The Furnishings for the Temple

4¹ And he made a brazen altar: its length was twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits, and its height ten cubits. ² And he made the sea, molten, ten cubits from brim to brim, round all about; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encompassed it round about. ³ And under it was the similitude of oxen, encompassing it round about, ten in a cubit enclosing the sea round about, two rows of oxen, cast when it was cast. ⁴ It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. ⁵ And its thickness was a hand-breadth, and its brim like the work of the brim of a cup, with lily-blossoms; in capacity it held three thousand baths. ⁶ And he made ten lavers, and put five on the right and five on the left, to wash in them: they rinsed in them what they prepared for the burnt-offering; and the sea was for the priests to wash in. ⁷ And he made ten candlesticks of gold according to the ordinance respecting them, and set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. ⁸ And he made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. And he made a hundred golden bowls. ⁹ And he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors thereof with bronze. ¹⁰ And he set the sea on the right side eastward, over against the south.

¹¹ And Huram made the pots and the shovels and the bowls. So Huram ended doing the work that he made for king Solomon in the house of God: ¹² two pillars, and the globes and the capitals on the top of the pillars, two; and the two networks, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; ¹³ and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were upon the pillars. ¹⁴ And he made the bases, and he made the lavers on the bases; ¹⁵ one sea, and the twelve oxen under it. ¹⁶ And the pots, and the shovels, and the forks, and all their instruments did Huram Abiv make king Solomon for the house of Jehovah, of bright brass. ¹⁷ In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay-ground between Succoth and Zeredathah. ¹⁸ And Solomon made all these vessels in great number; for the weight of the brass was not ascertained. ¹⁹ And Solomon made all the vessels that were [in] the house of God: the golden altar; and the tables whereon was the shewbread; ²⁰ and the candlesticks with their lamps to burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold; ²¹ and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold (it was perfect gold); ²² and the knives, and the bowls, and the cups, and the censers, of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, the inner folding-doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.

5¹ And all the work was finished that Solomon made for the house of Jehovah. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels he put among the treasures of the house of God.

Solomon Brings the Ark into the Temple

² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion. ³ And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, that of the seventh month. ⁴ And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. ⁵ And they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent: the priests, the Levites, brought them up. ⁶ And king Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel, that were assembled to him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. ⁷ And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim; ⁸ and the cherubim stretched forth [their] wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above. ⁹ And the staves were long, so that the ends of the staves were seen outside the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there they are to this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made [a covenant] with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹ And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place (for all the priests that were present were hallowed without observing the courses; ¹² and the Levites the singers, all they of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, clad in byssus, with cymbals and lutes and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets), ¹³ —it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah; and when they lifted up their voice with trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever; that then the house, the house of Jehovah, was filled with a cloud, ¹⁴ and the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God.

The Dedication of the Temple

6¹ Then said Solomon: Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. ² But I have built a house of habitation for thee, even a settled place for thee to abide in for ever. ³ And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel; and the whole congregation of Israel stood. ⁴ And he said: Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hands fulfilled it, saying, ⁵ Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel: ⁶ but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel. ⁷ And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel. ⁸ But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart; ⁹ nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name. ¹⁰ And Jehovah has performed his word which he spoke; and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and I have built the house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel. ¹¹ And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with the children of Israel.

¹² And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands. ¹³ For Solomon had made a platform of bronze, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and he kneeled down on his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward the heavens, ¹⁴ and said, Jehovah, God of Israel! there is no God like thee, in the heavens or on the earth, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart; ¹⁵ who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him; thou spokest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled [it] with thy hand as at this day. ¹⁶ And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me. ¹⁷ And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, let thy word be verified which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. ¹⁸ But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! ¹⁹ Yet have respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, Jehovah, my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee; ²⁰ that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place in which thou hast said thou wouldest put thy name: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. ²¹ And hearken unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou from thy dwelling-place, from the heavens, and when thou hearest, forgive. ²² If a man have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; ²³ then hear thou from the heavens, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness. ²⁴ And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication before thee in this house; ²⁵ then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land that thou gavest to them and to their fathers. ²⁶ When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, because thou hast afflicted them; ²⁷ then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. ²⁸ If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their gates; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be: ²⁹ what prayer, what supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, when they shall know every man his own plague, and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house; ³⁰ then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men), ³¹ that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, all the days that they live upon the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. ³² And as to the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand and thy stretched-out arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house, ³³ then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; in order that all peoples of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee as do thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. ³⁴ If thy people go out to battle against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name; ³⁵ then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right. ³⁶ If they have sinned against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and give them up to the enemy, and they have carried them away captives unto a land far off or near; ³⁷ and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done iniquity and have dealt perversely; ³⁸ and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name; ³⁹ then hear thou from the heavens, from the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their right, and forgive thy people their sin against thee. ⁴⁰ Now, my God, I beseech thee, let thine eyes be open and let thine ears be attentive unto the prayer [that is made] in this place. ⁴¹ And now, arise, Jehovah Elohim, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, Jehovah Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in [thy] goodness. ⁴² Jehovah Elohim, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember mercies to David thy servant.

²⁴ The Jews therefore surrounded him, and said to him, Until when dost thou hold our soul in suspense? If thou art the Christ, say [so] to us openly. ²⁵ Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye do not believe. The works which I do in my Father's name, these bear witness concerning me: ²⁶ but ye do not believe, for ye are not of my sheep, as I told you. ²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; ²⁸ and I give them life eternal; and they shall never perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father who has given [them] to me is greater than all, and no one can seize out of the hand of my Father. ³⁰ I and the Father are one. ³¹ The Jews therefore again took stones that they might stone him. ³² Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewn you of my Father; for which work of them do ye stone me? ³³ The Jews answered him, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God. ³⁴ Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? ³⁵ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), ³⁶ do ye say of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am Son of God? ³⁷ If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; ³⁸ but if I do, even if ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know [and believe] that the Father is in me and I in him.

³⁹ They sought therefore again to take him; and he went away from out of their hand ⁴⁰ and departed again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptising at the first: and he abode there. ⁴¹ And many came to him, and said, John did no sign; but all things which John said of this [man] were true. ⁴² And many believed on him there.