Furnishings of the Temple^(A)

4 Moreover he made ^(B)a bronze altar: twenty cubits was its length, twenty cubits its width, and ten cubits its height.

^2 (C)Then he made the ^[a]Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. ^3 (D)And under it was the likeness of oxen encircling it all around, ten to a cubit, all the way around the Sea. The oxen were cast in two rows, when it was cast. ⁴ It stood on twelve ^(E)oxen: three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; the Sea was set upon them, and all their back parts pointed inward. ⁵ It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained ^[b]three thousand baths.

⁶ He also made ^(F)ten lavers, and put five on the right side and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as they offered for the burnt offering they would wash in them, but the ^[c]Sea was for the ^(G)priests to wash in. ^7 (H)And he made ten lampstands of gold ^(I)according to their design, and set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. ^8 (J)He also made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made one hundred ^(K)bowls of gold.

⁹ Furthermore ^(L)he made the court of the priests, and the ^(M)great court and doors for the court; and he overlaid these doors with bronze. ^10 (N)He set the Sea on the right side, toward the southeast.

¹¹ Then ^(O)Huram made the pots and the shovels and the bowls. So Huram finished doing the work that he was to do for King Solomon for the house of God: ¹² the two pillars and ^(P)the bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two networks covering the two bowl-shaped capitals which were on top of the pillars; ^13 (Q)four hundred pomegranates for the two networks (two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on the pillars); ¹⁴ he also made ^(R)carts and the lavers on the carts; ¹⁵ one Sea and twelve oxen under it; ¹⁶ also the pots, the shovels, the forks—and all their articles ^(S)Huram his ^[d]master craftsman made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the Lord.

¹⁷ In the plain of Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds, between Succoth and ^[e]Zeredah. ^18 (T)And Solomon had all these articles made in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze was not determined.

¹⁹ Thus ^(U)Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of God: the altar of gold and the tables on which was ^(V)the showbread; ²⁰ the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, to burn ^(W)in the prescribed manner in front of the inner sanctuary, ²¹ with ^(X)the flowers and the lamps and the wick-trimmers of gold, of purest gold; ²² the trimmers, the bowls, the ladles, and the censers of pure gold. As for the entry of the ^[f]sanctuary, its inner doors to the Most Holy Place, and the doors of the main hall of the temple, were gold.

The Ark Brought into the Temple

5 So ^(Y)all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and the gold and all the furnishings. And he put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

The Ark Brought into the Temple^(Z)

^2 (AA)Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, in Jerusalem, that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up ^(AB)from the City of David, which is Zion. ^3 (AC)Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with the king ^(AD)at the feast, which was in the seventh month. ⁴ So all the elders of Israel came, and the ^(AE)Levites took up the ark. ⁵ Then they brought up the ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁶ Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. ⁷ Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the ^(AF)inner sanctuary of the ^[g]temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. ⁹ The poles extended so that the ends of the ^(AG)poles of the ark could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And ^[h]they are there to this day. ¹⁰ Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets which Moses ^(AH)put there at Horeb, ^[i]when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they had come out of Egypt.

¹¹ And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had ^[j]sanctified themselves, without keeping to their ^(AI)divisions), ^12 (AJ)and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, ^(AK)and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets— ¹³ indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying:

that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, ¹⁴ so that the priests could not ^[k]continue ministering because of the cloud; ^(AM)for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

6 Then ^(AN)Solomon spoke:

Solomon’s Speech upon Completion of the Work^(AQ)

³ Then the king turned around and ^(AR)blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. ⁴ And he said: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, ^(AS)saying, ⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel. ^6 (AT)Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there, and I ^(AU)have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ ⁷ Now ^(AV)it was in the heart of my father David to build a ^[l]temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart. ⁹ Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My ^(AW)name.’ ¹⁰ So the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke, and I have filled the position of my father David, and ^(AX)sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised; and I have built the temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹¹ And there I have put the ark, ^(AY)in which is the covenant of the Lord which He made with the children of Israel.”

Freed from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law ^[a]has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ² For ^(A)the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³ So then ^(B)if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^(C)dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should ^(D)bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^(E)were at work in our members ^(F)to bear fruit to death. ⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve ^(G)in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Sin’s Advantage in the Law

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, ^(H)I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ^(I)“You shall not covet.” ⁸ But ^(J)sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For ^(K)apart from the law sin was dead. ⁹ I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰ And the commandment, ^(L)which was to bring life, I found to bring death. ¹¹ For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. ¹² Therefore ^(M)the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

Prayer with Confidence in Final Salvation

A Prayer of David.