⁷ The house was built with stone finished at the quarry so that neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built.^(A)

⁵ And you shall build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool.^{(A) 6} You must build the altar of the Lord your God of unhewn^[a] stones. Then offer up burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God;

⁵ like living stones let yourselves be built^[a] into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.^(A)

¹² giving thanks to the Father,^[a] who has enabled^[b] you^[c] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

⁵ The one who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a down payment.^(A)

²³ and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

³¹ Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.^(A)

¹⁷ At the king’s command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.^{(A) 18} So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites did the stonecutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.