⁵⁴ When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood and blessed^(A) the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

The Dedication of the Temple^(J)

⁶² Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices^(K) before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated^(L) the temple of the Lord.

⁶⁴ On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat^(M) of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar^(N) that stood before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.^(O)

⁶⁵ So Solomon observed the festival^(P) at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath^(Q) to the Wadi of Egypt.^(R) They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. ⁶⁶ On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good^(S) things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

The Lord Appears to Solomon^(T)

9 When Solomon had finished^(U) building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, ² the Lord appeared^(V) to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him:

Solomon’s Other Activities^(AP)

¹⁰ At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the Lord and the royal palace— ¹¹ King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold^(AQ) he wanted. ¹² But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. ¹³ “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Kabul,^[d](AR) a name they have to this day. ¹⁴ Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents^[e] of gold.^(AS)

¹⁵ Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted^(AT) to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the terraces,^[f](AU) the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor,^(AV) Megiddo and Gezer.^{(AW) 16} (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter,^(AX) Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon,^{(AY) 18} Baalath,^(AZ) and Tadmor^[g] in the desert, within his land, ¹⁹ as well as all his store cities^(BA) and the towns for his chariots^(BB) and for his horses^[h]—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

²⁰ There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites,^(BC) Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites^(BD) (these peoples were not Israelites). ²¹ Solomon conscripted the descendants^(BE) of all these peoples remaining in the land—whom the Israelites could not exterminate^[i](BF)—to serve as slave labor,^(BG) as it is to this day. ²² But Solomon did not make slaves^(BH) of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. ²³ They were also the chief officials^(BI) in charge of Solomon’s projects—550 officials supervising those who did the work.

²⁴ After Pharaoh’s daughter^(BJ) had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the terraces.^(BK)

²⁵ Three^(BL) times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense before the Lord along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations.

²⁶ King Solomon also built ships^(BM) at Ezion Geber,^(BN) which is near Elath^(BO) in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.^{[j] 27} And Hiram sent his men—sailors^(BP) who knew the sea—to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men. ²⁸ They sailed to Ophir^(BQ) and brought back 420 talents^[k] of gold,^(BR) which they delivered to King Solomon.

⁷ Calling the Twelve to him,^(A) he began to send them out two by two^(B) and gave them authority over impure spirits.^(C)

⁸ These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. ⁹ Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. ¹⁰ Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. ¹¹ And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet^(D) as a testimony against them.”

¹² They went out and preached that people should repent.^{(E) 13} They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil^(F) and healed them.

John the Baptist Beheaded^(G)(H)

¹⁴ King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying,^[a] “John the Baptist^(I) has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”^(J)

And still others claimed, “He is a prophet,^(K) like one of the prophets of long ago.”^(L)

¹⁶ But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison.^(M) He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”^{(N) 19} So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, ²⁰ because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.^(O) When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled^[b]; yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹ Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet^(P) for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.^{(Q) 22} When the daughter of^[c] Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” ²³ And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”^(R)

²⁴ She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

²⁵ At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶ The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, ²⁸ and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ²⁹ On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand^(S)(T)

³⁰ The apostles^(U) gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.^{(V) 31} Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat,^(W) he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

³² So they went away by themselves in a boat^(X) to a solitary place. ³³ But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.^(Y) So he began teaching them many things.

³⁵ By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. ³⁶ Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”^(Z)

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages^[d]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸ “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”^(AA)

³⁹ Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.^(AB) Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.