The Temple Furnishings

4 Moreover, he made a bronze altar 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide and ten cubits high. ² He also made the Sea of cast metal ten cubits across from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was five cubits high and its circumference was 30 cubits.

³ Beneath it, figures like bulls were set all around it, ten cubits encircling the Sea. The bulls were in two rows, cast in one piece with it. ⁴ The Sea stood on 12 bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested upon them and their hindquarters were all turned inward. ⁵ It was a handbreadth thick, and the brim was like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held 3,000 vats. ⁶ He also made ten basins for washing and placed five on the right side and five on the left. In them the items used for the burnt offering were rinsed, but the kohanim washed in “the Sea”.

⁷ Next he made the ten menorot^[a] of gold in the manner prescribed for them and set them in the Temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. ⁸ He also made ten tables and placed them in the Temple, five on the right side and five on the left. He also made 100 gold bowls.

⁹ Then he made the courtyard of the kohanim and the great courtyard and doors for the courtyard. He overlaid the doors with bronze. ¹⁰ He set the Sea on the south side at the southeast corner.

¹¹ Huram also made the pots, the shovels and the bowls. So Huram-abi finished the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the House of God: ¹² the two pillars, the bowls and the two capitals on the top of the pillars, and the two lattice-works to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, ¹³ and the 400 pomegranates for the two lattice-works (two rows of pomegranates for each lattice-work to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars). ¹⁴ He also made the stands, the basins upon the stands, ¹⁵ and the one Sea with the 12 bulls under it, ¹⁶ as well as the pots, the shovels and the meat hooks. All the utensils Huram-abi made for King Solomon for the House of Adonai were of polished bronze. ¹⁷ The king had them cast with clay earth from the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zeredah. ¹⁸ Solomon made all these utensils in such great quantities that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

¹⁹ Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the House of God, including the golden altar, the tables on which was the Bread of Presence, ²⁰ the menorot with their lamps of pure gold to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed ²¹ with the flowers and the lamps and the tongs of gold, the purest gold, ²² and the snuffers, the bowls, the spoons and the fire-pans of pure gold, and the doors of the House—the inner doors for the Holy of Holies and the doors of the House, that is, the Temple—were of gold.

5 When all the work that Solomon undertook for the House of Adonai was finished, Solomon brought in the things David his father consecrated—the silver, gold and all the furnishings—and put them in the treasuries of the House of God.

Consecration of the Temple

² Then Solomon gathered to Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the patriarchal leaders of Bnei-Yisrael, in order to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of Adonai from the city of David, which is Zion. ³ All the men of Israel gathered together to the king at the feast that is in the seventh month.

⁴ So all the elders of Israel came and the Levites took up the Ark ⁵ and brought up the Ark and the Tent of Meeting along with all the sacred furnishings that were in the Tent. The Levitical kohanim brought them up. ⁶ Meanwhile, King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel who gathered with him before the Ark, were sacrificing so many sheep and bulls that they could not be counted or numbered.

⁷ The kohanim brought in the Ark of the Covenant of Adonai to its place, into the inner Sanctuary of the House, into the Holy of Holies under the wings of the cheruvim. ⁸ The cheruvim spread their wings over the place of the Ark so that the cheruvim covered the Ark and its poles from above. ⁹ Now the poles were so long that the ends of the poles extending from the Ark could be seen in front of the inner Sanctuary, though they could not be seen from outside; and they are there to this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Adonai made a covenant with Bnei-Yisrael when they came out of Egypt.

God’s Glory Fills the Temple

¹¹ And it came to pass, when the kohanim came out of the Holy Place—for all the kohanim that were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to divisions— ¹² all the Levite singers—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, their sons and their relatives—dressed in fine linen with cymbals, harps and lyres, were standing at the east end of the altar and with them were 120 kohanim blowing trumpets. ¹³ Then it came to pass that when the trumpeters and singers joined as one to extol and praise Adonai, and when the sound of the trumpets, cymbals and musical instruments and the praise of Adonai—“For He is good, for His mercy endures forever”—grew louder, the Temple, the House of Adonai, was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴ The kohanim could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Adonai filled the House of God.

Adonai Has Chosen Jerusalem

6 Then Solomon declared, “Adonai has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud; ² I have built You a magnificent House and a place for You to dwell forever.”

³ Then, while all the congregation of Israel was standing the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel. ⁴ He said: “Blessed be Adonai, the God of Israel, who with His hands has fulfilled what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying: ⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a House that My Name might be there. Nor did I choose any man to be a leader over My people Israel. ⁶ But I have chosen Jerusalem that My Name would abide there and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

⁷ “Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a House for the Name of Adonai, the God of Israel. ⁸ But Adonai said to David my father: ‘As for you wanting in your heart to build a House for My Name, you did well that this was in your heart. ⁹ Nevertheless, you will not build the House. Rather your son who will be born to you, he will build the House for My Name.’

¹⁰ “Now Adonai has confirmed His promise that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, just as Adonai promised, and I have built the House for the Name of Adonai, the God of Israel. ¹¹ There have I set the Ark in which is the Covenant of Adonai that He made with Bnei-Yisrael.”

Two Laws at War

7 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I speak to those who know law), that the law is master over a person as long as he lives? ² For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives; but if the husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. ³ So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law—so she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

⁴ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were made dead to the Torah through the body of Messiah, so that you might be joined to another—the One who was raised from the dead—in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions that came through the Torah were working in our body parts to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we have been released from the law, having died to what confined us, so that we serve in the new way of the Ruach and not in the old way of the letter.

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the Torah sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the Torah. For I would not have known about coveting if the Torah had not said, “You shall not covet.” ^{[a] 8} But sin, taking an opportunity, worked in me through the commandment all kinds of coveting. For apart from the Torah, sin is dead.

⁹ Once I was alive apart from the Torah; but when the commandment came, sin came to life ¹⁰ and I died. The commandment meant for life was found to cause death. ^{[b] 11} Sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ^{[c] 12} So then, the Torah is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³ Therefore did that which is good become death to me? May it never be! Rather it was sin working death in me—through that which is good—so that sin might be shown to be sin, and that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

A Plea for Vindication

Psalm 17