The Lord Appears to Solomon

9 ^(A)As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord ^(B)and the king's house and ^(C)all that Solomon desired to build, ^2 (D)the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, ^(E)by putting my name there forever. ^(F)My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. ⁴ And as for you, if you will ^(G)walk before me, ^(H)as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, ^5 (I)then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ ^6 (J)But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ^7 (K)then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, ^(L)and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, ^(M)and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ⁸ And this house will become a heap of ruins.^[a] Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ^(N)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ Then they will say, ‘Because ^(O)they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Solomon's Other Acts

^10 (P)At the end of ^(Q)twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house, ¹¹ and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. ¹³ Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of ^(R)Cabul to this day. ¹⁴ Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents^[b] of gold.

¹⁵ And this is the account of ^(S)the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the Lord and his own house and ^(T)the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and ^(U)Hazor and ^(V)Megiddo and Gezer ¹⁶ (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed ^(W)the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to ^(X)his daughter, Solomon's wife; ¹⁷ so Solomon rebuilt Gezer) and ^(Y)Lower Beth-horon ¹⁸ and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,^{[c] 19} and all the store cities that Solomon had, and ^(Z)the cities for his chariots, and the cities for ^(AA)his horsemen, and whatever Solomon ^(AB)desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ²⁰ All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel— ^21 (AC)their descendants who were left after them in the land, ^(AD)whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction^[d]—^(AE)these Solomon drafted to be ^(AF)slaves, and so they are to this day. ²² But ^(AG)of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.

²³ These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work: ^(AH)550 ^(AI)who had charge of the people who carried on the work.

²⁴ But ^(AJ)Pharaoh's daughter went up from the city of David to ^(AK)her own house that Solomon had built for her. ^(AL)Then he built ^(AM)the Millo.

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, making offerings with it^[e] before the Lord. So he finished the house.

²⁶ King Solomon built a fleet of ships at ^(AN)Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ²⁷ And Hiram sent ^(AO)with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ And they went to ^(AP)Ophir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.

Solomon's Accomplishments

8 ^(A)At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, ² Solomon rebuilt the cities that Hiram had given to him, and settled the people of Israel in them.

³ And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and took it. ⁴ He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities that he built in Hamath. ⁵ He also built ^(B)Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, ^(C)fortified cities ^(D)with walls, gates, and bars, ⁶ and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had and all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ^7 (E)All the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, ⁸ from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel had not destroyed—these Solomon drafted ^(F)as forced labor, and so they are to this day. ⁹ But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work; they were soldiers, and his officers, the commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁰ And these were the chief officers of King Solomon, 250, who exercised authority over the people.

^11 (G)Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord ^(H)that he had built before the vestibule, ^13 (I)as the duty of each day required, offering ^(J)according to the commandment of Moses for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the ^(K)three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. ¹⁴ According to the ruling of David his father, he appointed ^(L)the divisions of the priests for their service, ^(M)and the Levites for their offices of praise and ^(N)ministry before the priests ^(O)as the duty of each day required, and ^(P)the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate, for so David ^(Q)the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵ And they did not turn aside from what the king had commanded the priests and Levites concerning any matter and concerning the treasuries.

¹⁶ Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from^[a] the day the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to ^(R)Ezion-geber and ^(S)Eloth on the shore of the sea, in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ And Hiram sent to him by the hand of his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea, and they went to Ophir together with the servants of Solomon and brought from there ^(T)450 talents^[b] of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

Peace with God Through Faith

5 ^(A)Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, ^(B)we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also ^(C)obtained access by faith^[b] into this grace ^(D)in which we stand, and ^(E)we^[c] rejoice^[d] in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we ^(F)rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering ^(G)produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and ^(H)hope does not put us to shame, because God's love ^(I)has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

⁶ For ^(J)while we were still weak, at the right time ^(K)Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but ^(L)God shows his love for us in that ^(M)while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, ^(N)we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from ^(O)the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if ^(P)while we were enemies ^(Q)we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by ^(R)his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received ^(S)reconciliation.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

¹² Therefore, just as ^(T)sin came into the world through one man, and ^(U)death through sin, and ^(V)so death spread to all men^[e] because ^(W)all sinned— ¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but ^(X)sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not ^(Y)like the transgression of Adam, ^(Z)who was a type of ^(AA)the one who was to come.

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for ^(AB)many. ¹⁶ And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For ^(AC)the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought ^(AD)justification. ¹⁷ For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness ^(AE)reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Therefore, as one trespass^[f] led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness^[g] leads to justification and life for ^(AF)all men. ¹⁹ For as by the one man's ^(AG)disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's ^(AH)obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Now ^(AI)the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, ^(AJ)grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, ^(AK)as sin reigned in death, ^(AL)grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.