⁷ When the house was built, ^(A)it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

⁵ And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. ^(A)You shall wield no iron tool on them; ⁶ you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut^[a] stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God,

^5 (A)you yourselves like living stones are being built up as ^(B)a spiritual house, to be ^(C)a holy priesthood, ^(D)to offer spiritual sacrifices ^(E)acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

^12 (A)giving thanks^[a] to the Father, who has qualified you^[b] to share in ^(B)the inheritance of the saints in light.

⁵ He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, ^(A)who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

²³ in order to make known ^(A)the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he ^(B)has prepared beforehand for glory—

³¹ So ^(A)the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And ^(B)walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, ^(C)it multiplied.

¹⁷ At the king's command ^(A)they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. ¹⁸ So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and ^(B)the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.