6 It was in the 480th year after the people of Isra’el had left the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Shlomo’s reign over Isra’el, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Adonai. ² The house which King Shlomo built for Adonai was 105 feet long, thirty-five feet wide and fifty-two-and-a-half feet high. ³ The hall fronting the temple of the house was thirty-five feet long, the same as the width of the house itself, so that its seventeen-and-a-half-foot width extended frontward from the house. ⁴ The windows he made for the house were wide on the inside and narrow on the outside. ⁵ Against the wall of the house he built an annex all the way around; it went all the way around the walls of the house, including both the temple and the sanctuary. ⁶ The lowest floor of the annex was eight-and-three-quarters feet wide, the middle floor ten-and-a-half feet wide and the third floor twelve-and-a-quarter feet wide; for he had made the outer part of the wall of the house step-shaped, so that the beams of the annex would not have to be attached to the house walls. ⁷ For the house, when under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; so that no hammer, chisel or iron tool of any kind was heard in the house while it was being built. ⁸ The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the house; a spiral staircase went up to the middle floor and on to the third. ⁹ So he built the house, and after finishing it, he put its roof on — cedar planks over beams. ¹⁰ Each floor of the annex surrounding the house was eight-and-three-quarters feet high and was attached to the house with beams of cedar.

¹¹ Then this word of Adonai came to Shlomo: ¹² “Concerning this house which you are building: if you will live according to my regulations, follow my rulings and observe all my mitzvot and live by them, then I will establish with you my promise that I made to David your father — ¹³ I will live in it among the people of Isra’el, and I will not abandon my people Isra’el.”

¹⁴ So Shlomo finished building the house. ¹⁵ The insides of the walls of the house he built with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the joists of the ceiling he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. ¹⁶ The thirty-five-foot back portion of the house he built with boards of cedar from the floor to the joists and reserved this part of the house to be a sanctuary, the Especially Holy Place; ¹⁷ while the rest of the house, that is, the temple in front, was seventy feet long. ¹⁸ The cedar covering the house was carved with gourds and open flowers; all was cedar; no stone was visible. ¹⁹ In the inner part of the house he set up the sanctuary, so that the ark for the covenant of Adonai could be placed there. ²⁰ This sanctuary was thirty-five feet long, wide and high; and it was overlaid with pure gold. In front of it he set an altar, which he covered with cedar. ²¹ Shlomo overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold and had chains of gold placed before the sanctuary, which itself he overlaid with gold. ²² The entire house he overlaid with gold until it was completely covered with it. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the sanctuary.

²³ Inside the sanctuary he made two k’ruvim of olive-wood, each seventeen-and-a-half feet high. ²⁴ Each of the two wings of one of the k’ruvim was eight-and-three quarters feet long, so that the distance from the end of one wing to the end of the other was seventeen-and-a-half feet. ²⁵ Likewise the [wingspread of the] other keruv was seventeen-and-a-half feet; both k’ruvim were identical in shape and size. ²⁶ The height of the one keruv was seventeen-and-a-half feet, likewise that of the other. ²⁷ He set the k’ruvim in the inner house; the wings of the k’ruvim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other keruv touched the other wall; their wings touched each other in the middle of the house. ²⁸ He overlaid the k’ruvim with gold. ²⁹ All around the walls of the house, both inside the sanctuary and outside it, he carved figures of k’ruvim, palm trees and open flowers. ³⁰ He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, both inside the sanctuary and outside it.

³¹ For the entrance to the sanctuary he made doors of olive-wood, set within a five-sided door-frame. ³² On the two olive-wood doors he carved figures of k’ruvim, palm trees and open flowers. He overlaid the doors with gold, forcing the gold into the shapes of the k’ruvim and palm trees as well. ³³ For the entrance to the temple he also made doorposts of olive-wood, set within a rectangular door-frame, ³⁴ and two doors of cypress-wood; the two leaves of the one door were folding, as were the two leaves of the other. ³⁵ On them he carved k’ruvim, palm trees and open flowers, overlaying them with gold fitted to the carved work. ³⁶ He built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.

³⁷ The foundation of the house of Adonai was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. ³⁸ In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, all parts of the house were completed exactly as designed. Thus he was seven years building it.

33 The word of Adonai came to me: ² “Human being, speak to your people; say to them, ‘Suppose I bring the sword on a country, and the people of that country take one of their men and appoint him their watchman. ³ Now if, upon seeing the sword coming against that country, he blows the shofar and warns the people; ⁴ then, if the sword comes and takes away someone who heard the sound of the shofar but paid no attention to it, the responsibility for that person’s death will be his own — ⁵ he heard the shofar but paid no attention, so the responsibility for his death is his own; whereas if he had paid attention, he would have saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the shofar, so that the people are not warned; and then the sword comes and takes any one of them, that one is indeed taken away in his guilt, but I will hold the watchman responsible for his death.’

⁷ “Likewise you, human being — I have appointed you as watchman for the house of Isra’el. Therefore, when you hear the word from my mouth, warn them for me. ⁸ When I tell the wicked person, ‘Wicked person, you will certainly die’; and you fail to speak and warn the wicked person to leave his way; then that wicked person will die guilty; and I will hold you responsible for his death. ⁹ On the other hand, if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he doesn’t turn from his way; then he will still die guilty, but you will have saved your own life.

¹⁰ “Therefore, you, human being, say to the house of Isra’el: ‘You say, “Our crimes and sins are weighing us down, we’re pining away because of them, how can we even stay alive?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘As I live,’ swears Adonai Elohim, ‘I take no pleasure in having the wicked person die, but in having the wicked person turn from his way and live. So repent! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, house of Isra’el?’

¹² “Next, you, human being, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous person will not save him, once he starts committing crimes; and likewise, the wickedness of the wicked person will not cause him to fall, once he turns from his wickedness. No, the righteous person cannot live by virtue of [his former righteousness], once he starts sinning. ¹³ So if, after I tell the righteous person that he will surely live, he begins trusting in his own [former] righteousness and starts committing crimes; then none of his [former] righteous actions will be remembered; on the contrary, he will die for the evil deeds he has committed. ¹⁴ Likewise, if, after I tell the wicked person, “You must die,” he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right — ¹⁵ if the wicked person restores pledged property and returns what he stole, so that he lives by the laws that give life and does not commit evil deeds; then he will live, he will not die. ¹⁶ None of the sins he committed will be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he will surely live.’

¹⁷ “Now your people say, ‘Adonai’s way isn’t fair!’ But it is their way, theirs, that isn’t fair! ¹⁸ When the righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits wickedness, he will die because of it. ¹⁹ And when the wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he will live because of it. ²⁰ Yet you say, ‘Adonai’s way isn’t fair!’ House of Isra’el, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”

²¹ In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive from Yerushalayim came to me with the news, “The city has been struck.” ²² Now the hand of Adonai had been on me that evening, before the fugitive arrived — he had opened my mouth prior to his coming to me in the morning, so my mouth was open, and I was no longer mute. ²³ Then the word of Adonai came to me: ²⁴ “Human being, those living in the desolate parts of the land of Isra’el are saying, ‘Avraham was only one, and he inherited the land. But we are many, so [how much more] is the land given to us to inherit!’ ²⁵ Therefore, tell them that Adonai Elohim says, ‘You eat [flesh] with the blood, you raise your eyes to your idols, and you shed blood — and you still expect to possess the land? ²⁶ You depend on your swords, you commit disgusting practices, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife — and you still expect to possess the land?’ ²⁷ Tell them that Adonai Elohim swears, ‘As I live, those living in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the countryside I will give to the wild animals to eat, and those in the fortresses and caves will die of the plague. ²⁸ Moreover, I will utterly desolate the land; it will cease taking pride in its power; and the mountains of Isra’el will be so desolate that no one will pass through.’ ²⁹ Then they will know that I am Adonai, when I have made the land utterly desolate, because of all the disgusting practices they have committed.

³⁰ “Now you, human being, your people are gathering and talking about you by the walls and in the doorways of houses. They’re saying to each other, each one telling his brother, ‘Come, let’s go and hear the latest word coming from Adonai.’ ³¹ So then they come to you, as people do, sit in front of you as my people, and hear your words; but they don’t act on them. For with their mouths they flatter you, but their hearts are set on their own self-interest; ³² so for them you are like a love-song sung by someone with a nice voice who can play an instrument well — they hear your words, but they don’t act on them. ³³ So when all this comes true, then, at last, they will realize that a prophet has been there with them.”

5 So, since we have come to be considered righteous by God because of our trust, let us continue to have shalom with God through our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. ² Also through him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand; so let us boast about the hope of experiencing God’s glory. ³ But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance, ⁴ endurance produces character, and character produces hope; ⁵ and this hope does not let us down, because God’s love for us has already been poured out in our hearts through the Ruach HaKodesh who has been given to us.

⁶ For while we were still helpless, at the right time, the Messiah died on behalf of ungodly people. ⁷ Now it is a rare event when someone gives up his life even for the sake of somebody righteous, although possibly for a truly good person one might have the courage to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners. ⁹ Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God’s judgment! ¹⁰ For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled! ¹¹ And not only will we be delivered in the future, but we are boasting about God right now, because he has acted through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have already received that reconciliation.