1 Kings 8:1-21

New International Version

The Ark Brought to the Temple^(A)

8 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs^(B) of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark^(C) of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David.^(D) ²All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival^(E) in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.^(F)

³When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests^(G) took up the ark, ⁴and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting^(H) and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites^(I) carried them up, ⁵and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing^(J) so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

⁶The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant^(K) to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place,^(L) and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.^(M) ⁷The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed^(N) the ark and its carrying poles. ⁸These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.^(O) ⁹There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets^(P) that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

¹⁰When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud^(Q) filled the temple of the Lord. ¹¹And the priests could not perform their service^(R) because of the cloud, for the glory^(S) of the Lord filled his temple.

¹²Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;^(T) ¹³I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell^(U) forever.”

¹⁴While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed^(V) them. ¹⁵Then he said:

“Praise be to the Lord,^(W) the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, ¹⁶‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt,^(X) I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name^(Y) might be there, but I have chosen^(Z) David^(AA) to rule my people Israel.’

¹⁷“My father David had it in his heart^(AB) to build a temple^(AC) for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. ¹⁹Nevertheless, you^(AD) are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’^(AE)

²⁰“The Lord has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded^(AF) David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built^(AG) the temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”

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1 Corinthians 15:35-58

New International Version

The Resurrection Body

³⁵But someone will ask,^(A) “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”^(B) ³⁶How foolish!^(C) What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.^(D) ³⁷When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.^(E) ³⁹Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹The sun has one kind of splendor,^(F) the moon another and the stars another;^(G) and star differs from star in splendor.

⁴²So will it be^(H) with the resurrection of the dead.^(I) The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;^(J) ⁴³it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;^(K) it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.^(L)

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”^[a];^(M) the last Adam,^(N) a life-giving spirit.^(O) ⁴⁶The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.^(P) ⁴⁷The first man was of the dust of the earth;^(Q) the second man is of heaven.^(R) ⁴⁸As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.^(S) ⁴⁹And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man,^(T) so shall we^[b] bear the image of the heavenly man.^(U)

⁵⁰I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood^(V) cannot inherit the kingdom of God,^(W) nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.^(X) ⁵¹Listen, I tell you a mystery:^(Y) We will not all sleep,^(Z) but we will all be changed^(AA)— ⁵²in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,^(AB) the dead^(AC) will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³For the perishable^(AD) must clothe itself with the imperishable,^(AE) and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”^[c]^(AF)

⁵⁵“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”^[d]^(AG)

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin,^(AH) and the power of sin is the law.^(AI) ⁵⁷But thanks be to God!^(AJ) He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.^(AK)

⁵⁸Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,^(AL) because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.^(AM)

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 15:45 Gen. 2:7
1 Corinthians 15:49 Some early manuscripts so let us
1 Corinthians 15:54 Isaiah 25:8
1 Corinthians 15:55 Hosea 13:14

1 Kings 8:22-53

New International Version

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication^(A)

²²Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands^(B) toward heaven ²³and said:

“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like^(C) you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love^(D) with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. ²⁴You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

²⁵“Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises^(E) you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ ²⁶And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised^(F) your servant David my father come true.

²⁷“But will God really dwell^(G) on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven,^(H) cannot contain^(I) you. How much less this temple I have built! ²⁸Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. ²⁹May your eyes be open^(J) toward^(K) this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name^(L) shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray^(M) toward this place. Hear^(N) from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.^(O)

³¹“When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath^(P) before your altar in this temple, ³²then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.^(Q)

³³“When your people Israel have been defeated^(R) by an enemy because they have sinned^(S) against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple,^(T) ³⁴then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.

³⁵“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain^(U) because your people have sinned^(V) against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, ³⁶then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach^(W) them the right way^(X) to live, and send rain^(Y) on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

³⁷“When famine^(Z) or plague^(AA) comes to the land, or blight^(AB) or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers,^(AC) or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, ³⁸and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands^(AD) toward this temple— ³⁹then hear^(AE) from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive^(AF) and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know^(AG) their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), ⁴⁰so that they will fear^(AH) you all the time they live in the land^(AI) you gave our ancestors.

⁴¹“As for the foreigner^(AJ) who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— ⁴²for they will hear^(AK) of your great name and your mighty hand^(AL) and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, ⁴³then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know^(AM) your name and fear^(AN) you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.^(AO)

⁴⁴“When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray^(AP) to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, ⁴⁵then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.^(AQ)

⁴⁶“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin^(AR)—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive^(AS) to their own lands, far away or near; ⁴⁷and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead^(AT) with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’;^(AU) ⁴⁸and if they turn back^(AV) to you with all their heart^(AW) and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray^(AX) to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple^(AY) I have built for your Name;^(AZ) ⁴⁹then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. ⁵⁰And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy;^(BA) ⁵¹for they are your people and your inheritance,^(BB) whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.^(BC)

⁵²“May your eyes be open^(BD) to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.^(BE) ⁵³For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance,^(BF) just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

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Luke 17:20-37

New International Version

The Coming of the Kingdom of God^(A)

²⁰Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come,^(B) Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’^(C) because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”^[a]

²²Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man,^(D) but you will not see it.^(E) ²³People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.^(F) ²⁴For the Son of Man in his day^[b] will be like the lightning,^(G) which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. ²⁵But first he must suffer many things^(H) and be rejected^(I) by this generation.^(J)

²⁶“Just as it was in the days of Noah,^(K) so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸“It was the same in the days of Lot.^(L) People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.^(M) ³¹On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.^(N) ³²Remember Lot’s wife!^(O) ³³Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.^(P) ³⁴I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”^(Q) ^[36]^[c]