Chapter 4

¹ Then he made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.^{(A) 2 (B)}He also made the molten sea. It was made with a circular rim, and measured ten cubits across, five in height, and thirty in circumference. ³ Under the brim a ring of figures of oxen^[a] encircled it for ten cubits, all the way around the compass of the sea; there were two rows of oxen cast in one mold with the sea. ⁴ This rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east, with their haunches all toward the center; upon them was set the sea. ⁵ It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim resembled that of a cup, being lily-shaped. It had a capacity of three thousand baths.^[b]

⁶ Then he made ten basins for washing, placing five of them to the right and five to the left. In these the victims for the burnt offerings were washed; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.^(C)

⁷ He made the menorahs of gold, ten of them as was prescribed, and placed them in the nave, five to the right and five to the left.^{(D) 8} He made ten tables and had them set in the nave, five to the right and five to the left; and he made a hundred golden bowls.^{(E) 9} He made the court of the priests and the great courtyard^(F) and the gates of the courtyard; the gates he covered with bronze. ¹⁰ The sea he placed off to the southeast from the south side of the house.^(G)

^11 (H)When Huram had made the pots, shovels, and bowls, he finished all his work for King Solomon in the house of God: ¹² two columns; two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; and two pieces of netting covering the two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; ¹³ four hundred pomegranates in double rows on both pieces of netting that covered the two nodes of the capitals on top of the columns. ¹⁴ He made the stands, and the basins on the stands; ¹⁵ one sea, and the twelve oxen under it; ¹⁶ pots, shovels, forks, and all the articles Huram-abi made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord; they were of burnished bronze. ¹⁷ The king had them cast in the neighborhood of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zeredah, in thick clay molds. ¹⁸ Solomon made all these vessels, so many in number that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

¹⁹ Solomon made all the articles that were for the house of God: the golden altar, the tables on which the showbread lay, ²⁰ the menorahs and their lamps of pure gold which were to burn as prescribed before the inner sanctuary, ²¹ flowers, lamps, and gold tongs (this was of purest gold), ²² snuffers, bowls, cups, and firepans of pure gold. As for the entrance to the house, its inner doors to the holy of holies, as well as the doors to the nave of the temple, were of gold.

Chapter 5

Dedication of the Temple. ^1 (I)When all the work undertaken by Solomon for the house of the Lord was completed, he brought in the votive offerings of David his father, putting the silver, the gold, and other articles in the treasuries of the house of God. ² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the City of David, which is Zion. ³ All the people of Israel assembled before the king during the festival of the seventh month.^{[c] 4 (J)}When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites^[d] took up the ark; ⁵ and they brought up the ark and the tent of meeting with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. The levitical priests brought them up.

⁶ King Solomon and the entire community of Israel, gathered for the occasion before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen too many to number or count. ⁷ The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place: the inner sanctuary of the house, the holy of holies, beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, covering the ark and its poles from above. ⁹ The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary. (They cannot be seen from outside, but they remain there to this day.)^{[e] 10} There was nothing in the ark but the two tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they went forth from Egypt.

¹¹ When the priests left the holy place (all the priests who were present had purified themselves regardless of the rotation of their various divisions), ¹² the Levites who were singers, all who belonged to Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and brothers, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets.

¹³ When the trumpeters and singers were heard as a single voice praising and giving thanks to the Lord, and when they raised the sound of the trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments to “Praise the Lord, who is so good, whose love endures forever,” the cloud filled the house of the Lord.^{(K) 14} The priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.^(L)

Chapter 6

^1 (M)Then Solomon said:

^3 (N)The king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood. ⁴ He said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth spoke a promise to David my father and by his hand fulfilled it, saying: ⁵ Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of any tribe of Israel for the building of a house, that my name might be there; nor have I chosen any man to be ruler of my people Israel; ⁶ but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name may be there, and I have chosen David^[f] to rule my people Israel. ⁷ When David my father wished to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, ⁸ the Lord said to him: In wishing to build a house for my name, you did well. ⁹ But it is not you who will build the house, but your son, who comes from your loins: he shall build the house for my name.

¹⁰ “Now the Lord has fulfilled the word he spoke. I have succeeded David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord has said, and I have built this house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹¹ I have placed there the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the Israelites.”

Solomon’s Prayer. ^12 (O)Then he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and stretched forth his hands. ^13 [g]Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, which he had placed in the middle of the courtyard. Having ascended it, Solomon knelt in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and stretched forth his hands toward heaven. ¹⁴ He said: “Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth; you keep the covenant and love toward your servants who walk before you with their whole heart, ¹⁵ the covenant that you kept toward your servant, David my father. That which you promised him, your mouth has spoken and your hand has fulfilled this very day. ¹⁶ And now, Lord, God of Israel, keep toward your servant, David my father, what you promised: There shall never be wanting someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants keep to their way, walking by my law, as you have. ¹⁷ Now, Lord, God of Israel, may the words which you spoke to David your servant be confirmed.

¹⁸ “Is God indeed to dwell with human beings on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house which I have built! ¹⁹ Regard kindly the prayer and petition of your servant, Lord, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you. ²⁰ May your eyes be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have decreed your name shall be; listen to the prayer your servant makes toward this place. ²¹ Listen to the petition of your servant and of your people Israel which they offer toward this place. Listen, from the place of your enthronement, heaven, and listen and forgive.

²² “If someone sins against a neighbor and is required to take an oath sanctioned by a curse, and comes and takes the oath before your altar in this house, ²³ listen in heaven: act and judge your servants. Condemn the wicked, requiting their ways; acquit the just, rewarding their justice. ²⁴ When your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and then they turn, praise your name, pray to you, and entreat you in this house, ²⁵ listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave them and their ancestors. ²⁶ When the heavens are closed so that there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, but they pray toward this place and praise your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, ²⁷ listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. (For you teach them the good way in which they should walk.) Give rain upon this land of yours which you have given to your people as their heritage.

²⁸ “If there is famine in the land or pestilence; or if blight comes, or mildew, or locusts swarm, or caterpillars; when their enemies besiege them at any of their gates; whatever plague or sickness there may be; ²⁹ whatever prayer of petition any may make, any of your people Israel, who know affliction and pain and stretch out their hands toward this house, ³⁰ listen from heaven, the place of your enthronement, and forgive. Render to each and all according to their ways, you who know every heart; for it is you alone who know the heart of every human being. ³¹ So may they revere you and walk in your ways as long as they live on the land you gave our ancestors.

³² “To the foreigners, likewise, who are not of your people Israel, but who come from a distant land for the sake of your great name, your mighty hand and outstretched arm, and come in prayer to this house, ³³ listen from heaven, the place of your enthronement. Do all that the foreigner asks of you, that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, may revere you as do your people Israel, and may know that your name has been invoked upon this house that I have built.

³⁴ “When your people go out to war against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name, ³⁵ listen from heaven to their prayer and petition, and uphold their cause. ³⁶ When they sin against you (for there is no one who does not sin), and in your anger against them you deliver them to an enemy, so that their captors carry them off to another land, far or near, ³⁷ and they have a change of heart in the land of their captivity and they turn and entreat you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,’ ³⁸ if with all their heart and soul they turn back to you in the land of those who took them captive, and pray toward their land which you gave their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name, ³⁹ listen from heaven, the place of your enthronement, to their prayer and petitions, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you. ⁴⁰ Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to the prayer of this place. ⁴¹ And now:

IV. Justification and the Christian Life

Chapter 6

Freedom from Sin; Life in God. ^1 [a]What then shall we say? Shall we persist in sin that grace may abound? Of course not!^{(A) 2} How can we who died to sin yet live in it?^{(B) 3} Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?^{(C) 4} We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.^(D)

⁵ For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.^{(E) 6} We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.^{(F) 7} For a dead person has been absolved from sin. ⁸ If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.^{(G) 9} We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.^{(H) 10} As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.^{(I) 11} Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.^(J)

^12 [b]Therefore, sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires.^{(K) 13} And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness.^{(L) 14} For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.^(M)

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not!^{(N) 16} Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves,^(O) you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?^{(P) 17} But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.^{[c] 18} Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature. For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. ^20 (Q)For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.^{[d] 21} But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.^{(R) 22} But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,^[e] and its end is eternal life.^{(S) 23} For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.^(T)