Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when ^(A)Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

The Queen of Sheba

9 ^(A)Now when ^(B)the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. ² And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her. ³ And when ^(C)the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁴ the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his cupbearers, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her.

⁵ And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, ⁶ but I did not believe the^[a] reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; you surpass the report that I heard. ⁷ Happy are your men! Happy are these your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! ⁸ Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you ^(D)and set you on his throne as king for the Lord your God! ^(E)Because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever, he has made you king over them, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” ⁹ Then she gave the king 120 talents^[b] of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. There were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ Moreover, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, ^(F)who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made from the algum wood ^(G)supports for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, lyres also and harps for the singers. There never was seen the like of them before in the land of Judah.

¹² And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked ^(H)besides what she had brought to the king. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.

Solomon's Wealth

^13 (I)Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, ¹⁴ besides that which the explorers and merchants brought. ^(J)And all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels^[c] of beaten gold went into each shield. ¹⁶ And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; ^(K)300 shekels of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷ The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ The throne had six steps and a footstool of gold, which were attached to the throne, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, ¹⁹ while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. Nothing like it was ever made for any kingdom. ²⁰ All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king's ships went to ^(L)Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.^[d]

²² Thus King Solomon ^(M)excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. ²⁴ Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and of gold, garments, myrrh,^[e] spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year. ²⁵ And Solomon had ^(N)4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ^26 (O)And he ruled over all the kings ^(P)from the Euphrates^[f] to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. ^27 (Q)And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah. ^28 (R)And horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.

Solomon's Death

^29 (S)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from ^(T)first to last, are they not written in the history of ^(U)Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of ^(V)Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^(W)Iddo ^(X)the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰ Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in ^(Y)the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Jesus Is Mocked

^27 (A)Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the ^(B)governor's headquarters,^[a] and they gathered the whole ^(C)battalion^[b] before him. ²⁸ And they stripped him and put ^(D)a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they ^(E)mocked him, saying, “Hail, ^(F)King of the Jews!” ³⁰ And ^(G)they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹ And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and ^(H)led him away to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

^32 (I)(J)As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to ^(K)carry his cross. ^33 (L)And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ^34 (M)they offered him wine to drink, mixed with ^(N)gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵ And when they had crucified him, ^(O)they divided his garments among them by casting lots. ³⁶ Then they sat down and ^(P)kept watch over him there. ³⁷ And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, ^(Q)the King of the Jews.” ³⁸ Then two ^(R)robbers were crucified with him, ^(S)one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹ And ^(T)those who passed by ^(U)derided him, ^(V)wagging their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, ^(W)“You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ^(X)If you are ^(Y)the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ^42 (Z)“He saved others; ^(AA)he cannot save himself. ^(AB)He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ^43 (AC)He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ^44 (AD)And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

The Death of Jesus

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour^[c] there was darkness over all the land^[d] until the ninth hour.^{[e] 46} And about the ninth hour Jesus ^(AE)cried out with a loud voice, saying, ^(AF)“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷ And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸ And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with ^(AG)sour wine, and put it on a reed and ^(AH)gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰ And Jesus ^(AI)cried out again with a loud voice and ^(AJ)yielded up his spirit.

⁵¹ And behold, ^(AK)the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And ^(AL)the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of ^(AM)the saints ^(AN)who had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into ^(AO)the holy city and appeared to many. ^54 (AP)When the centurion and those who were with him, ^(AQ)keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ^(AR)“Truly this was the Son^[f] of God!”

⁵⁵ There were also ^(AS)many women there, looking on ^(AT)from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ^(AU)ministering to him, ⁵⁶ among whom were ^(AV)Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and ^(AW)the mother of the sons of Zebedee.