Old/New Testament

The Temple Is Given to the Lord

7 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from the sky. It burned up the burnt offering and the sacrifices. The Lord’s glory filled the Temple. ² The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the Lord’s glory filled it. ³ All the people of Israel saw the fire come down from heaven. They also saw the Lord’s glory on the Temple. Then they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and thanked the Lord. They said,

⁴ Then King Solomon and all the Israelites offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people gave the Temple for the worship of God. ⁶ The priests stood ready to do their work. The Levites also stood with the instruments of the Lord’s music. King David had made these instruments for praising the Lord. The priests and Levites were saying, “The Lord’s love continues forever.” The priests, who stood across from the Levites, blew their trumpets. And all the Israelites were standing.

⁷ Solomon made the middle part of the courtyard holy for the Lord. That courtyard is in front of the Temple of the Lord. There Solomon offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. He used the middle of the courtyard because the bronze altar he had made could not hold everything. It couldn’t hold the burnt offerings, grain offerings and fat.

⁸ Solomon and all the Israelites celebrated the festival for seven days. There were many people. They came from as far away as Lebo Hamath. And they came all the way from the brook of Egypt. ⁹ They had given the altar for the worship of the Lord. And they celebrated that for seven days. Then they celebrated the festival for seven days. On the eighth day they had a meeting. ¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon sent the people home. They were full of joy. They were happy because the Lord had been so good to David, Solomon and his people the Israelites.

The Lord Appears to Solomon

¹¹ Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord and the king’s palace. He had success in doing everything he planned in the Temple of the Lord and his own palace. ¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night. The Lord said, “Solomon, I have heard your prayer. And I have chosen this place for myself to be a Temple for sacrifices.

¹³ “I may stop the sky from sending rain. I may command the locusts to destroy the land. I may send sicknesses to my people. ¹⁴ Then my people, who are called by my name, will be sorry for what they have done. They will pray and obey me and stop their evil ways. If they do, I will hear them from heaven. I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now I will see them. And I will listen to the prayers prayed in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen this Temple and made it holy. So I will be worshiped here forever. Yes, I will always watch over it and love it.

¹⁷ “Solomon, obey me as your father David did. Obey all I have commanded. Obey my laws and rules. ¹⁸ If you do, I will make your kingdom strong. This is the agreement I made with your father David. I told him, ‘David, someone from your family will always be king in Israel.’

¹⁹ “But you must not turn away from me. You must not stop obeying the laws and commands I gave you. You must not serve and worship other gods. ²⁰ If you do, I will take the Israelites out of my land, the land I gave them. And I will leave this Temple that I have made holy. All the nations will make fun of it and speak evil about it. ²¹ This Temple is honored now. But then, everyone who passes by will be surprised. They will say, ‘Why has the Lord done this terrible thing to this land and this Temple?’ ²² Then people will answer, ‘It’s because the Israelites left the Lord, the God their ancestors obeyed. He is the God who led them out of Egypt. But they accepted other gods and worshiped and served them. That is why the Lord brought this disaster on them.’”

Solomon’s Other Achievements

8 It took Solomon 20 years to build the Temple of the Lord and his own palace. ² Then Solomon rebuilt the towns that Hiram had given him. And Solomon sent Israelites to live in them. ³ Then he went to Hamath Zobah and captured it. ⁴ Solomon also built the town of Tadmor in the desert. He built all the towns in Hamath as towns for storing things. ⁵ He rebuilt the towns of Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon. He made them protected towns with strong walls, gates and bars in the gates. ⁶ He also rebuilt the town of Baalath. And he built all the other towns where he stored things. He built all the cities where the chariots and horses were kept. Solomon built all he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon and in all the country he ruled.

^7-8 Many people who were not Israelites were left living in the country. These people were the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They were descendants of the people that the Israelites had not destroyed. Solomon forced all of them to be slave workers. This is still true today. ⁹ But Solomon did not force any of the Israelites to be slave workers. They were his fighting men. They were the commanders of his army officers, his chariots and his chariot drivers. ¹⁰ Some of them were his most important officers. There were 250 of them to direct the people.

¹¹ Solomon brought the daughter of the king of Egypt from the older part of Jerusalem. He brought her to the palace he had built for her. Solomon said, “My wife must not live in King David’s palace. This is because the places where the Ark of the Covenant has been are holy places.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the Lord’s altar. Solomon built that altar in front of the Temple porch. ¹³ He offered sacrifices every day as Moses had commanded. Sacrifices were to be offered on the Sabbath days, New Moons and the three yearly feasts. The three yearly feasts were the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Shelters. ¹⁴ Solomon followed his father David’s instructions. Solomon chose the groups of priests for their service. He chose the Levites to lead the praise. And they were to help the priests do their daily work. And he chose the gatekeepers by their groups to serve at each gate. This is what David, the man of God, had commanded. ¹⁵ They obeyed all of Solomon’s commands to the priests and Levites. And they obeyed his commands about the treasuries.

¹⁶ All Solomon’s work was done. Everything was done as he had said from the day the Temple of the Lord was begun until it was finished. So the Temple was finished.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to the towns of Ezion Geber and Elath. They were near the Red Sea in the country of Edom. ¹⁸ Hiram sent to Solomon ships commanded by his own men. They were skilled sailors. Hiram’s men went with Solomon’s men to Ophir. And they brought back about 34,000 pounds of gold to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

9 The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame. So she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. She had a very large group of people with her. She had camels that carried spices, much gold and many gems. She came to Solomon and talked with him about all her questions. ² And Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was too hard for him to explain to her. ³ The queen of Sheba saw that Solomon was very wise. She also saw the palace he had built. ⁴ She saw the food on his table and his many officers. She saw the palace servants and their good clothes. She saw the servants who served Solomon his wine. And she saw their good clothes. She saw the burnt offerings he made in the Temple of the Lord. All these things amazed her. ⁵ So she said to King Solomon, “I heard in my own country about your achievements and wisdom. And all of it is true. ⁶ I did not believe it then. But now I have come and seen it with my own eyes. Not even half of your great wisdom was told to me! You are much greater than I had heard. ⁷ Your men and officers are very lucky! Since they are always serving you, they are able to hear your wisdom! ⁸ Praise the Lord your God! He was pleased to make you king. He has put you on his throne to rule for the Lord your God. Your God loves Israel and supports Israel forever. So the Lord has made you king of Israel to keep law and order and to rule fairly.”

⁹ Then the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon about 9,000 pounds of gold. She also gave him many spices and gems. No one had ever given such fine spices as she gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ Hiram’s men and Solomon’s men brought in gold from Ophir. They also brought in juniper wood and gems. ¹¹ King Solomon used the juniper wood to make steps for the Temple of the Lord and the palace. He also used it to make lyres and harps for the singers. No one in Judah had ever seen such beautiful things as these.

¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and asked for. He gave her more than she had brought to him. Then she and her servants left and returned to their own country.

Solomon’s Great Wealth

¹³ The amount of gold that Solomon received in one year weighed about 50,000 pounds. ¹⁴ Besides that, he also received gold from merchants and traders. All the kings of Arabia and the rulers of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields from hammered gold. Each shield contained about 7½ pounds of hammered gold. ¹⁶ Solomon also made 300 small shields of hammered gold. Each shield contained about 4 pounds of gold. King Solomon put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ Then he built a large throne of ivory. And he covered it with pure gold. ¹⁸ The throne had six steps on it. And it had a gold footstool on it. There were armrests on both sides of the chair. And beside each armrest was a statue of a lion. ¹⁹ Twelve lions stood on the six steps. There was one lion at each end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any other kingdom. ²⁰ All King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold. All of the dishes in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. In Solomon’s time people did not think silver was valuable. So nothing was made of silver. ²¹ King Solomon had many ships that he sent out to trade. Hiram’s men sailed Solomon’s ships. Every three years the ships returned. They brought back gold, silver, ivory, apes and baboons.

²² King Solomon had more riches and wisdom than all the other kings on earth. ²³ All the kings of the earth came to see Solomon. They wanted to hear the wisdom God had given him. ²⁴ Every year everyone who came brought a gift. They brought things made of silver and gold, clothes, weapons, spices, horses and mules.

²⁵ Solomon had 4,000 stalls to hold his horses and chariots. He had 12,000 horses. He kept them in special cities for the chariots. And he kept some with him in Jerusalem. ²⁶ Solomon was king over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the Philistine country to the border of Egypt. ²⁷ In Jerusalem silver was as common as stones while Solomon was king. Cedar trees were as common as the fig trees growing on the western mountain slopes. ²⁸ Solomon imported horses from Egypt and all other countries.

Solomon’s Death

²⁹ The other things Solomon did as king, from the beginning to the end, are written down. They are in the writings of Nathan the prophet. And they are in the prophecy of Ahijah and the visions of Iddo. Ahijah was from Shiloh. Iddo was a seer who wrote about Jeroboam, Nebat’s son. ³⁰ Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40 years. ³¹ Then Solomon died and was buried in Jerusalem. This was the city of his father David. And Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king in his place.

The Death of Lazarus

11 There was a man named Lazarus who was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany, where Mary and her sister Martha lived. ² Mary is the woman who later put perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Mary’s brother was Lazarus, the man who was now sick. ³ So Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴ When Jesus heard this he said, “This sickness will not end in death. It is for the glory of God. This has happened to bring glory to the Son of God.” ⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ But when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷ Then Jesus said to his followers, “Let us go back to Judea.”

⁸ The followers said, “But Teacher, the Jews there tried to kill you with stones. That was only a short time ago. Now you want to go back there?”

⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the daylight, he will not stumble because he can see by this world’s light. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks at night he stumbles because there is no light to help him see.”

¹¹ After Jesus said this, he added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I am going there to wake him.”

¹² The followers said, “But Lord, if he can sleep, he will get well.”

¹³ Jesus meant that Lazarus was dead. But Jesus’ followers thought that he meant Lazarus was really sleeping. ¹⁴ So then Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe. But let us go to him now.”

¹⁶ Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other followers, “Let us go, too. We will die with him.”

Jesus in Bethany

¹⁷ Jesus arrived in Bethany. There he learned that Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Many Jews had come there to comfort Martha and Mary about their brother.

²⁰ Martha heard that Jesus was coming, and she went out to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask.”

²³ Jesus said, “Your brother will rise and live again.”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know that he will rise and live again in the resurrection^[a] on the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will have life even if he dies. ²⁶ And he who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha, do you believe this?”

²⁷ Martha answered, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. You are the One who was coming to the world.”

Jesus Cries

²⁸ After Martha said this, she went back to her sister Mary. She talked to Mary alone. Martha said, “The Teacher is here and he is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus.