The Daily Audio Bible

The Furnishings of the Temple^(A)

4 Then he made a bronze altar that was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits^[a] high. ² And he made a cast metal sea as a water basin. It was round and ten cubits from edge to edge, five cubits high,^[b] and a line of thirty cubits^[c] measured its circumference. ³ Figures like oxen were underneath it, going all the way around the sea basin, ten cubits^[d] on each side.^[e] There were two rows of oxen that were poured as cast metal.

⁴ It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and their back sides were facing inward. ⁵ The thickness of the sea was a palm,^[f] and its brim was like the brim of a cup, as the flower of a lily. It held three thousand baths^[g] securely.

⁶ Then he made ten water basins, and he set five on the southern right side and five on the northern left side to rinse off in them the instruments of the burnt offering. And the sea basin was for the priests to wash in.

⁷ And he made ten lampstands of gold according to the specifications, and he set them in the temple, five on the southern, right side and five on the northern, left side.

⁸ Then he made ten tables and put them in the temple, five on the southern, right side and five on the northern, left side; and he made a hundred basins of gold.

⁹ Then he made the court of the priests and the great enclosure and the doors for the enclosure, and he overlaid the doors with bronze. ¹⁰ And he set the sea basin at the southeast side, opposite the southern side of the house.

¹¹ And Huram made the pots, shovels, and bowls.

So Huram completed the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of God: ¹² the two pillars, the bowls, and the two capitals on the top of the pillars; and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; ¹³ and the four hundred pomegranates for the two pieces of grating, with two rows of pomegranates for each screen grate that covered the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars. ¹⁴ And he made the supporting stands and the basins on top of the stands, ¹⁵ and the sea basin and the twelve oxen underneath it; ¹⁶ the pots, shovels, utensils, and all the vessels from polished bronze, Huram-Abi made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord.

¹⁷ The king cast these vessels in the district of the Jordan in earthen foundries between Sukkoth and Zeredatha.^{[h] 18} And Solomon made all of these items in a great abundance such that they did not consider the weight of the bronze.

¹⁹ So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God: the gold altar and the tables displaying the showbread, ²⁰ and the finely hammered lampstands with their lamps to burn before the Most Holy Place as prescribed; ²¹ the golden flower-shaped ornaments, lamps, and tongs, of purest gold; ²² the snuffers, basins, ladles, and fire pans, of pure gold. As for the entrance to the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and the doors of the nave of the temple were of gold.

5 Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated: the silver and the gold and all the furnishings in the treasury of the house of God.

The Ark Brought to the Temple^(B)

² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes and the leaders of the houses of the fathers among the sons of Israel to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion. ³ And all the men of Israel were assembled before the king at the feast, which is the seventh month.^[i]

⁴ All the elders of Israel came, and the Levites carried the ark. ⁵ Then they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent. So the Levitical priests brought them up. ⁶ And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

⁷ The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place—to the inner sanctuary of the temple, into the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ Then the cherubim wings were spread out over the place of the ark so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles. ⁹ The poles were extended so that the ends of the poles of the ark were seen in front of the Most Holy Place, but they were not seen outside; and they are still there to this day. ¹⁰ In the ark there was nothing except the two tablets that Moses had given at Mount Horeb where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel when they went out from Egypt.

¹¹ When the priests came out from the Most Holy Place—for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without keeping separate divisions— ¹² and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and relatives, all clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood to the east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests who were sounding with trumpets, ¹³ it happened, when the trumpet players and singers made one sound to praise and give thanks to the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and all the instruments of music and praised the Lord saying,

that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴ And the priests were not able to stand in order to serve because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

6 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would dwell in the dark cloud. ² But I have built for You an exalted house, even a habitation where You can continually dwell.”

Solomon’s Speech

³ Then the king turned his face around, and he blessed the entire assembly of Israel while all the assembly of Israel was standing before him. ⁴ And he said:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who spoke with David my father and fulfilled His promise saying, ⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought out My people from the land of Egypt, I did not choose any city from among the tribes of Israel to build a house for My name to dwell there, nor did I select a man to be the leader over My people Israel; ⁶ but I have chosen Jerusalem for My name to dwell there, and I have selected David to be over My people Israel.’

⁷ “And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ⁸ But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well because of what was in your heart; ⁹ only you will not be the one to build the house. For your son, who will be born to you, he will build a house for My name.’

¹⁰ “The Lord has fulfilled the word that He spoke. For I have risen up in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke, and I will build the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹¹ And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that He made with the children of Israel.”

An Analogy From Marriage

7 Do you not know, brothers (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ² For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding her husband. ³ So then, she will be called an adulteress if she marries another man while her husband lives. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she would not be an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴ So, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may be married to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, so that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵ When we were in the flesh, the passions of sin, through the law, worked in our members to bear fruit leading to death. ⁶ But now we are delivered from the law, having died to things in which we were bound, so that we may serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter of the law.

The Problem of Indwelling Sin

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! But I did not know sin, except through the law. I would not have known coveting if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{[a] 8} But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law sin is dead. ⁹ I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. ¹⁰ And the commandment, which was intended for life, proved to be death in me. ¹¹ For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and killed me through it. ¹² So then, the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good.

¹³ Therefore has that which is good become death unto me? God forbid! Rather, sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was working death in me through that which is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

Psalm 17

A Prayer of David.