Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²³ In the inner room he made two 15-foot-tall angels ^[a] out of olive wood. ²⁴ Each wing of the angels was 7½ feet long. The distance from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was 15 feet. ²⁵ Both angels had a 15-foot ⌞wingspan⌟. Both had the same measurements and the same shape. ²⁶ Each was 15 feet high. ²⁷ Solomon put the angels in the inner room of the temple. The wings of the angels extended so that the wing of one of the angels touched the one wall, and the wing of the other touched the other wall. Their remaining wings touched each other in the center of the room. ²⁸ He covered the angels with gold.

²⁹ He carved angels, palm trees, and flowers into the walls all around the inner and outer rooms of the temple. ³⁰ He covered the floor of the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.

³¹ He made doors for the entrance to the inner room out of olive wood. The doorposts had five sides. ³² The two doors were ⌞made out of⌟ olive wood. He carved angels, palm trees, and flowers into them and covered them with gold. The gold was hammered onto the angels and the palm trees.

³³ In the same way he made square doorposts out of olive wood for the temple’s entrance. ³⁴ He made two doors from cypress. Each of the doors had two folding panels. ³⁵ On them he carved angels, palm trees, and flowers. He evenly covered them with gold.

³⁶ He built the inner courtyard with three courses of finished stones and a course of finished cedar beams.

³⁷ In the month of Ziv of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. ³⁸ In the month of Bul (the eighth month) of the eleventh year ⌞of his reign⌟, the temple was finished according to all its plans and specifications. He spent seven years building it.

Christ’s Love Guides Us

¹¹ As people who know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. God already knows what we are, and I hope that you also know what we are. ¹² We are not trying to show you our qualifications again, but we are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us. Then you can answer those who are proud of their appearance rather than their character. ¹³ So if we were crazy, it was for God. If we are sane, it is for you. ¹⁴ Clearly, Christ’s love guides us. We are convinced of the fact that one man has died for all people. Therefore, all people have died. ¹⁵ He died for all people so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the man who died and was brought back to life for them.

¹⁶ So from now on we don’t think of anyone from a human point of view. If we did think of Christ from a human point of view, we don’t anymore. ¹⁷ Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence.