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Alliance with King Hiram
5 [a](A)Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for (B)Hiram had [b]always been a friend of David. 2 Then (C)Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, 3 “You know that (D)David my father was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars which surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. 4 But now (E)the Lord my God has secured me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor [c]misfortune. 5 So behold, (F)I [d]intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, just as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.’ 6 Now then, issue orders that they cut (G)cedars from Lebanon for me, and my servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants in accordance with all that you say, for you yourself know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”
7 When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he greatly rejoiced; and he said, “Blessed be the Lord today, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.” 8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which you sent me; I will do everything you wish concerning the cedar and juniper timber. 9 My servants will bring the timbers down from Lebanon to the sea; and I will have them made into rafts to go by sea (H)to the place where you [e]direct me, and I will have them broken up there, and you will carry them away. Then (I)you shall do what I wish, by giving food to my household.” 10 So [f]Hiram [g]gave Solomon all that he wished of the cedar and juniper timber. 11 (J)Solomon then gave [h]Hiram [i]twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and [j]twenty kors of pure oil; this is what Solomon would give Hiram year by year. 12 And (K)the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, just as He [k]promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant.
Conscription of Laborers
13 Now (L)King Solomon [l]conscripted forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered thirty thousand men. 14 Then he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they were in Lebanon for a month, and two months at home. And (M)Adoniram was in charge of the forced laborers. 15 Now (N)Solomon had seventy thousand porters, and eighty thousand stonemasons in the mountains, 16 (O)besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief deputies who were in charge of the [m]project and ruled over the people who were doing the work. 17 Then (P)the king issued orders, and they quarried large stones, valuable stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones. 18 So Solomon’s builders and [n]Hiram’s builders and (Q)the Gebalites [o]cut the stones, and they prepared the timbers and the stones to build the house.
The Building of the Temple
6 (R)Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, that is, the second month, that he [p]began to build the house of the Lord. 2 And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord was [q]sixty cubits in its length, and twenty cubits in its width, and its height was thirty cubits. 3 The porch in front of the main room of the house was [r]twenty cubits in [s]length, [t]corresponding to the width of the house, and its width along the front of the house was ten cubits. 4 Also for the house (S)he made windows with artistic frames. 5 (T)Against the wall of the house he built stories encompassing the walls of the house around both the main room and the [u](U)inner sanctuary; so he made (V)side chambers all around. 6 The lowest story was [v]five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he [w]made offsets in the wall of the house all around so that the beams would not [x]be inserted into the walls of the house.
7 (W)The house, while it was being built, was built of stone finished at the quarry, and neither hammer, nor axe, nor any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.
8 The doorway for the [y]lowest side chamber was on the right side of the house; and they would go up by a winding staircase to the middle story, and from the middle to the third. 9 So (X)he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and [z]planks of cedar. 10 He also built the stories against the whole house, each [aa]five cubits high; and they [ab]were attached to the house with timbers of cedar.
11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, 12 “As for this house which you are building, (Y)if you will walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will fulfill My word with you which I spoke to David your father. 13 And (Z)I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and (AA)will not abandon My people Israel.”
14 (AB)So Solomon built the house and finished it. 15 He (AC)built the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the [ac]ceiling he paneled the walls on the inside with wood, and he paneled the floor of the house with boards of juniper. 16 (AD)He also built [ad]twenty cubits on the rear part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the [ae]ceiling; he built them for it on the inside as an inner sanctuary, as (AE)the Most Holy Place. 17 The house, that is, the main room in front of the inner sanctuary, was [af]forty cubits long. 18 There was cedar inside the house, carved in the shape of (AF)gourds and open flowers; everything was cedar, there was no stone visible. 19 Then he prepared an inner sanctuary inside the house in order to place there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 [ag]The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height; and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also paneled the altar with cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. And he extended chains of gold across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. 22 He overlaid the entire house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also (AG)the entire altar which was by the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.
23 (AH)And in the inner sanctuary he made two [ah]cherubim of olive wood, each [ai]ten cubits high. 24 The one wing of the first cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the first cherub was five cubits; from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing were ten cubits. 25 The second cherub was ten cubits; both of the cherubim were of the same measurement and the same form. 26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. 27 He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and (AI)the wings of the cherubim spread out so that the wing of the one was touching the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall. And their wings were touching [aj]end to [ak]end in the center of the house. 28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 Then he carved all the surrounding walls of the house with engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, for the inner and outer sanctuaries. 30 And he overlaid the floor of the house with gold, for the inner and outer sanctuaries.
31 And for the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood, the lintel, and five-sided doorposts. 32 So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he overlaid the cherubim and the palm trees with gold.
33 So too he made for the entrance of the main room four-sided doorposts of olive wood, 34 and (AJ)two doors of juniper wood; the two leaves of the one door turned on pivots, and the two [al]leaves of the other door turned on pivots. 35 He carved on it cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold plated on the carved work. 36 And (AK)he built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.
37 (AL)In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and in accordance with all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.
Stephen’s Defense
7 Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2 And [a]Stephen said, “Listen to me, (A)[b]brothers and fathers! (B)The God of glory (C)appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in [c]Haran, 3 and He said to him, ‘(D)Go from your country and your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you.’ 4 (E)Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in [d]Haran. And (F)from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. 5 But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, (G)He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. 6 But (H)God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and [e]they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years. 7 ‘And whatever nation to which they are enslaved I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and (I)after that they will come out and [f]serve Me in this place.’ 8 And He (J)gave him [g]the covenant of circumcision; and so (K)Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and (L)Isaac fathered Jacob, and (M)Jacob, the twelve (N)patriarchs.
9 “The patriarchs (O)became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and (P)granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire household.
11 “Now (Q)a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers [h]could find no food. 12 But (R)when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13 And on the second visit, (S)Joseph [i]made himself known to his brothers, and (T)Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh. 14 Then (U)Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, (V)seventy-five [j](W)people in all. 15 And (X)Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our fathers died there. 16 And they were brought back from there to [k](Y)Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of [l]Hamor in [m]Shechem.
17 “But as the (Z)time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, (AA)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until (AB)another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 19 It was he who (AC)shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would (AD)abandon their infants in the Nile, so that they would not survive. 20 At this time (AE)Moses was born; and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father’s home. 21 And after he had been put outside, (AF)Pharaoh’s daughter [n]took him away and nurtured him as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all (AG)the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in [o]speaking and action. 23 But when he was approaching the age of forty, (AH)it entered his [p]mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel. 24 And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian. 25 And he thought that his brothers understood that God was granting them [q]deliverance [r]through him; but they did not understand. 26 (AI)And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting each other, and he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’ 27 But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘(AJ)Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28 (AK)You do not intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ 29 At this remark, (AL)Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of [s]Midian, where he (AM)fathered two sons.
Prosperity Comes from the Lord.
A Song of Ascents, of Solomon.
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