproach among people.”

¹⁴ I do not write these things ^(A)to make you ashamed, but to admonish you ^(B)as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For ^(C)though you have countless^[a] guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For ^(D)I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ I urge you, then, ^(E)be imitators of me. ¹⁷ That is why ^(F)I sent^[b] you Timothy, ^(G)my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,^{[c] (H)}as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Some are ^(I)arrogant, ^(J)as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But ^(K)I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰ For ^(L)the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ²¹ What do you wish? ^(M)Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?