Solomon's Prayer of Dedication

¹²Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ¹³xSolomon had made a bronze platform five cubits1 long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. yThen he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, ¹⁴and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, zthere is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, akeeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, ¹⁵bwho have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. ¹⁶Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, c‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, dif only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ ¹⁷Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.

¹⁸“But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, eheaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! ¹⁹Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, ²⁰fthat your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. ²¹And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, gand when you hear, forgive.

²²“If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, ²³then hear from heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

²⁴“If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, ²⁵gthen hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.

²⁶h“When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict2 them, ²⁷gthen hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way3 in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

²⁸i“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, ²⁹whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, ³⁰gthen hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, jfor you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind, ³¹that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

³²“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, ³³hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house kthat I have built is called by your name.

³⁴“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ³⁵then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

³⁶“If they sin against you—lfor there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, ³⁷yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ ³⁸if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ³⁹then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. ⁴⁰Now, O my God, mlet your eyes be open nand your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

⁴¹“And now arise, O Lord God, and go to your oresting place,

you and the ark of your might.

Let your priests, O Lord God, be pclothed with salvation,

and let your saints qrejoice in your goodness.

⁴²O Lord God, rdo not turn away the face of your anointed one!

sRemember your steadfast love for David your servant.”

Overcoming the World

¹kEveryone who believes that lJesus is the Christ has been born of God, and meveryone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. ²nBy this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³For othis is the love of God, that we pkeep his commandments. And qhis commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For reveryone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—sour faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes tthat Jesus is the Son of God?

Testimony Concerning the Son of God

⁶This is he who came uby water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And vthe Spirit is the one who testifies, because wthe Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. ⁹xIf we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God ythat he has borne concerning his Son. ¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God zhas the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God ahas made him a liar, bbecause he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony, that God gave us ceternal life, and dthis life is in his Son. ¹²eWhoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

That You May Know

¹³I write fthese things to you who gbelieve in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴And this is hthe confidence that we have toward him, that iif we ask anything according to his will he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and jGod1 will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. kThere is sin that leads to death; lI do not say that one should pray for that. ¹⁷mAll wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

¹⁸We know that neveryone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but ohe who was born of God pprotects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are from God, and qthe whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and rhas given us understanding, so that we may know shim who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and teternal life. ²¹Little children, ukeep yourselves from idols.

¹aThe oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk's Complaint

²O Lord, bhow long shall I cry for help,

and you will not hear?

Or cry to you c“Violence!”

and you will not save?

³dWhy do you make me see iniquity,

and why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction cand violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

⁴eSo the law is paralyzed,

and justice never goes forth.

fFor the wicked surround the righteous;

so justice goes forth perverted.

The Lord's Answer

⁵g“Look among the nations, and see;

wonder and be astounded.

hFor I am doing a work in your days

that you would not believe if told.

⁶For behold, iI am raising up the Chaldeans,

that bitter and hasty nation,

jwho march through the breadth of the earth,

kto seize dwellings not their own.

⁷They are dreaded and fearsome;

ltheir justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

⁸mTheir horses are swifter than leopards,

more fierce than nthe evening wolves;

their horsemen press proudly on.

Their horsemen come from afar;

othey fly like an eagle swift to devour.

⁹They all come pfor violence,

all their faces forward.

They gather captives rlike sand.

¹⁰At kings they scoff,

and at rulers they laugh.

sThey laugh at every fortress,

for tthey pile up earth and take it.

¹¹Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,

uguilty men, vwhose own might is their god!”

Habakkuk's Second Complaint

¹²Are you not wfrom everlasting,

O Lord my God, my Holy One?

xWe shall not die.

O Lord, yyou have ordained them as a judgment,

and you, O zRock, have established them for reproof.

¹³You who are aof purer eyes than to see evil

and cannot look at wrong,

bwhy do you idly look at traitors

and cremain silent when the wicked swallows up

the man more righteous than he?

¹⁴You make mankind like the fish of the sea,

like crawling things that have no ruler.

¹⁵dHe1 brings all of them up ewith a hook;

he drags them out with his net;

he gathers them in his dragnet;

so he rejoices and is glad.

¹⁶fTherefore he sacrifices to his net

and makes offerings to his dragnet;

for by them he lives in luxury,2

and his food is rich.

¹⁷Is he then to keep on emptying his net

gand mercilessly killing nations forever?

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

¹hOne day, ias Jesus1 was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, jthe chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up ²and said to him, “Tell us kby what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” ³He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, ⁴was the baptism of John lfrom heaven or from man?” ⁵And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, m‘Why did you not believe him?’ ⁶But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was na prophet.” ⁷So they answered that they did not know where it came from. ⁸And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

⁹oAnd he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted pa vineyard and qlet it out to tenants and rwent into another country for a long while. ¹⁰When the time came, he sent a servant2 to the tenants, so that qthey would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. sBut the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹tAnd she sent another servant. But they also beat and utreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹²sAnd he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. ¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my vbeloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ ¹⁴But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, w‘This is the heir. xLet us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ ¹⁵And they ythrew him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶zHe will acome and destroy those tenants and bgive the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” ¹⁷But he clooked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

d“‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone’?3

¹⁸eEveryone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls fon anyone, it will crush him.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹⁹hThe scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. ²⁰iSo they jwatched him and sent spies, who kpretended to be sincere, that they might lcatch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of mthe governor. ²¹So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and oshow no partiality,4 but truly teach pthe way of God. ²²Is it lawful for us to give qtribute to rCaesar, or not?” ²³But he perceived their scraftiness, and said to them, ²⁴“Show me ta denarius.5 Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar's.” ²⁵He said to them, “Then urender to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” ²⁶And they were not able in the presence of the people vto catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.

Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

²⁷There came to him wsome Sadducees, xthose who deny that there is a resurrection, ²⁸and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us ythat if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man6 must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁹Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. ³⁰And the second ³¹and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. ³²Afterward the woman also died. ³³In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

³⁴And Jesus said to them, z“The sons of this age amarry and aare given in marriage, ³⁵but those who are bconsidered worthy to attain to cthat age and to the resurrection from the dead dneither marry dnor are given in marriage, ³⁶for ethey cannot die anymore, because they are fequal to angels and gare hsons of God, being isons7 of the resurrection. ³⁷But that the dead are raised, jeven Moses showed, in kthe passage about the bush, where he calls lthe Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. ³⁸Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all mlive to him.” ³⁹Then some of the scribes nanswered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” ⁴⁰For othey no longer dared to ask him any question.

Whose Son Is the Christ?

⁴¹pBut he said to them, “How can they say that qthe Christ is qDavid's son? ⁴²For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,

r“‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

⁴³until I make your enemies syour footstool.”’

⁴⁴David thus calls him Lord, so thow is he his son?”

Beware of the Scribes

⁴⁵uAnd in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, ⁴⁶“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and vthe places of honor at feasts, ⁴⁷wwho devour widows' houses and xfor a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”