⁴⁴ “When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, ⁴⁵ then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their ^[a]cause.

⁴⁶ “When they sin against You ^(A)(for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive ^(B)to the land of the enemy, far or near; ^47 (C)yet when they ^[b]come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive, ^(D)saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness’; ⁴⁸ and when they ^(E)return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and ^(F)pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name: ⁴⁹ then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their ^[c]cause, ⁵⁰ and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You; and ^(G)grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them ⁵¹ (for ^(H)they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, ^(I)out of the iron furnace), ^52 (J)that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. ⁵³ For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, ^(K)as You spoke by Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

Solomon Blesses the Assembly^(L)

^54 (M)And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, that he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. ⁵⁵ Then he stood ^(N)and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord, who has given ^(O)rest^[d] to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. ^(P)There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses. ⁵⁷ May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. ^(Q)May He not leave us nor forsake us, ⁵⁸ that He may ^(R)incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹ And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require, ^60 (S)that all the peoples of the earth may know that ^(T)the Lord is God; there is no other. ⁶¹ Let your ^(U)heart therefore be ^[e]loyal to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.”

Solomon Dedicates the Temple^(V)

⁶² Then ^(W)the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁶³ And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. ⁶⁴ On ^(X)the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the ^(Y)bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵ At that time Solomon held ^(Z)a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from ^(AA)the entrance of Hamath to ^(AB)the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, ^(AC)seven days and seven more days—fourteen days. ^66 (AD)On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they ^[f]blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that the Lord had done for His servant David, and for Israel His people.

¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? ¹⁸ But now ^(A)God has set the members, each one of them, in the body ^(B)just as He pleased. ¹⁹ And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

²⁰ But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. ²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. ²³ And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, ²⁴ but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, ²⁵ that there should be no ^[a]schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

²⁷ Now ^(C)you are the body of Christ, and ^(D)members individually. ²⁸ And ^(E)God has appointed these in the church: first ^(F)apostles, second ^(G)prophets, third teachers, after that ^(H)miracles, then ^(I)gifts of healings, ^(J)helps, ^(K)administrations, varieties of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But ^(L)earnestly desire the ^[b]best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

The Greatest Gift

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of ^(A)prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, ^(B)so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And ^(C)though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body ^[a]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

^4 (D)Love suffers long and is ^(E)kind; love ^(F)does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not ^[b]puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, ^(G)does not seek its own, is not provoked, ^[c]thinks no evil; ^6 (H)does not rejoice in iniquity, but ^(I)rejoices in the truth; ^7 (J)bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ^9 (K)For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is ^[d]perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For ^(L)now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then ^(M)face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.