The Daily Audio Bible

²⁸ Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it was of the same dimensions as the others.^{(A) 29} Its recesses, its posts, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and there were windows all around in it and in its vestibule; its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.^{(B) 30} There were vestibules all around the inner court,^[a] twenty-five cubits deep and five cubits wide.^{(C) 31} Its vestibule faced the outer court, and palm trees were on its posts, and its stairway had eight steps.^(D)

³² Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gate; it was of the same size as the others.^{(E) 33} Its recesses, its posts, and its vestibule were of the same dimensions as the others, and there were windows all around in it and in its vestibule; its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.^{(F) 34} Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its posts, on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.^(G)

³⁵ Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it; it had the same dimensions as the others.^{(H) 36} Its recesses, its posts, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others,^[b] and it had windows all around. Its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.^{(I) 37} Its vestibule^[c] faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its posts, on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.^(J)

³⁸ There was a chamber with its door in the vestibule of the gate^[d] where the burnt offering was to be washed.^{(K) 39} And in the vestibule of the gate were two tables on either side on which the burnt offering and the purification offering and the guilt offering were to be slaughtered.^{(L) 40} On the outside of the vestibule, where one goes up to the entrance of the north gate, were two tables, and on the other side of the vestibule of the gate were two tables. ⁴¹ Four tables were on one side and four tables on the other side of the gate, eight tables, on which the sacrifices were to be slaughtered. ⁴² There were also four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, and one cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high, on which the instruments were to be laid with which the burnt offerings and the sacrifices were slaughtered.^{(M) 43} There were pegs one handbreadth long fastened all around the inside. And on the tables the flesh of the offering was to be laid.

⁴⁴ On the outside of the inner gateway there were two chambers^[e] in the inner court, one^[f] at the side of the north gate facing south, the other at the side of the south^[g] gate facing north.^{(N) 45} He said to me, “This chamber that faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple,^{(O) 46} and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; these are the descendants of Zadok, who alone among the descendants of Levi may come near to the Lord to minister to him.”^{(P) 47} He measured the court, one hundred cubits deep and one hundred cubits wide, a square, and the altar was in front of the temple.^(Q)

The Temple

⁴⁸ Then he brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured the posts of the vestibule, five cubits deep on either side, and the width of the gate between the posts^[h] was fourteen cubits, and the shoulders of the gate were three cubits wide on either side.^{[i] 49} The width of the vestibule was twenty cubits and the depth twelve^[j] cubits; ten steps led up^[k] to it, and there were pillars beside the posts on either side.^(R)

41 Then he brought me to the nave and measured the posts; on each side six cubits was the depth of the posts.^{[l](S) 2} The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sidewalls of the entrance were five cubits on either side. He measured the length of the nave, forty cubits, and its width, twenty cubits.^{(T) 3} Then he went into the inner room and measured the posts of the entrance, two cubits, and the width of the entrance, six cubits, and the sidewalls^[m] of the entrance, seven cubits.^{(U) 4} He measured the depth of the room, twenty cubits, and its width, twenty cubits, beyond the nave. And he said to me, “This is the most holy place.”^(V)

⁵ Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick, and the width of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the temple. ⁶ The side chambers were in three stories, one over another, thirty in each story. There were offsets^[n] all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side chambers so that they should not be supported by the wall of the temple.^{(W) 7} The passageway^[o] of the side chambers widened from story to story, for the structure was supplied with a stairway all around the temple. For this reason the structure became wider from story to story. One ascended from the bottom story to the uppermost story by way of the middle one.^{(X) 8} I saw also that the temple was on a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers measured a full reed of six long cubits high.^{(Y) 9} The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits, and the free space between the side chambers of the temple^{(Z) 10} and the chambers of the court was a width of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side.^{(AA) 11} The side chambers opened onto the area left free, one door toward the north and another door toward the south, and the width of the part that was left free was five cubits all around.^(AB)

¹² The building that was facing the temple yard on the west side was seventy cubits deep, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around and its width ninety cubits.^(AC)

¹³ Then he measured the temple, one hundred cubits deep, and the yard and the building with its walls, one hundred cubits deep,^{(AD) 14} also the width of the east front of the temple and the yard, one hundred cubits.^(AE)

¹⁵ Then he measured the width of the building facing the yard at the west, together with its galleries^[p] on either side, one hundred cubits.

The nave of the temple’s interior and the outer^[q] vestibule^{(AF) 16} were paneled,^[r] and all around all three had windows with recessed^[s] frames. Facing the threshold, the temple was paneled with wood all around, from the floor up to the windows (now the windows were covered).^{(AG) 17} On the space above the door, even to the inner room, and on the outside and on all the walls all around in the inner room and the nave there was a pattern.^{[t] 18} It was formed of cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Each cherub had two faces:^{(AH) 19} a human face turned toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion turned toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved on the whole temple all around;^{(AI) 20} from the floor to the area above the door, cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall.^[u]

²¹ The doorposts of the nave were square. In front of the holy place was something resembling^{(AJ) 22} an altar of wood, three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits wide;^[v] its corners, its base,^[w] and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that stands before the Lord.”^{(AK) 23} The nave and the holy place had each a double door.^{(AL) 24} The doors had two leaves apiece, two swinging leaves for each door. ²⁵ On the doors of the nave were carved cherubim and palm trees, such as were carved on the walls, and there was a canopy of wood in front of the vestibule outside. ²⁶ And there were recessed windows and palm trees on either side, on the sidewalls of the vestibule.^[x](AM)

Friendship with the World

4 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ² You want something and do not have it, so you commit murder. And you covet^[a] something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.^{(A) 4} Adulterers!^[b] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.^{(B) 5} Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks to no purpose? Does the spirit that God caused to dwell^[c] in us desire envy?^{(C) 6} But God gives all the more grace; therefore it says,

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.^{(E) 8} Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.^{(F) 9} Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.^(G)

Warning against Judging Another

¹¹ Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.^{(H) 12} There is one lawgiver and judge^[d] who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?^(I)

Boasting about Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”^{(J) 14} Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.^{(K) 15} Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”^{(L) 16} As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin.^(M)