2 Chronicles 3

Solomon Builds the Temple

¹wThen Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem xon Mount Moriah, where the Lord1 had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, yon the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ²He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. ³These are Solomon's zmeasurements2 for building the house of God: athe length, in cubits3 of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. ⁴The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house,4 and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. ⁵bThe nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold cand made palms and chains on it. ⁶He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim. ⁷So he lined the house with gold—its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors—cand he carved cherubim on the walls.

⁸dAnd he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents5 of fine gold. ⁹The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels.6 And he overlaid ethe upper chambers with gold.

¹⁰fIn the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood7 and overlaid8 them with gold. ¹¹The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub; ¹²and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. ¹³The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. The cherubim9 stood on their feet, gfacing the nave. ¹⁴hAnd he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.

¹⁵iIn front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each. ¹⁶He made chains like a necklace10 and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. ¹⁷jHe set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; that on the south he called Jachin, and that on the north Boaz.

2 Chronicles 4

The Temple's Furnishings

¹He made kan altar of bronze, twenty cubits1 long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high. ²lThen he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. ³Under it were figures of gourds,2 for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast. ⁴It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward. ⁵Its thickness was a handbreadth.3 And its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. mIt held 3,000 baths.4 ⁶nHe also made ten basins in which to wash, and set five on the south side, and five on the north side. In these they were to rinse off what was used for the burnt offering, and the sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷And he made ten golden lampstands oas prescribed, and set them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. ⁸pHe also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. And he made a hundred basins of gold. ⁹He made qthe court of the priests rand the great court and doors for the court and overlaid their doors with bronze. ¹⁰sAnd he set the sea at the southeast corner of the house.

¹¹tuHiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. uSo Hiram finished the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of God: ¹²the two pillars, vthe 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; ¹³wand the 400 pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars. ¹⁴nHe made the stands also, and the basins on the stands, ¹⁵and the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath it. ¹⁶The pots, the shovels, xthe forks, and all the equipment for these tyHuram-abi made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the Lord. ¹⁷In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.5 ¹⁸zSolomon made all these things in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze was not sought.

¹⁹So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God: the golden altar, athe tables for the bread of the Presence, ²⁰the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold bto burn before the inner sanctuary, as prescribed; ²¹the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of purest gold; ²²the snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold, and the sockets6 of the temple, for the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and for the doors of the nave of the temple were of gold.

¹See ywhat kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called zchildren of God; and so we are. The reason why athe world does not know us is that bit did not know him. ²Beloved, we are zGod's children cnow, and what we will be dhas not yet appeared; but we know that ewhen he appears1 fwe shall be like him, because gwe shall see him as he is. ³And everyone who hthus hopes in him ipurifies himself as he is pure.

⁴Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; jsin is lawlessness. ⁵You know that khe appeared in order to ltake away sins, and min him there is no sin. ⁶No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; nno one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. ⁷Little children, olet no one deceive you. pWhoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. ⁸qWhoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was rto destroy the works of the devil. ⁹sNo one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's2 seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, tnor is the one who udoes not love his brother.

Love One Another

¹¹For vthis is the message that you have heard from the beginning, wthat we should love one another. ¹²We should not be like xCain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? yBecause his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. ¹³Do not be surprised, brothers,3 zthat the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that awe have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ¹⁵bEveryone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that cno murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶By this we know love, that dhe laid down his life for us, and ewe ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷But fif anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet gcloses his heart against him, hhow does God's love abide in him? ¹⁸Little children, let us not ilove in word or talk but in deed and jin truth.

¹⁹By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. ²¹Beloved, kif our heart does not condemn us, lwe have confidence before God; ²²and mwhatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and ndo what pleases him. ²³And this is his commandment, othat we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and plove one another, qjust as he has commanded us. ²⁴rWhoever keeps his commandments abides in God,4 and God5 in him. And sby this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

The Destruction of Nineveh

¹oThe scatterer has come up against you.

pMan the ramparts;

watch the road;

dress for battle;1

collect all your strength.

²For qthe Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob

as the majesty of Israel,

for plunderers have plundered them

and rruined their branches.

³The shield of his mighty men is red;

shis soldiers are clothed in scarlet.

The chariots come with flashing metal

on the day he musters them;

the cypress spears are brandished.

⁴tThe chariots race madly through the streets;

they rush to and fro through the squares;

they gleam like torches;

they dart like lightning.

⁵He remembers uhis officers;

vthey stumble as they go,

they hasten to the wall;

the siege tower2 is set up.

⁶wThe river gates are opened;

the palace xmelts away;

⁷its mistress3 is ystripped;4 she is carried off,

her slave girls zlamenting,

moaning like doves

and beating their breasts.

⁸bNineveh is like a pool

whose waters run away.5

“Halt! Halt!” they cry,

but cnone turns back.

⁹Plunder the silver,

plunder the gold!

There is no end of the treasure

or of the wealth of all precious things.

¹⁰dDesolate! Desolation and ruin!

eHearts melt and fknees tremble;

ganguish is in all loins;

hall faces grow pale!

¹¹Where is the lions' den,

the feeding place of ithe young lions,

where the lion and lioness went,

where his cubs were, with jnone to disturb?

¹²kThe lion tore enough for his cubs

and lstrangled prey for his lionesses;

he filled his caves with prey

and his dens with torn flesh.

¹³mBehold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and nI will burn your6 chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and othe voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

¹And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought ralways to pray and not slose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who tneither feared God nor respected man. ³And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, u‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷And vwill not God give justice to whis elect, xwho cry to him day and night? yzWill he delay long over them? ⁸I tell you, he will give justice to them aspeedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, bwill he find faith on earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹He also told this parable to some cwho trusted din themselves that they were righteous, eand treated others with contempt: ¹⁰“Two men fwent up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee, gstanding by himself, prayed1 hthus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹²iI fast twice a week; jI give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³But the tax collector, gstanding far off, kwould not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but lbeat his breast, saying, ‘God, mbe merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For neveryone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Let the Children Come to Me

¹⁵oNow they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they prebuked them. ¹⁶But Jesus called them to him, saying, q“Let the children come to me, and rdo not hinder them, qfor to such belongs the kingdom of God. ¹⁷sTruly, I say to you, whoever does not treceive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

The Rich Ruler

¹⁸uAnd a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to vinherit eternal life?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰You know the commandments: w‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” ²¹And he said, x“All these I have kept from my youth.” ²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. ySell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have ztreasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²³aBut when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. ²⁴Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, b“How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter cthe kingdom of God! ²⁵For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter cthe kingdom of God.” ²⁶Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷But he said, d“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” ²⁸And Peter said, “See, ewe have left our homes and followed you.” ²⁹And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, fthere is no one who has left house or wife or brothers2 or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰who will not receive gmany times more hin this time, and in ithe age to come eternal life.”

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

³¹jAnd taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, kwe are going up to Jerusalem, and leverything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. ³²For he will be mdelivered over to the Gentiles and will be nmocked and shamefully treated and ospit upon. ³³And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on pthe third day he will rise.” ³⁴qBut they understood none of these things. rThis saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar

³⁵sAs he drew near to Jericho, ta blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. ³⁷They told him, u“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” ³⁸And he cried out, “Jesus, vSon of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹And those who were in front wrebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ⁴¹x“What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” ⁴²And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; yyour faith has zmade you well.” ⁴³And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, aglorifying God. And ball the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.