Solomon Dedicates the Temple^(A)

7 When ^(B)Solomon had finished praying, ^(C)fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and ^(D)the glory of the Lord filled the ^[a]temple. ^2 (E)And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. ³ When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying:

^4 (H)Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ^6 (I)And the priests attended to their services; the Levites also with instruments of the music of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord, saying, “For His mercy endures forever,” whenever David offered praise by their ^[b]ministry. ^(J)The priests sounded trumpets opposite them, while all Israel stood.

⁷ Furthermore ^(K)Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat.

^8 (L)At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly ^(M)from the entrance of Hamath to ^(N)the^[c] Brook of Egypt. ⁹ And on the eighth day they held a ^(O)sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. ^10 (P)On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel. ¹¹ Thus ^(Q)Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house.

God’s Second Appearance to Solomon^(R)

¹² Then the Lord ^(S)appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, ^(T)and have chosen this ^(U)place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ^13 (V)When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are ^(W)called by My name will ^(X)humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, ^(Y)then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now ^(Z)My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. ¹⁶ For now ^(AA)I have chosen and ^[d]sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and ^[e]My eyes and ^[f]My heart will be there perpetually. ^17 (AB)As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, ¹⁸ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ^(AC)‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’

^19 (AD)“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, ^20 (AE)then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have ^[g]sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a ^(AF)byword among all peoples.

²¹ “And as for ^(AG)this ^[h]house, which ^[i]is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be ^(AH)astonished and say, ^(AI)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ ²² Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

Solomon’s Additional Achievements^(AJ)

8 It ^(AK)came to pass at the end of ^(AL)twenty years, when Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, ² that the cities which ^[j]Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them; and he settled the children of Israel there. ³ And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. ^4 (AM)He also built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities which he built in ^(AN)Hamath. ⁵ He built Upper Beth Horon and ^(AO)Lower Beth Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, ⁶ also Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities and the cities of the cavalry, and all that Solomon ^(AP)desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

^7 (AQ)All the people who were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel— ⁸ that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel did not destroy—from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not make the children of Israel ^[k]servants for his work. Some were men of war, captains of his officers, captains of his chariots, and his cavalry. ¹⁰ And others were chiefs of the officials of King Solomon: ^(AR)two hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people.

¹¹ Now Solomon ^(AS)brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built before the vestibule, ¹³ according to the ^(AT)daily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the ^(AU)three appointed yearly ^(AV)feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁴ And, according to the ^[l]order of David his father, he appointed the ^(AW)divisions of the priests for their service, ^(AX)the Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the priests) as the duty of each day required, and the ^(AY)gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵ They did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the ^(AZ)treasuries.

¹⁶ Now all the work of Solomon was well-ordered ^[m]from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to ^(BA)Ezion Geber and ^[n]Elath on the seacoast, in the land of Edom. ^18 (BB)And Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to ^(BC)Ophir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

צ TSADDE

Sectarianism Is Carnal

3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to ^(A)babes in Christ. ² I fed you with ^(B)milk and not with solid food; ^(C)for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; ³ for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and ^[a]behaving like mere men? ⁴ For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

Watering, Working, Warning

⁵ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ^(D)ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? ^6 (E)I planted, ^(F)Apollos watered, ^(G)but God gave the increase. ⁷ So then ^(H)neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. ⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, ^(I)and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

⁹ For ^(J)we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are ^(K)God’s building. ^10 (L)According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid ^(M)the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. ¹¹ For no other foundation can anyone lay than ^(N)that which is laid, ^(O)which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, ¹³ each one’s work will become clear; for the Day ^(P)will declare it, because ^(Q)it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. ¹⁴ If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

^16 (R)Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone ^[b]defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Avoid Worldly Wisdom

^18 (S)Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ^(T)“He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; ²⁰ and again, ^(U)“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” ²¹ Therefore let no one boast in men. For ^(V)all things are yours: ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. ²³ And ^(W)you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.