Blessings on Obedience^(A)

28 “Now it shall come to pass, ^(B)if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God ^(C)will set you high above all nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(D)overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

^3 (E)“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be ^(F)in the country.

⁴ “Blessed shall be ^(G)the ^[a]fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

⁵ “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

^6 (H)“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord ^(I)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

⁸ “The Lord will ^(J)command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you ^(K)set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

^9 (L)“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(M)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(N)afraid of you. ¹¹ And ^(O)the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord ^[b]swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you His good ^[c]treasure, the heavens, ^(P)to give the rain to your land in its season, and ^(Q)to bless all the work of your hand. ^(R)You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make ^(S)you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you ^[d]heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. ^14 (T)So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Solomon Builds the Temple^(A)

6 And ^(B)it came to pass in the four hundred and ^[a]eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of ^[b]Ziv, which is the second month, ^(C)that he began to build the house of the Lord. ² Now ^(D)the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. ³ The vestibule in front of the ^[c]sanctuary of the house was ^[d]twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the width of ^[e]the vestibule extended ^[f]ten cubits from the front of the house. ⁴ And he made for the house ^(E)windows with beveled frames.

⁵ Against the wall of the ^[g]temple he built ^(F)chambers all around, against the walls of the temple, all around the sanctuary ^(G)and the ^[h]inner sanctuary. Thus he made side chambers all around it. ⁶ The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the temple, so that the support beams would not be fastened into the walls of the ^[i]temple. ⁷ And ^(H)the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. ⁸ The doorway for the ^[j]middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.

^9 (I)So he built the ^[k]temple and finished it, and he paneled the temple with beams and boards of cedar. ¹⁰ And he built side chambers against the entire temple, each five cubits high; they were attached to the temple with cedar beams.

¹¹ Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: ¹² “Concerning this ^[l]temple which you are building, ^(J)if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My ^[m]word with you, ^(K)which I spoke to your father David. ¹³ And ^(L)I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not ^(M)forsake My people Israel.”

¹⁴ So Solomon built the temple and finished it.

⁸ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^(A)a thousand years as one day. ^9 (B)The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but ^(C)is longsuffering toward ^[a]us, ^(D)not willing that any should perish but ^(E)that all should come to repentance.

The Day of the Lord

¹⁰ But ^(F)the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which ^(G)the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be ^[b]burned up. ¹¹ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be ^(H)in holy conduct and godliness, ^12 (I)looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will ^(J)be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will ^(K)melt with fervent heat? ¹³ Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for ^(L)new heavens and a ^(M)new earth in which righteousness dwells.