Balaam's Third Oracle

24 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at ^(A)other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. ² And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel ^(B)camping tribe by tribe. And ^(C)the Spirit of God came upon him, ³ and he ^(D)took up his discourse and said,

¹⁰ And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he ^(Q)struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, ^(R)“I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. ¹¹ Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, ^(S)‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the Lord has held you back from honor.” ¹² And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ^13 (T)‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad ^(U)of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’? ¹⁴ And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, ^(V)I will let you know what this people will do to your people ^(W)in the latter days.”

Offerings for the Temple

29 And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is ^(A)young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for ^(B)the palace will not be for man but for the Lord God. ² So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of ^(C)onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble. ³ Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God: ^4 (D)3,000 talents^[a] of gold, of the gold of ^(E)Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the house,^{[b] 5} and for all the work to be done by craftsmen, gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver. Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself^[c] today to the Lord?”

⁶ Then ^(F)the leaders of fathers' houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and ^(G)the officers over the king's work. ⁷ They gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talents and 10,000 ^(H)darics^[d] of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron. ⁸ And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, in the care of ^(I)Jehiel the Gershonite. ⁹ Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a ^(J)whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.

David Prays in the Assembly

¹⁰ Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: ^(K)“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. ^11 (L)Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. ^12 (M)Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. ^(N)In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. ¹³ And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

¹⁴ “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. ^15 (O)For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are ^(P)like a shadow, and there is no abiding.^{[e] 16} O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. ¹⁷ I know, my God, ^(Q)that you test the heart and ^(R)have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. ¹⁸ O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. ^19 (S)Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may ^(T)build the palace ^(U)for which I have made provision.”

²⁰ Then David said to all the assembly, ^(V)“Bless the Lord your God.” And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, ^(W)and bowed their heads and paid homage to the Lord and to the king. ²¹ And they offered sacrifices to the Lord, and on the next day offered burnt offerings to the Lord, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their ^(X)drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. ²² And they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great gladness.

Solomon Anointed King

And they made Solomon the son of David king ^(Y)the second time, and they ^(Z)anointed him as prince for the Lord, and ^(AA)Zadok as priest.

^23 (AB)Then Solomon sat on the ^(AC)throne of the Lord as king in place of David his father. And he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. ²⁴ All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon. ²⁵ And the Lord made Solomon very ^(AD)great in the sight of all Israel and ^(AE)bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

The Death of David

²⁶ Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. ²⁷ The ^(AF)time that he reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ²⁸ Then he died ^(AG)at a good age, ^(AH)full of days, riches, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place. ²⁹ Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles ^(AI)of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of ^(AJ)Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of ^(AK)Gad the seer, ³⁰ with accounts of all his rule and his might and of the circumstances ^(AL)that came upon him and upon Israel and upon all the kingdoms of the countries.

¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was ^(A)filled with fury, and the expression of his face ^(B)was changed against ^(C)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. ²⁰ And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army ^(D)to bind ^(E)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. ²¹ Then these men were ^(F)bound in their cloaks, their tunics,^[a] their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. ²² Because the king's order was ^(G)urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up ^(H)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. ²³ And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell ^(I)bound into the burning fiery furnace.

²⁴ Then King Nebuchadnezzar was ^(J)astonished and rose up ^(K)in haste. He declared to his ^(L)counselors, “Did we not cast three men ^(M)bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” ²⁵ He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, ^(N)walking in the midst of the fire, and they ^(O)are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like ^(P)a son of the gods.”

²⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, ^(Q)“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the ^(R)Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then ^(S)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. ²⁷ And the ^(T)satraps, the prefects, the governors, and ^(U)the king's counselors gathered together and saw that ^(V)the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their ^(W)cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. ²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of ^(X)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who ^(Y)has sent his angel and ^(Z)delivered his servants, who ^(AA)trusted in him, and set aside^[b] the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than ^(AB)serve and worship any god except their own God. ²⁹ Therefore ^(AC)I make a decree: Any ^(AD)people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of ^(AE)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ^(AF)shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” ³⁰ Then the king promoted ^(AG)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in ^(AH)the province of Babylon.

²³ and ^(A)when they did not find his body, they came back saying that ^(B)they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ^24 (C)Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ^26 (D)Was it not necessary that ^(E)the Christ should suffer these things and enter into ^(F)his glory?” ²⁷ And ^(G)beginning with ^(H)Moses and ^(I)all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. ^(J)He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and ^(K)the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and ^(L)blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ^31 (M)And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And ^(N)he vanished from their sight. ³² They said to each other, ^(O)“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he ^(P)opened to us the Scriptures?” ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they ^(Q)found the eleven and ^(R)those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and ^(S)has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and ^(T)how he was known to them in ^(U)the breaking of the bread.

The Man of Lawlessness

2 Now concerning ^(A)the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our ^(B)being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,^{[a] 2} not to be quickly shaken in mind or ^(C)alarmed, either ^(D)by a spirit or a ^(E)spoken word, or ^(F)a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that ^(G)the day of the Lord has come. ^3 (H)Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, ^(I)unless the rebellion comes first, and ^(J)the man of lawlessness^[b] is revealed, ^(K)the son of destruction,^{[c] 4} who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, ^(L)proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. ⁷ For ^(M)the mystery of lawlessness ^(N)is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. ⁸ And then ^(O)the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus ^(P)will kill with ^(Q)the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by ^(R)the appearance of his coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan ^(S)with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for ^(T)those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ Therefore ^(U)God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe ^(V)what is false, ¹² in order that all may be condemned ^(W)who did not believe the truth but ^(X)had pleasure in unrighteousness.