The Daily Audio Bible

The Furnishings of Solomon’s Temple

4 And he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits was its length, and twenty cubits was its width, and ten cubits was its height. ² Then he made the sea of molten metal, from brim to brim it was ten cubits, completely round. And it was five cubits in height, and its circumference measured^[a] thirty cubits. ³ Under it were figures of oxen all around it, ten cubits high, encircling the sea all around. The oxen were in two rows cast as one piece with it.^{[b] 4} It was standing upon twelve oxen, three facing north, and three facing west, and three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set upon them from above, and all their hindquarters faced inward.^{[c] 5} And its thickness was a handbreadth, and its brim was like the working of the lip of a cup, the blossom of a lily. And it held three thousand baths. ⁶ And he made ten basins. And he set five on the south and five on the north in which to wash; they washed off the work of the burnt offering in them, but the sea was for the priests to wash therein. ⁷ And he made ten golden lampstands according to their custom, and he set them in the temple, five on the south and five on the north. ⁸ And he made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south and five on the north. And he made a hundred drinking bowls of gold. ⁹ And he made the courtyard of the priests and the great outer courtyard and the doors for the outer court. And he overlaid their doors with bronze. ¹⁰ And he set the sea at the southeast corner of the temple. ¹¹ And Huram^[d] made the pots, the shovels, and the drinking bowls. So Hiram^[e] finished making the work that he made on the house of God for King Solomon: ¹² the two columns, the bowls, and the two capitals on top of the columns, and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on top of the columns, ¹³ and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for the latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were before the columns. ¹⁴ And he made the water carts, and he made the basins on the water carts, ¹⁵ and the one sea and the twelve oxen underneath it.

¹⁶ And Huram-abi made for King Solomon the pots, the shovels, the three-pronged meat forks, and all the utensils of polished bronze for the house of Yahweh. ¹⁷ The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay soil between Succoth and Zeredah. ¹⁸ Solomon made all these utensils in great abundance, for the weight of the bronze could not be determined. ¹⁹ So Solomon made all the objects that were in the house of God: the altar of gold; the tables upon which was the bread of the presence; ²⁰ the lampstands, and the lamps for burning according to the custom before the inner sanctuary, of solid gold; ²¹ and the blossoms, the lamps, and the tongs that were of solid gold; ²² and the snuffers, the drinking bowls, the dishes, and the firepans, of solid gold; and the entrance to the house, the inner doors to the most holy place, and the doors to the house of the temple were of gold.

The Ark Installed in the Temple

5 When all the work that Solomon did for the house of Yahweh was finished, Solomon brought the holy objects of David his father: the silver, the gold, and all the objects he had put into the storehouses of the house of God. ² Then Solomon assembled all the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the families^[f] for the Israelites,^[g] to Jerusalem in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, which is Zion. ³ And all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast that is in the seventh month. ⁴ And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. ⁵ And they brought up the ark, the tent of assembly,^[h] and all the holy objects that were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. ⁶ And King Solomon and the whole community of Israel that was assembled before him were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted nor numbered for abundance. ⁷ Then the priests brought up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, into the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ The cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim were covering the ark and over its poles from above. ⁹ But the poles were so long that the ends of the poles from the ark were seen from before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside. And they are there until this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets that Moses had put inside at Horeb on which Yahweh had made^[i] a covenant with the Israelites^[j] when they went out from Egypt. ¹¹ And when the priests came out of the sanctuary (for all the priests who were present^[k] sanctified themselves without keeping their divisions) ¹² and all the Levitical singers—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, their sons, their brothers, dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and stringed instruments—they were standing to the east of the altar. And with them outside were one hundred and twenty priests who were trumpet blowers. ¹³ And it was the primary duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard with one voice, to praise and give thanks to Yahweh. And when a sound from the trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments of song was raised to Yahweh—for he is good, because his loyal love is everlasting—then the house, the house of Yahweh, was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴ And the priests were not able to stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of God.

Solomon Blesses the People

6 Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has decided^[l] to dwell in the deep gloom. ² But I have built for you an exalted house, even a place for you to dwell in forever.” ³ Then the king turned around^[m] and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel were standing. ⁴ And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth with David my father, and with his hands he has fulfilled it, saying, ⁵ ‘From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt I did not choose a city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in order for my name to be there. Nor did I choose a man to be leader over my people Israel. ⁶ But I have chosen my name to be there in Jerusalem, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ ⁷ Now, it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ⁸ But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart, ⁹ but you yourself will not build the house, but your son who will proceed from your loins; he himself will build the house for my name.’ ¹⁰ Now Yahweh has fulfilled his word that he spoke. I have risen in the place of David my father and am seated on the throne of Israel as Yahweh has spoken. I have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ¹¹ And I have there the ark in which is the covenant of Yahweh that he made^[n] with the Israelites.”^[o]

Released from the Law through Death

7 Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is master of a person for as long a time as he lives? ² For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband. ³ Therefore as a result, if she belongs to another man while^[a] her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she^[b] belongs to another man. ⁴ So then, my brothers, you also were brought to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, sinful desires were working through the law in our members, to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we have been released from the law, because we^[c] have died to that by which we were bound, so that we may serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter of the law.

Knowledge of Sin Comes through the Law

⁷ What then shall we say? Is the law sin? May it never be! But I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”^{[d] 8} But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin is dead. ⁹ And I was alive once, apart from the law, but when^[e] the commandment came, sin sprang to life ¹⁰ and I died, and this commandment which was to lead to life was found with respect to me to lead to death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Internal Conflict with Sin

¹³ Therefore, did that which is good become death to me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be recognized as sin, producing death through what is good for me, in order that sin might become sinful to an extraordinary degree through the commandment.

Prayer for Vindication and Protection

A prayer of David.^[a]