Old/New Testament
The Reign of Solomon
Chapter 1
Solomon’s Wisdom.[a] 1 Solomon, the son of David, strengthened his hold on the kingdom, for the Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly powerful.
2 After summoning all Israel, Solomon addressed the commanders of units of thousands and hundreds, the judges, and all the leaders in Israel, the heads of families. 3 Then, accompanied by the entire assembly, he went to the high place at Gibeon where God’s meeting tent was located, the tent that Moses, the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness. 4 However, David had brought up the Ark of the Covenant from Kiriath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it, having pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.
5 In addition, the bronze altar that Bezalel, the son of Hur, had made was also there in front of the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly frequently consulted him. 6 Solomon also offered one thousand burnt offerings upon the bronze altar which was at the meeting tent.
7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him: “Ask what you wish me to grant you.” 8 Solomon replied to God: “You have shown great and faithful love to my father, and you have granted me the privilege of succeeding him as king. 9 O Lord God, let your promise to my father David now be fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10 Therefore, now grant me wisdom and knowledge to lead this people, for without your help who can rule this great people of yours?”
11 Then God replied to Solomon: “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth or possessions or honor, or for the lives of those who are hostile to you, or even for a long life for yourself, but instead have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself so that you may govern my people over whom I have designated you to be king, 12 wisdom and knowledge will be granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and glory such as no king before you has had and none after you shall be granted.”[b]
13 Solomon’s Wealth.[c] Then Solomon returned to Jerusalem from the meeting tent to the high place at Gibeon, and he reigned as king over Israel. 14 He accumulated vast numbers of chariots and horses, amassing fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses. He stationed some in the chariot cities, and the rest with the king at Jerusalem.
15 In Jerusalem the king made silver and gold as common as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as the sycamores in the lowlands. 16 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Cilicia, obtained by the king’s traders from Cilicia at the prevailing price. 17 The traders would import chariots from Egypt for six hundred shekels apiece, and horses from Cilicia for one hundred and fifty shekels apiece. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the Arameans.
Chapter 2
Final Preparations for the Temple. 1 Solomon then resolved to build a house to honor the Lord as well as a palace for himself. 2 Therefore, he conscripted seventy thousand men to carry the stone and eighty thousand men to serve as stonecutters, as well as three thousand six hundred men to oversee them.
3 Then Solomon sent this message to King Huram of Tyre: “Some time ago you dealt with my father David, sending him cedars to build a palace in which he would dwell. 4 Now I am preparing to build a house in honor of the Lord, my God, and to consecrate it to him so that fragrant incense can be burned before him, along with the perpetual display of the loaves of permanent offering, for burnt offerings morning and evening, and for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the festivals of the Lord, our God, as is ordained forever for Israel.
5 “The house that I intend to build must be large, since our God is greater than all other gods. 6 But who is really able to build a house for him when the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? And who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?
7 “Therefore, now send me an artisan who is highly skilled at working in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, and who is expert in the art of engraving. I want him to work with the skilled craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem who were provided by my father David. 8 Also send me cedar, cypress, and juniper timber from Lebanon, for I am well aware that your servants are skilled in felling the trees of Lebanon.
“My servants will work with your servants 9 in order to prepare for me a vast quantity of timber, for the house that I intend to build will be great in size and a marvel to behold. 10 Furthermore, I will provide for your servants the woodcutters who fell the trees, twenty thousand kors of wheat, and twenty thousand kors of barley, along with twenty thousand measures of wine and twenty thousand measures of oil.”[d]
11 In a letter that he sent to King Solomon in response, King Huram of Tyre replied: “Because of the love that the Lord has for his people, he has appointed you as their king.” 12 Then Huram went on to say: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth. He has given King David a wise son blessed with intelligence and discernment who will build a house for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
13 “I have now sent you Huram-abi,[e] a skilled artisan and a man of intelligence. 14 He is the son of a Danite woman and of a father from Tyre. He is skilled in the art of working in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics and fine linen. He also is competent to do all sorts of engraving and to execute any design that may be assigned to him, in collaboration with your own skilled craftsmen and those of my lord David, your father.
15 “And now, let my lord send to his servants the wheat, barley, oil, and wine which he has promised. 16 We shall cut down all the timber you need from Lebanon and float it all down to you as rafts by sea to Joppa. Then it will be your responsibility to transport it to Jerusalem.”
17 Shortly thereafter Solomon took a census of all the aliens who were residing in the land of Israel, similar to the census that his father David had taken. There were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred aliens. 18 Solomon designated seventy thousand of them to be porters, eighty thousand to be stonecutters in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred as overseers to ensure that the people were doing the work assigned to them.
Chapter 3
Construction of the Temple.[f] 1 Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the site that David had chosen, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 He commenced building it on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign.
3 These are the measurements specified by Solomon for building the house of God. According to the old standard of measurement, its length was sixty cubits and its width was twenty cubits.[g] 4 The vestibule was twenty cubits long, spanning the entire breadth of the house of God, and its height was also twenty cubits.
5 He overlaid the nave with cypress, which he covered with fine gold and embossed with palms and chains. 6 He also adorned the house beautifully with settings of precious stones and with gold from Parvaim. 7 Then he overlaid the house with gold, including its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors, and he carved cherubim on the walls.
8 He also made the Holy of Holies. Its length, corresponding to the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and its width was also twenty cubits. He overlaid all of it with six hundred talents of fine gold. 9 The weight of the gold nails was fifty shekels. He also overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
10 For the Holy of Holies he made two carved cherubim which were then overlaid with gold. 11 The wings of the cherubim[h] together had a total span of twenty cubits. A wing of one cherub, five cubits in length, extended to a wall of the building, while the other wing reached out to meet a wing of the other cherub. 12 Similarly, one wing of the second cherub also extended five cubits to touch the other wall of the building, while its other wing reached out to meet a wing of the first cherub.
13 The combined wings of these two cherubim extended twenty cubits. They stood with their feet on the ground, facing the nave. 14 Solomon also made the curtain[i] of purple, crimson, and blue fabrics and fine linen and embroidered it with winged creatures.
15 In front of the temple he erected two pillars that totaled thirty-five cubits high, with a capital measuring five cubits on the top of each pillar. 16 Next he made chains in the form of a necklace and put them on the tops of the pillars, and then he carved one hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. 17 Finally, he erected the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left. The one on the right he called Jachin, and the one on the left he called Boaz.
The Shepherd Who Gives Up His Life[a]
I Am the Good Shepherd[b]
Chapter 10
The Good Shepherd
1 “Amen, amen, I say to you,
anyone who does not enter
the sheepfold through the gate
but climbs in some other way
is a thief and a bandit.
2 The one who enters through the gate
is the shepherd of the flock.
3 The gatekeeper opens for him,
and the sheep hear his voice.
He calls his own sheep by name
and leads them out.
4 “When he has brought out all his own,
he goes on ahead of them,
and the sheep follow him
because they know his voice.
5 However, they will never follow a stranger.
Rather, they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize
the voice of strangers.”
6 Jesus used this parable to instruct them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 Therefore, Jesus spoke to them again,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate of the sheepfold.
8 All who came before me
were thieves and bandits,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 “I am the gate.
Anyone who enters through me
will be saved.
He will go in and out
and will find pasture.
10 “A thief comes only
to steal and kill and destroy.
I have come
that they may have life,
and have it in abundance.
11 “I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep.
12 The hired hand,
who is not the shepherd
nor the owner of the sheep,
sees the wolf approaching,
and he leaves the sheep and runs away,
while the wolf catches and scatters them.
13 He runs away
because he is only a hired hand
and he has no concern for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd.
I know my own,
and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father.
And I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 “I have other sheep too
that do not belong to this fold.
I must lead them as well,
and they will hear my voice.
Thus, there will only be one flock,
one shepherd.
17 “This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
18 No one takes it away from me.
I lay it down of my own free will.
And as I have the power to lay it down,
I have the power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father.”
19 Once again, these words provoked a division among the Jews. 20 Many of them were saying, “He is possessed and out of his mind. Why should we listen to him?” 21 But others said, “No one possessed by a demon could speak like this. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”[c]
I and the Father Are One
22 Feast of the Dedication.[d] At that time, the feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple along the Portico of Solomon.[e]
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