Solomon Builds the Temple

6 It was in midspring, in the month of Ziv,^[a] during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, that he began to construct the Temple of the Lord. This was 480 years after the people of Israel were rescued from their slavery in the land of Egypt.

² The Temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.^{[b] 3} The entry room at the front of the Temple was 30 feet^[c] wide, running across the entire width of the Temple. It projected outward 15 feet^[d] from the front of the Temple. ⁴ Solomon also made narrow recessed windows throughout the Temple.

⁵ He built a complex of rooms against the outer walls of the Temple, all the way around the sides and rear of the building. ⁶ The complex was three stories high, the bottom floor being 7 1⁄2 feet wide, the second floor 9 feet wide, and the top floor 10 1⁄2 feet wide.^[e] The rooms were connected to the walls of the Temple by beams resting on ledges built out from the wall. So the beams were not inserted into the walls themselves.

⁷ The stones used in the construction of the Temple were finished at the quarry, so there was no sound of hammer, ax, or any other iron tool at the building site.

⁸ The entrance to the bottom floor^[f] was on the south side of the Temple. There were winding stairs going up to the second floor, and another flight of stairs between the second and third floors. ⁹ After completing the Temple structure, Solomon put in a ceiling made of cedar beams and planks. ¹⁰ As already stated, he built a complex of rooms along the sides of the building, attached to the Temple walls by cedar timbers. Each story of the complex was 7 1⁄2 feet^[g] high.

¹¹ Then the Lord gave this message to Solomon: ¹² “Concerning this Temple you are building, if you keep all my decrees and regulations and obey all my commands, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father, David. ¹³ I will live among the Israelites and will never abandon my people Israel.”

The Temple’s Interior

¹⁴ So Solomon finished building the Temple. ¹⁵ The entire inside, from floor to ceiling, was paneled with wood. He paneled the walls and ceilings with cedar, and he used planks of cypress for the floors. ¹⁶ He partitioned off an inner sanctuary—the Most Holy Place—at the far end of the Temple. It was 30 feet deep and was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling. ¹⁷ The main room of the Temple, outside the Most Holy Place, was 60 feet^[h] long. ¹⁸ Cedar paneling completely covered the stone walls throughout the Temple, and the paneling was decorated with carvings of gourds and open flowers.

¹⁹ He prepared the inner sanctuary at the far end of the Temple, where the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant would be placed. ²⁰ This inner sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He overlaid the inside with solid gold. He also overlaid the altar made of cedar.^{[i] 21} Then Solomon overlaid the rest of the Temple’s interior with solid gold, and he made gold chains to protect the entrance^[j] to the Most Holy Place. ²² So he finished overlaying the entire Temple with gold, including the altar that belonged to the Most Holy Place.

²³ He made two cherubim of wild olive^[k] wood, each 15 feet^[l] tall, and placed them in the inner sanctuary. ²⁴ The wingspan of each of the cherubim was 15 feet, each wing being 7 1⁄2 feet^[m] long. ²⁵ The two cherubim were identical in shape and size; ²⁶ each was 15 feet tall. ²⁷ He placed them side by side in the inner sanctuary of the Temple. Their outspread wings reached from wall to wall, while their inner wings touched at the center of the room. ²⁸ He overlaid the two cherubim with gold.

²⁹ He decorated all the walls of the inner sanctuary and the main room with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. ³⁰ He overlaid the floor in both rooms with gold.

³¹ For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, he made double doors of wild olive wood with five-sided doorposts.^{[n] 32} These double doors were decorated with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. The doors, including the decorations of cherubim and palm trees, were overlaid with gold.

³³ Then he made four-sided doorposts of wild olive wood for the entrance to the Temple. ³⁴ There were two folding doors of cypress wood, and each door was hinged to fold back upon itself. ³⁵ These doors were decorated with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers—all overlaid evenly with gold.

³⁶ The walls of the inner courtyard were built so that there was one layer of cedar beams between every three layers of finished stone.

³⁷ The foundation of the Lord’s Temple was laid in midspring, in the month of Ziv,^[o] during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign. ³⁸ The entire building was completed in every detail by midautumn, in the month of Bul,^[p] during the eleventh year of his reign. So it took seven years to build the Temple.

Solomon Builds the Temple

3 So Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David, his father. The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah^[a] the Jebusite, the site that David had selected. ² The construction began in midspring,^[b] during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.

³ These are the dimensions Solomon used for the foundation of the Temple of God (using the old standard of measurement).^[c] It was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide.^{[d] 4} The entry room at the front of the Temple was 30 feet^[e] wide, running across the entire width of the Temple, and 30 feet^[f] high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

⁵ He paneled the main room of the Temple with cypress wood, overlaid it with fine gold, and decorated it with carvings of palm trees and chains. ⁶ He decorated the walls of the Temple with beautiful jewels and with gold from the land of Parvaim. ⁷ He overlaid the beams, thresholds, walls, and doors throughout the Temple with gold, and he carved figures of cherubim on the walls.

⁸ He made the Most Holy Place 30 feet wide, corresponding to the width of the Temple, and 30 feet deep. He overlaid its interior with 23 tons^[g] of fine gold. ⁹ The gold nails that were used weighed 20 ounces^[h] each. He also overlaid the walls of the upper rooms with gold.

¹⁰ He made two figures shaped like cherubim, overlaid them with gold, and placed them in the Most Holy Place. ¹¹ The total wingspan of the two cherubim standing side by side was 30 feet. One wing of the first figure was 7 1⁄2 feet^[i] long, and it touched the Temple wall. The other wing, also 7 1⁄2 feet long, touched one of the wings of the second figure. ¹² In the same way, the second figure had one wing 7 1⁄2 feet long that touched the opposite wall. The other wing, also 7 1⁄2 feet long, touched the wing of the first figure. ¹³ So the wingspan of the two cherubim side by side was 30 feet. They stood on their feet and faced out toward the main room of the Temple.

¹⁴ Across the entrance of the Most Holy Place he hung a curtain made of fine linen, decorated with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and embroidered with figures of cherubim.

¹⁵ For the front of the Temple, he made two pillars that were 27 feet^[j] tall, each topped by a capital extending upward another 7 1⁄2 feet. ¹⁶ He made a network of interwoven chains^[k] and used them to decorate the tops of the pillars. He also made 100 decorative pomegranates and attached them to the chains. ¹⁷ Then he set up the two pillars at the entrance of the Temple, one to the south of the entrance and the other to the north. He named the one on the south Jakin, and the one on the north Boaz.^[l]

Psalm 97

Greetings from Paul

1 This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. ² God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. ³ The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, ⁴ and he was shown to be^[a] the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.^[b] He is Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵ Through Christ, God has given us the privilege^[c] and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

⁶ And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. ⁷ I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people.

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

God’s Good News

⁸ Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. ⁹ God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart^[d] by spreading the Good News about his Son.

¹⁰ One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. ¹¹ For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. ¹² When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.

¹³ I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,^[e] that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. ¹⁴ For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world,^[f] to the educated and uneducated alike. ¹⁵ So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News.

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.^{[g] 17} This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”^[h]

God’s Anger at Sin

¹⁸ But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.^{[i] 19} They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. ²⁰ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

²¹ Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. ²² Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. ²³ And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. ²⁵ They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. ²⁶ That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. ²⁷ And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

²⁸ Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. ²⁹ Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. ³⁰ They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. ³¹ They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. ³² They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.