³¹ If I alone testify in My behalf, My testimony is not valid and cannot be worth anything.

³² There is Another Who testifies concerning Me, and I know and am certain that His evidence on My behalf is true and valid.

³³ You yourselves have sent [an inquiry] to John and he has been a witness to the truth.

³⁴ But I do not receive [a mere] human witness [the evidence which I accept on My behalf is not from man]; but I simply mention all these things in order that you may be saved (made and kept safe and sound).

³⁵ John was the lamp that kept on burning and shining [to show you the way], and you were willing for a while to delight (sun) yourselves in his light.

³⁶ But I have as My witness something greater (weightier, higher, better) than that of John; for the works that the Father has appointed Me to accomplish and finish, the very same works that I am now doing, are a witness and proof that the Father has sent Me.

³⁷ And the Father Who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. Not one of you has ever given ear to His voice or seen His form (His face—what He is like). [You have always been deaf to His voice and blind to the vision of Him.]

³⁸ And you have not His word (His thought) living in your hearts, because you do not believe and adhere to and trust in and rely on Him Whom He has sent. [That is why you do not keep His message living in you, because you do not believe in the Messenger Whom He has sent.]

³⁹ You search and investigate and pore over the Scriptures diligently, because you suppose and trust that you have eternal life through them. And these [very Scriptures] testify about Me!

⁴⁰ And still you are not willing [but refuse] to come to Me, so that you might have life.

⁴¹ I receive not glory from men [I crave no human honor, I look for no mortal fame],

⁴² But I know you and recognize and understand that you have not the love of God in you.

⁴³ I have come in My Father’s name and with His power, and you do not receive Me [your hearts are not open to Me, you give Me no welcome]; but if another comes in his own name and his own power and with no other authority but himself, you will receive him and give him your approval.

⁴⁴ How is it possible for you to believe [how can you learn to believe], you who [are content to seek and] receive praise and honor and glory from one another, and yet do not seek the praise and honor and glory which come from Him Who alone is God?

⁴⁵ Put out of your minds the thought and do not suppose [as some of you are supposing] that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you—it is Moses, the very one on whom you have built your hopes [in whom you trust].

⁴⁶ For if you believed and relied on Moses, you would believe and rely on Me, for he wrote about Me [personally].

⁴⁷ But if you do not believe and trust his writings, how then will you believe and trust My teachings? [How shall you cleave to and rely on My words?]

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7 Solomon was building his own house ^[a]thirteen years, and he finished all of it.

² He built also the Forest of Lebanon House; its length was a hundred cubits, its breadth fifty, and its height thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.

³ And it was covered with cedar above the side chambers that were upon the forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row.

⁴ There were window frames in three rows, and window opposite window in three tiers.

⁵ All the doorways and windows were square cut, and window was opposite window in three tiers.

⁶ He also made the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits and its breadth thirty cubits. There was a porch in front, and pillars and a cornice before them.

⁷ He made the porch for the throne where he was to judge, the Porch of Judgment; it was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling.

⁸ His house where he was to dwell had another court behind the Porch of Judgment of similar work. Solomon also made a house like this porch for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

⁹ All were of costly stones hewn according to measure, sawed with saws back and front, even from foundation to coping, and from the outside to the great court.

¹⁰ The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones of eight and ten cubits.

¹¹ And above were costly stones hewn according to measure, and cedar timbers.

¹² Also the great encircling court had three courses of hewn stone and a course of cedar beams, like was around the inner court of the house of the Lord and the porch of the house.

¹³ King Solomon brought Hiram from Tyre.

¹⁴ He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. He was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill to do any kind of work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and did all his [bronze] work.

¹⁵ He fashioned the two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference.

¹⁶ He made two capitals of molten bronze to set upon the tops of the pillars; the height of each capital was five cubits.

¹⁷ Nets of checkerwork and wreaths of chainwork for the capitals were on the tops of the pillars, seven for each capital.

¹⁸ So Hiram made the pillars. There were two rows of pomegranates encircling each network to cover the capitals that were upon the top.

¹⁹ The capitals that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work [design], four cubits.

²⁰ The capitals were upon the two pillars and also above the rounded projection beside the network. There were 200 pomegranates in two rows round about, and so with the other capital.

²¹ Hiram set up the pillars of the porch of the temple; he set up the right pillar and called its name Jachin [he will establish], and he set up the left pillar and called its name Boaz [in strength].

²² On the tops of the pillars was lily work [design]. So the work of the pillars was finished.

²³ He made a round molten Sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, five cubits high and thirty cubits in circumference.^(A)

²⁴ Under its brim were gourds encircling the Sea, ten to a cubit; the gourds were in two rows, cast in one piece with it.

²⁵ It stood upon twelve oxen, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east; the Sea was set upon them, and all their rears pointed inward.

²⁶ It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held 2,000 baths [Hebrew liquid measurement].

²⁷ Hiram made ten bronze bases [for the lavers]; their length and breadth were four cubits, and the height three cubits.

²⁸ This is the way the bases were made: they had panels between the ledges.

²⁹ On the panels between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and upon the ledges there was a pedestal above. Beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

³⁰ And every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a laver. Beneath the laver the supports were cast, with wreaths at the side of each.

³¹ Its mouth within the capital projected upward a cubit, and its mouth was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half. Also upon its mouth were carvings, and their borders were square, not round.

³² Under the borders were four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were one piece with the base. And the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.

³³ The wheels were made like a chariot wheel: their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.

³⁴ There were four supports to the four corners of each base; the supports were part of the base itself.

³⁵ On the top of the base there was a circular elevation half a cubit high, and on the top of the base its stays and panels were of one piece with it.

³⁶ And on the surface of its stays and its panels Hiram carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about.

³⁷ Thus he made the ten bases. They all had one casting, one measure, and one form.

³⁸ Then he made ten lavers of bronze; each laver held forty baths and measured four cubits, and there was one laver on each of the ten bases.

³⁹ He put the bases five on the south side of the house and five on the north side; and he set the Sea at the southeast corner of the house.

⁴⁰ Hiram made the lavers, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the Lord:

⁴¹ The two pillars; and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the two pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls;

⁴² And the 400 pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the pillars;

⁴³ The ten bases and the ten lavers on the bases;

⁴⁴ One Sea, and the twelve oxen under it;

⁴⁵ The pots, the shovels, and the basins. All these vessels which Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze.

⁴⁶ In the Jordan plain the king cast them, in clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were so many; the weight of the bronze was not found out.

⁴⁸ Solomon made all the other vessels of the Lord’s house: the [incense] altar of gold; the table of gold for the showbread;

⁴⁹ The lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the Holy of Holies; with the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold;

⁵⁰ The cups, snuffers, basins, spoons, firepans—of pure gold; and the hinges of gold for the doors of the innermost room, the Holy of Holies, and for the doors of the Holy Place.

⁵¹ So all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was completed. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of the Lord’s house.

8 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers’ houses of the Israelites, before the king in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Zion, the City of David.

² All the men of Israel assembled themselves before King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, Ethanim.

³ All the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

⁴ And they brought up the ark of the Lord, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.

⁵ King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled before him were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, so many that they could not be reported or counted.

⁶ And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the Holy of Holies of the house, under the wings of the cherubim.

⁷ For the cherubim spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles.

⁸ The poles were so long that the ends of them were seen from the Holy Place before the Holy of Holies, but they were not seen outside; they are there to this day.

⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.^(B)

¹⁰ When the priests had come out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Lord’s house,

¹¹ So the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.

¹² Then Solomon said, The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.

¹³ I have surely built You a house of habitation, a settled place for You to dwell in forever.

¹⁴ And the king turned his face about and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel stood.

¹⁵ He said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who spoke with His mouth to David my father and has with His hand fulfilled it, saying,

¹⁶ Since the day that I brought forth My people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My Name [and My Presence] might be in it, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.

¹⁷ Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the Name [the Presence] of the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁸ And the Lord said to David my father, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you did well that it was in your heart.

¹⁹ Yet you shall not build the house, but your son, who shall be born to you, shall build it to My Name [and My actively present Person].

²⁰ And the Lord has fulfilled His promise which He made: I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built a house for the Name (renown) of the Lord, the God of Israel.

²¹ And I have made there a place for the ark [the token of ^[b]His presence], in which is the covenant [the Ten Commandments] of the Lord which He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.^(C)

²² Then Solomon stood [in the court] before the Lord’s burnt offering altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven

²³ And he said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing mercy and loving-kindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart.

²⁴ You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father. You also spoke with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

²⁵ Therefore now, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father what You promised him when You said, There shall not fail you a man before Me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as you have done.

²⁶ Now, O God of Israel, let Your word which You spoke to Your servant David my father be confirmed [by experience].

²⁷ But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, the heavens and heaven of heavens [in its most extended compass] cannot contain You; how much less this house that I have built?

²⁸ Yet graciously consider the prayer and supplication of Your servant, O Lord my God, to hearken to the [loud] cry and prayer which he prays before You today,

²⁹ That Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, My Name [and the token of My presence] shall be there, that You may hearken to the prayer which Your servant shall make in [or facing toward] this place.

³⁰ Hearken to the prayer of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray in or toward this place. Hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.

³¹ Whenever a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears the oath before Your altar in this house,

³² Then hear in heaven and do and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his guilt upon his own head and justifying the [uncompromisingly] righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness (his uprightness, right standing with God).

³³ When Your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and they turn again to You, confess Your ^[c]name (Your revelation of Yourself), and pray, beseeching You in this house,

³⁴ Then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and return them to the land You gave to their fathers.

³⁵ When heaven is shut up and no rain falls because they have sinned against You, if they pray in [or toward] this place and confess Your name (Your revelation of Yourself) and turn from their sin when You afflict them,

³⁶ Then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, when You teach them the good way in which they should walk. And give rain upon Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

³⁷ If there is famine in the land or pestilence, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,

³⁸ Whatever prayer or supplication is made by any or all of Your people Israel—each man knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading forth his hands toward this house [and its pledge of Your presence]—

³⁹ Then hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart You know, for You and You only know the hearts of all the children of men,

⁴⁰ That they may fear and revere You all the days that they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.

⁴¹ Moreover, concerning a stranger who is not of Your people Israel but comes from a far country for the sake of Your name [and Your active Presence]—

⁴² For they will hear of Your great name (Your revelation of Yourself), Your strong hand, and outstretched arm—when he shall pray in [or toward] this house,

⁴³ Hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger asks of You, so that all peoples of the earth may know Your name [and ^[d]Your revelation of Your presence] and fear and revere You, as do Your people Israel, and may know and comprehend that this house which I have built is called by Your Name [and contains the token of Your presence].

⁴⁴ If Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You shall send them, and shall pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your Name [and Your revelation of Yourself],

⁴⁵ Then hear in heaven their prayer and supplication, and defend their cause and maintain their right.

⁴⁶ If they sin against You—for there is no man who does not sin—and You are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the enemy’s land, far or near;

⁴⁷ Yet if they think and consider in the land where they were carried captive, and repent and make supplication to You there, saying, We have sinned and have done perversely and wickedly;

⁴⁸ If they repent and turn to You with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your Name;

⁴⁹ Then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, Your dwelling place, and defend their cause and maintain their right.

⁵⁰ And forgive Your people, who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions against You, and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have pity and be merciful to them;

⁵¹ For they are Your people and Your heritage, which You brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace.

⁵² Let Your eyes be open to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, to hearken to them in all for which they call to You.

⁵³ For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your heritage, as You declared through Moses Your servant when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.

⁵⁴ When Solomon finished offering all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the Lord’s altar, where he had knelt with hands stretched toward heaven.

⁵⁵ And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

⁵⁶ Blessed be the Lord, Who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all His good promise which He promised through Moses His servant.

⁵⁷ May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us,

⁵⁸ That He may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His precepts which He commanded our fathers.

⁵⁹ Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause and right of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires,

⁶⁰ That all the earth’s people may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.

⁶¹ Let your hearts therefore be blameless and wholly true to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as today.

⁶² And the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord.

⁶³ Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord: 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the Lord.

⁶⁴ On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the Lord’s house; there he offered burnt offerings, cereal offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive [all] the offerings.

⁶⁵ So at that time Solomon held the feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, for seven days [for the dedication] and seven days [for the Feast of Tabernacles], fourteen days in all.

⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away; they blessed the king and went to their tents with greatest joy and gratitude for all the goodness the Lord had shown to David His servant and Israel His people.