The Daily Audio Bible

Equipment for the Temple^(A)

4 ^(B)King Solomon had a bronze altar made, which was 30 feet square and 15 feet high. ² He also made a round tank of bronze, 7½ feet deep, 15 feet in diameter, and 45 feet in circumference. ³ All around the outer edge of the rim of the tank^[a] were two rows of decorations, one above the other. The decorations were in the shape of bulls, which had been cast all in one piece with the rest of the tank. ⁴ The tank rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced outward, three facing in each direction. ⁵ The sides of the tank were 3 inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, curving outward like the petals of a flower. The tank held about 15,000 gallons. ^6 (C)They also made ten basins, five to be placed on the south side of the Temple and five on the north side. They were to be used to rinse the parts of the animals that were burned as sacrifices. The water in the large tank was for the priests to use for washing.

^7-8 (D)They made ten gold lampstands according to the usual pattern, and ten tables, and placed them in the main room of the Temple, five lampstands and five tables on each side. They also made a hundred gold bowls.

⁹ They made an inner courtyard for the priests, and also an outer courtyard. The doors in the gates between the courtyards were covered with bronze. ¹⁰ The tank was placed near the southeast corner of the Temple.

^11-16 Huram also made pots, shovels, and bowls. He completed all the objects that he had promised King Solomon he would make for the Temple:

Huram the master metalworker made all these objects^[c] out of polished bronze, as King Solomon had commanded, for use in the Temple of the Lord.

¹⁷ The king had them all made in the foundry between Sukkoth and Zeredah^[d] in the Jordan Valley. ¹⁸ So many objects were made that no one determined the total weight of the bronze used.

¹⁹ King Solomon also had gold furnishings made for the Temple: the altar and the tables for the bread offered to God; ²⁰ the lampstands and the lamps of fine gold that were to burn in front of the Most Holy Place, according to plan; ²¹ the flower decorations, the lamps, and the tongs; ²² the lamp snuffers, the bowls, the dishes for incense, and the pans used for carrying live coals. All these objects were made of pure gold. The outer doors of the Temple and the doors to the Most Holy Place were overlaid with gold.

5 ^(E)When King Solomon finished all the work on the Temple, he placed in the Temple storerooms all the things that his father David had dedicated to the Lord—the silver, gold, and other articles.

The Covenant Box Is Brought to the Temple^(F)

^2 (G)Then King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to assemble in Jerusalem, in order to take the Lord's Covenant Box from Zion, David's City,^[e] to the Temple. ³ They all assembled at the time of the Festival of Shelters. ⁴ When all the leaders had gathered, then the Levites lifted the Covenant Box ⁵ and carried it to the Temple. The priests and the Levites also moved the Tent of the Lord's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. ⁶ King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Covenant Box and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle—too many to count. ⁷ Then the priests carried the Covenant Box of the Lord into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures. ⁸ Their outstretched wings covered the Box and the poles it was carried by. ⁹ The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. (The poles are still there today.) ^10 (H)There was nothing inside the Covenant Box except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt.

The Glory of the Lord

^11-14 (I)All the priests present, regardless of the group to which they belonged, had consecrated themselves. And all the Levite musicians—Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, and the members of their clans—were wearing linen clothing. The Levites stood near the east side of the altar with cymbals and harps, and with them were 120 priests playing trumpets. The singers were accompanied in perfect harmony by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, as they praised the Lord singing:

As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud shining with the dazzling light of the Lord's presence, and they could not continue the service of worship.

Solomon's Address to the People^(J)

³ All the people of Israel were standing there. The king turned to face them and asked God's blessing on them. ^4 (K)He said, “Praise the Lord God of Israel! He has kept the promise he made to my father David when he said to him, ⁵ ‘From the time I brought my people out of Egypt until now, I did not choose any city in the land of Israel as the place to build a temple where I would be worshiped, and I did not choose anyone to lead my people Israel. ⁶ But now I have chosen Jerusalem as the place where I will be worshiped, and you, David, to rule my people.’”

⁷ And Solomon continued, “My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel, ⁸ but the Lord said to him, ‘You were right in wanting to build a temple for me, ⁹ but you will never build it. It is your son, your own son, who will build my temple.’

¹⁰ “Now the Lord has kept his promise: I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel. ¹¹ I have placed in the Temple the Covenant Box, which contains the stone tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with the people of Israel.”

An Illustration from Marriage

7 Certainly you will understand what I am about to say, my friends, because all of you know about law. The law rules over people only as long as they live. ² A married woman, for example, is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, then she is free from the law that bound her to him. ³ So then, if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is legally a free woman and does not commit adultery if she marries another man. ⁴ That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the Law is concerned, you also have died because you are part of the body of Christ; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of God. ⁵ For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death. ⁶ Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of a written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.

Law and Sin

^7 (A)Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, “Do not desire what belongs to someone else,” I would not have known such a desire. ⁸ But by means of that commandment sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desires in me. Apart from law, sin is a dead thing. ⁹ I myself was once alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, ¹⁰ and I died. And the commandment which was meant to bring life, in my case brought death. ^11 (B)Sin found its chance, and by means of the commandment it deceived me and killed me.

¹² So then, the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good. ¹³ But does this mean that what is good caused my death? By no means! It was sin that did it; by using what is good, sin brought death to me, in order that its true nature as sin might be revealed. And so, by means of the commandment sin is shown to be even more terribly sinful.

The Prayer of an Innocent Person^[a]

²² It is a disgrace to be greedy;^[a] poor people are better off than liars.

²³ Obey the Lord and you will live a long life, content and safe from harm.