Old/New Testament
Temple Construction Begins(A)
6 During the month of Ziv, which was the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, 480 years after the Israelis left the land of Egypt, Solomon began to build the Lord’s Temple. 2 The Temple for the Lord that Solomon was building was 60 cubits[a] long and 20 cubits[b] wide. 3 A portico extended in front of the Temple for 20 cubits[c] outward, corresponding to the width of the Temple. Along the front of the Temple its depth was ten cubits.[d] 4 Solomon[e] also constructed windows in the Temple with specially designed[f] frames.
5 Against the wall of the Temple he built a series of rooms that encompassed the exterior of the Temple walls around the inner sanctuary. He built these side chambers all around the building.[g] 6 The lower structures were five cubits[h] wide, the middle structures were six cubits[i] wide and the third structures were seven cubits[j] wide. Offsets were placed all around the Temple so that beams would not protrude through the walls of the Temple. 7 The Temple was constructed of stone precut at the quarry so that no hammer, axe, or any other iron implement would be heard in the Temple while it was being built. 8 A passageway to the side chamber was constructed on the south side of the Temple by which people[k] could ascend winding stairs to the middle story, then from there to the third story.
Interior Finishing with Gold and Cedar
9 After Solomon[l] built the Temple and finished it, he covered the Temple with beams and planks made of cedar. 10 He constructed this structure to adjoin the entire Temple, five cubits[m] high, and fastened it to the Temple with cedar timbers.
11 Then this message from the Lord came to Solomon: 12 “Concerning[n] this Temple that you’re building, if you live your life[o] according to my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all of my commands, and live according to them, then I will do what I promised to your father David. 13 I will reside among the Israelis and will never abandon my people Israel.”
14 So Solomon kept on building the Temple and finished it. 15 Then he built the inside walls of the Temple, lining them from floor to ceiling with cedar boards, and overlaying the Temple floor with boards made of cypress wood. 16 He lined 20 cubits[p] of the rear part of the Temple from floor to ceiling with cedar boards specially constructed for the inside to serve as the Most Holy Place. 17 The rest of the main nave in the front was 40 cubits[q] long. 18 Cedar[r] carvings in the form of gourds and blooming flowers covered the entire interior of the Temple so that no stone could be seen.
19 Solomon[s] also prepared an inner sanctuary within the Temple where the Lord’s Ark of the Covenant was placed. 20 The inner sanctuary was 20 cubits[t] long, 20 cubits[u] wide, and 20 cubits[v] high, and overlaid with pure gold. The altar was also overlaid with cedar. 21 Solomon overlaid the inside of the Temple with pure gold, fastened gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 He finished the Temple by overlaying it entirely with gold, including overlaying with gold the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary.
Temple Furnishings(B)
23 Inside the inner sanctuary Solomon[w] placed two cherubim crafted from olive wood, each ten cubits[x] high. 24 Each wing of one cherub was five cubits[y] long, and each wing of the other cherub was five cubits[z] long, so that the distance from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing was ten cubits.[aa] 25 Each cherub was ten cubits[ab] high, and both were of the same size and shape, 26 the height of one cherub being ten cubits,[ac] as was the height of the other.
27 Solomon[ad] placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner sanctuary, with their wings spread in such a way that the wing of one was touching the one wall and the opposite wing of the other cherub was touching the opposite wall. Furthermore, their wings in the center of the wall were touching each other wing-to-wing. 28 Each cherub was overlaid with gold.
29 Solomon[ae] also inlaid all the inner walls of the Temple—both the inner and outer sanctuaries—with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers. 30 He also overlaid the floor of the Temple with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
31 Solomon[af] also provided doors, lintels, and five-sided doorposts for the entrance to the inner sanctuary. 32 He installed two doors made of olive wood, inlaying them with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers, and overlaying them with gold. Then he added more gold to cover the cherubim and palm trees.
33 Solomon[ag] also provided four-sided doorposts made of cypress wood for the entrance to the outer sanctuary, 34 along with two doors of cypress wood, one door of which had two leaves that turned on hinges, as did the other door, which also had two leaves that turned on hinges.
35 Solomon[ah] also inlaid the doors with[ai] cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers. He overlaid them with gold that was carefully[aj] applied on the engraved work. 36 He constructed the inner court with three rows of precut stone and a row of cedar beams.
Temple Construction is Completed
37 The foundation for the Lord’s Temple was laid in the month of Ziv during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, 38 and the Temple was completely finished according to its plans and specifications in the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon’s[ak] reign, that is, during the month of Bul. It took about seven years to build.
Solomon’s Palace
7 But Solomon took thirteen years to build his own palace, and finally finished it. 2 He built his own palace out of timber supplied from the forest of Lebanon. It was 100 cubits[al] long, 50 cubits[am] wide, 20 cubits[an] tall, and was constructed on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams interlocking the pillars. 3 There were 45 pillars paneled with cedar above the side chambers, with rows of fifteen pillars, 4 with three rows of framed windows facing each other in three ranks. 5 All the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames, with the doorways facing each other in three tiers. 6 There was also a hall of pillars 50 cubits[ao] long and 30 cubits[ap] wide, and a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of the pillars.[aq] 7 He constructed the Judgment Hall for the throne room where he would be ruling, paneling it with cedar from floor to ceiling.[ar] 8 Solomon’s[as] personal dwelling quarters, a separate court behind the hall, was of similar workmanship. Solomon[at] also built a house similar to this for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had married.
9 All of these were made with expensive stones, pre-cut according to specifications, hand-sawed inside and out from the foundation to the coping, including from inside to the great court. 10 The foundation was made of expensive stone, including large stones ten cubits[au] long and stones eight cubits[av] long. 11 Above these were expensive stones cut according to specifications, and cedar. 12 So the great court was surrounded by three rows of cut stone, along with a row of cedar beams, just like the inner court of the Lord’s Temple and the porch surrounding the Temple.
Contributions by Hiram the Bronzeworker(C)
13 King Solomon sent for Hiram[aw] from Tyre, 14 the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, whose father was from Tyre. A bronze worker, he was wise, knowledgeable, and was skilled in all sorts of bronze working. He went to King Solomon and did all of his work.
15 He fashioned two bronze pillars, each one eighteen cubits[ax] high, with a circumference of twelve cubits.[ay] 16 He also crafted two capitals of cast bronze and set them on top of the pillars. The height of one capital was five cubits,[az] and the height of the other capital was five cubits.[ba] 17 A network of latticework on top of the pillars was inlaid with ornamental wreaths and chains, the top of each pillar containing seven groups of ornamental structures. 18 The pillars contained two rows of ornaments shaped like pomegranates around the latticework covering the top of each pillar. 19 The capitals on top of each pillar above the rounded latticework contained four cubits[bb] of lily designs, 20 with the capitals on the two pillars covered by 200 pomegranates in rows around both the capitals above and adjoining the rounded latticework. 21 That’s how he designed the pillars at the portico of the sanctuary. When he set up the right pillar, he named it Jachin.[bc] When he set up the left pillar, he named it Boaz.[bd] 22 The work on the pillars was finished with a lily design on top of the pillars.
The Bronze Sea
23 Hiram[be] also made a sea of cast metal ten cubits[bf] from brim to brim, circular in shape and five cubits[bg] and 30 cubits[bh] in its inner circumference. 24 Under the brim, completely encircling it, were two rows of gourds inlaid as part of the original casting, ten to a cubit.[bi] 25 The sea stood on top of twelve oxen. Three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. The sea was set on top of them, and their hind parts faced the center.[bj] 26 The reservoir, which held about 2,000 baths,[bk] stood about a handbreadth[bl] thick, and its rim looked like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom.
The Ten Water Carts
27 Hiram[bm] also made ten bronze water carts.[bn] Each one was four cubits[bo] wide, four cubits long,[bp] and three cubits[bq] high. 28 The carts were designed with borders between cross-pieces, 29 and on the borders between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim. A pedestal was placed above the cross-pieces, and beneath the lions and oxen there were wreaths hanging down. 30 Each cart had four bronze wheels equipped with bronze axles with four support feet. Beneath the basin were cast support structures made like wreaths on each side. 31 The opening to each water cart inside the crown on top was one cubit[br] wide, with engravings on the opening. The borders to the frames surrounding the opening were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were placed underneath the borders, and the axles for the wheels were on the stand. Each wheel stood one and a half cubits[bs] high. 33 The wheels resembled those of a chariot, with their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs made of cast bronze. 34 Four supports stood at the four corners of each cart, built into the carts themselves. 35 On top of each stand was a circular structure one half of one cubit[bt] high, with its braces and support frames integral with it, forming a single piece. 36 Hiram[bu] engraved ornamental cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and frames wherever there was space to do so, and encircled the artwork with wreaths. 37 He made ten identical water carts by using the same plans, castings, and shapes for all of them.
The Other Bronze Implements
38 Hiram[bv] also fashioned ten bronze basins, each holding about 40 baths,[bw] each basin measuring four cubits[bx] in diameter,[by] with one basin for each stand. 39 He set five of the stands on the right side of the Temple and five on the left side of the Temple. He set the bronze sea on the right side of the Temple eastward facing the south. 40 Hiram also made the basins, shovels, and bowls to complete the work that he performed for King Solomon in the Lord’s Temple, 41 including the two pillars and the bowls for the capitals that stood on top of the two pillars, along with the two lattices that covered the two bowls of the capitals that stood on top of the pillars, 42 plus the 400 pomegranates for the two lattices (that is, the two rows of pomegranates for each lattice to cover the two bowls of the capitals that stood on top of the pillars), 43 the ten stands with the ten basins on the stands, 44 the single bronze[bz] sea and the twelve oxen that stood under the sea, 45 and the pots, shovels, and bowls—all of these utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon for the Lord’s Temple were made from polished bronze.
46 The king had them cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan in the Jordan plain. 47 Solomon never inventoried the weight of the bronze used, because there were too many utensils, so the weight of the bronze used was never ascertained. 48 Solomon made all the furnishings that were placed in the Lord’s Temple, including the golden altar and the golden table on which the bread of the Presence was placed, 49 along with the lamp stands (five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary), all made of pure gold, as well as the flower blossoms, lamps, and tongs of gold, 50 and the cups, snuffers, bowls, spoons, and the fire pans, all made of pure gold, and hinges for the doors of the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, and for the gates of the Temple that led to the nave, also of gold.
51 Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the Lord’s Temple was finished. Then Solomon brought in the articles that had been dedicated by his father David, including silver, gold, and other utensils, and he placed them into storage in the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple.
A Question about the Resurrection(A)
27 Now some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus[a] 28 and asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, the man[b] should marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died childless. 30 Then the second 31 and the third married her. In the same way, all seven died and left no children. 32 Finally, the woman died, too. 33 Now in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be, since the seven had married her?”
34 Jesus told them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are married, 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Nor can they die anymore, because they are like the angels and, since they share in the resurrection, are God’s children. 37 Even Moses demonstrated in the story about the bush that the dead are raised, when he calls the Lord, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[c] 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, because he considers all people to be alive to him.”
39 Then some of the scribes replied, “Teacher, you have given a fine answer.” 40 Then they no longer dared to ask him another question.
A Question about David’s Son(B)
41 Then he asked them, “How can people[d] say that the Messiah[e] is David’s son? 42 Because David himself in the book of Psalms says,
‘The Lord[f] told my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’[g]
44 So David calls him ‘Lord.’ Then how can he be his son?”
Jesus Denounces the Scribes(C)
45 While all the people were listening, he told his disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes! They like to walk around in long robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses[h] and say long prayers to cover it up. They will receive greater condemnation!”
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