1 Solomon son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.

² Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ houses.

³ And Solomon and all the assembly [a united nation] with him went to the high place that was at Gibeon, for the Tent of Meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness, was there [where the Canaanites had habitually worshiped].

⁴ But David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place which David had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.

⁵ Moreover, the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly sought [the Lord].

⁶ Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord at the Tent of Meeting and offered 1,000 burnt offerings on it.

⁷ That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, Ask what I shall give you.

⁸ And Solomon said to God, You have shown great mercy and loving-kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place.

⁹ Now, O Lord God, let Your promise to David my father be fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.

¹⁰ Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this Your people who are so great?

¹¹ God replied to Solomon, Because this was in your heart and you have not asked for riches, possessions, honor, and glory, or the life of your foes, or even for long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may rule and judge My people over whom I have made you king,

¹² Wisdom and knowledge are granted you. And I will give you riches, possessions, honor, and glory, such as none of the kings had before you, and none after you shall have their equal.

¹³ Then Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.

¹⁴ Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, which he placed in the cities [suited for the use] of chariots and with the king at Jerusalem.

¹⁵ And the king made silver and gold in Jerusalem as common as stones, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamores of the lowland.

¹⁶ Solomon’s horses were brought out of Egypt; the king’s merchants received them in droves, ^[a]each drove at a price.

¹⁷ They imported from Egypt a chariot for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; so they brought out horses for all the Hittite and Syrian kings as export agents.

2 Solomon determined to build a temple for the ^[a]Name of the Lord and a royal capitol.

² And Solomon counted out 70,000 men to bear burdens, 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hill country, and 3,600 overseers.

³ And Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre, saying, As you dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house in which to dwell, even so deal with me.

⁴ Behold, I am about to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God, dedicated to Him for the burning of incense of sweet spices before Him, for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel.

⁵ The house which I am to build is great, for our God is greater than all gods.

⁶ But who is able to build Him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain Him? Who am I to build Him a house, except as a place to burn incense in worship before Him?

⁷ Now therefore, send a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue colors, who is a trained engraver, to work with the skilled men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

⁸ Send me also from Lebanon cedar, cypress, and algum timber, for I know your servants can skillfully cut timber in Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants,

⁹ To prepare for me timber in abundance, for the house I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.

¹⁰ And I will give to your servants who cut timber 20,000 measures of crushed wheat and also of barley, and 20,000 baths of wine and also of oil.

¹¹ Then Hiram king of Tyre replied in writing sent to Solomon, Because the Lord loves His people, He has made you king over them.

¹² Hiram said also, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who made heaven and earth, Who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, who should build a house for the Lord and a royal palace as his capitol.

¹³ Now I have sent a skilled man, endued with understanding, even Huram-abi, my trusted counselor,

¹⁴ The son of a woman of the daughters of ^[b]Dan; his father was a man of Tyre. He is a trained worker in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood; in purple, blue, and crimson colors, and in fine linen; and also to engrave any type of engraving and to carry out any design given him, with your skilled men and those of my lord, David your father.

¹⁵ Now therefore, the wheat, barley, oil, and wine of which my lord has spoken, let him send them to his servants,

¹⁶ And we will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa, so you may take it up to Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Then Solomon took a census of all the aliens in the land of Israel, like the census of them which his father David had taken. They were found to be 153,600.

¹⁸ And he assigned 70,000 of them to be burden bearers, 80,000 to work in the mountain quarries, and 3,600 as overseers to direct the people’s work.

3 O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you, unto whom—right before your very eyes—Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified?

² Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing [the message of the Gospel] and believing [it]? [Was it from observing a law of rituals or from a message of faith?]

³ Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?

⁴ Have you suffered so many things and experienced so much all for nothing (to no purpose)—if it really is to no purpose and in vain?

⁵ Then does He Who supplies you with His marvelous [Holy] Spirit and works powerfully and miraculously among you do so on [the grounds of your doing] what the Law demands, or because of your believing in and adhering to and trusting in and relying on the message that you heard?

⁶ Thus Abraham believed in and adhered to and trusted in and relied on God, and it was reckoned and placed to his account and credited as righteousness (as conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action).^(A)

⁷ Know and understand that it is [really] the people [who live] by faith who are [the true] sons of Abraham.

⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (declare righteous, put in right standing with Himself) the Gentiles in consequence of faith, proclaimed the Gospel [foretelling the glad tidings of a Savior long beforehand] to Abraham in the promise, saying, In you shall all the nations [of the earth] be blessed.^(B)

⁹ So then, those who are people of faith are blessed and made happy and favored by God [as partners in fellowship] with the believing and trusting Abraham.

¹⁰ And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed (accursed, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment) be everyone who does not continue to abide (live and remain) by all the precepts and commands written in the Book of the Law and to practice them.^(C)

¹¹ Now it is evident that no person is justified (declared righteous and brought into right standing with God) through the Law, for the Scripture says, The man in right standing with God [the just, the righteous] shall live by and out of faith and he who through and by faith is declared righteous and in right standing with God shall live.^(D)

¹² But the Law does not rest on faith [does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith], for it itself says, He who does them [the things prescribed by the Law] shall live by them [not by faith].^(E)

¹³ Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified);^(F)

¹⁴ To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing [promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit.

¹⁵ To speak in terms of human relations, brethren, [if] even a man makes a last will and testament (a merely human covenant), no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it when once it has been drawn up and signed (ratified, confirmed).

¹⁶ Now the promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, his Heir). He [God] does not say, And to seeds (descendants, heirs), as if referring to many persons, but, And to your Seed (your Descendant, your Heir), obviously referring to one individual, Who is [none other than] Christ (the Messiah).^(G)

¹⁷ This is my argument: The Law, which began 430 years after the covenant [concerning the coming Messiah], does not and cannot annul the covenant previously established (ratified) by God, so as to abolish the promise and make it void.^(H)

¹⁸ For if the inheritance [of the promise depends on observing] the Law [as these false teachers would like you to believe], it no longer [depends] on the promise; however, God gave it to Abraham [as a free gift solely] by virtue of His promise.

¹⁹ What then was the purpose of the Law? It was added [later on, after the promise, to disclose and expose to men their guilt] because of transgressions and [to make men more conscious of the sinfulness] of sin; and it was intended to be in effect until the Seed (the Descendant, the Heir) should come, to and concerning Whom the promise had been made. And it [the Law] was arranged and ordained and appointed through the instrumentality of angels [and was given] by the hand (in the person) of a go-between [Moses, an intermediary person between God and man].

²⁰ Now a go-between (intermediary) has to do with and implies more than one party [there can be no mediator with just one person]. Yet God is [only] one Person [and He was the sole party in giving that promise to Abraham. But the Law was a contract between two, God and Israel; its validity was dependent on both].

²¹ Is the Law then contrary and opposed to the promises of God? Of course not! For if a Law had been given which could confer [spiritual] life, then righteousness and right standing with God would certainly have come by Law.

²² But the Scriptures [picture all mankind as sinners] shut up and imprisoned by sin, so that [the inheritance, blessing] which was promised through faith in Jesus Christ (the Messiah) might be given (released, delivered, and committed) to [all] those who believe [who adhere to and trust in and rely on Him].

²³ Now before the faith came, we were perpetually guarded under the Law, kept in custody in preparation for the faith that was destined to be revealed (unveiled, disclosed),

²⁴ So that the Law served ^[a][to us Jews] as our trainer [our guardian, our guide to Christ, to lead us] until Christ [came], that we might be justified (declared righteous, put in right standing with God) by and through faith.

²⁵ But now that the faith has come, we are no longer under a trainer (the guardian of our childhood).

²⁶ For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.

²⁷ For as many [of you] as were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union and communion with Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah] have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ.

²⁸ There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male ^[b]and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹ And if you belong to Christ [are in Him Who is Abraham’s Seed], then you are Abraham’s offspring and [spiritual] heirs according to promise.