The Daily Audio Bible

4 He also made a bronze altar 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high. ² Then he forged a huge round tank 15 feet across from rim to rim. The rim stood 7-1/2 feet above the floor, and was 45 feet around. ³ The tank was encircled at its base by two rows of gourd designs, cast as part of the tank. ⁴ The tank stood on twelve metal oxen facing outward; three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. ⁵ The walls of the tank were five inches thick, flaring out like the cup of a lily. It held 3,000 barrels of water.

⁶ He also constructed ten vats for water to wash the offerings, five to the right of the huge tank and five to the left. The priests used the tank, and not the vats, for their own washing.

⁷ Carefully following God’s instructions, he then cast ten gold lampstands and placed them in the Temple, five against each wall; ⁸ he also built ten tables and placed five against each wall on the right and left. And he molded 100 solid gold bowls. ⁹ Then he constructed a court for the priests, also the public court, and overlaid the doors of these courts with bronze. ¹⁰ The huge tank was in the southeast corner of the outer room of the Temple. ¹¹ Huramabi also made the necessary pots, shovels, and basins for use in connection with the sacrifices.

So at last he completed the work assigned to him by King Solomon:

This skillful craftsman, Huramabi, made all of the above-mentioned items for King Solomon using polished bronze. ^17-18 The king did the casting at the claybanks of the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zeredah. Great quantities of bronze were used, too heavy to weigh.

¹⁹ Solomon commanded that all of the furnishings of the Temple—the utensils, the altar, and the table for the Bread of the Presence must be made of gold; ²⁰ also the lamps and lampstands, ²¹ the floral decorations, tongs, ²² lamp snuffers, basins, spoons, and firepans—all were made of solid gold. Even the doorway of the Temple, the main door, and the inner doors to the Holy of Holies were overlaid with gold.

5 So the Temple was finally finished. Then Solomon brought in the gifts dedicated to the Lord by his father, King David. They were stored in the Temple treasuries.

² Solomon now summoned to Jerusalem all of the leaders of Israel—the heads of the tribes and clans—for the ceremony of transferring the Ark from the Tabernacle in the^[a] City of David, also known as Zion, to its new home in the Temple. ³ This celebration took place in October at the annual Festival of Tabernacles. ^4-5 As the leaders of Israel watched, the Levites lifted the Ark and carried it out of the Tabernacle, along with all the other sacred vessels. ⁶ King Solomon and the others sacrificed sheep and oxen before the Ark in such numbers that no one tried to keep count!

^7-8 Then the priests carried the Ark into the inner room of the Temple—the Holy of Holies—and placed it beneath the wings of the Guardian Angels; their wings spread over the Ark and its carrying poles. ⁹ These carrying poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the outer room, but not from the outside doorway.

The Ark is still there at the time of this writing. ¹⁰ Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Mount Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were leaving Egypt.

^11-12 When the priests had undergone the purification rites for themselves, they all took part in the ceremonies without regard to their normal duties. And how the Levites were praising the Lord as the priests came out of the Holy of Holies! The singers were Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and all their sons and brothers, dressed in finespun linen robes and standing at the east side of the altar. The choir was accompanied by 120 priests who were trumpeters, while others played the cymbals, lyres, and harps. ^13-14 The band and chorus united as one to praise and thank the Lord; their selections were interspersed with trumpet obbligatos, the clashing of cymbals, and the loud playing of other musical instruments—all praising and thanking the Lord. Their theme was “He is so good! His loving-kindness lasts forever!”

And at that moment the glory of the Lord, coming as a bright cloud, filled the Temple so that the priests could not continue their work.

6 ^1-2 This is the prayer prayed by Solomon on that occasion:

³ Then the king turned around to the people and they stood to receive his blessing:

⁴ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,” he said to them, “the God who talked personally to my father David and has now fulfilled the promise he made to him. For he told him, ^5-6 ‘I have never before, since bringing my people from the land of Egypt, chosen a city anywhere in Israel as the location of my Temple where my name will be glorified; and never before have I chosen a king for my people Israel. But now I have chosen Jerusalem as that city, and David as that king.’

⁷ “My father David wanted to build this Temple, ⁸ but the Lord said not to. It was good to have the desire, the Lord told him, ⁹ but he was not the one to build it: his son was chosen for that task. ¹⁰ And now the Lord has done what he promised, for I have become king in my father’s place, and I have built the Temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel ¹¹ and placed the Ark there. And in the Ark is the Covenant between the Lord and his people Israel.”

7 Don’t you understand yet, dear Jewish brothers^[a] in Christ, that when a person dies the law no longer holds him in its power?

² Let me illustrate: when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, she is no longer bound to him; the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. ³ Then she can marry someone else if she wants to. That would be wrong while he was alive, but it is perfectly all right after he dies.

⁴ Your “husband,” your master, used to be the Jewish law; but you “died,” as it were, with Christ on the cross; and since you are “dead,” you are no longer “married to the law,” and it has no more control over you. Then you came back to life again when Christ did and are a new person. And now you are “married,” so to speak, to the one who rose from the dead, so that you can produce good fruit, that is, good deeds for God. ⁵ When your old nature was still active, sinful desires were at work within you, making you want to do whatever God said not to and producing sinful deeds, the rotting fruit of death. ⁶ But now you need no longer worry about the Jewish laws and customs^[b] because you “died” while in their captivity, and now you can really serve God; not in the old way, mechanically obeying a set of rules, but in the new way, with all of your hearts and minds.

⁷ Well then, am I suggesting that these laws of God are evil? Of course not! No, the law is not sinful, but it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known the sin in my heart—the evil desires that are hidden there—if the law had not said, “You must not have evil desires in your heart.” ⁸ But sin used this law against evil desires by reminding me that such desires are wrong, and arousing all kinds of forbidden desires within me! Only if there were no laws to break would there be no sinning.

⁹ That is why I felt fine so long as I did not understand what the law really demanded. But when I learned the truth, I realized that I had broken the law and was a sinner, doomed to die. ¹⁰ So as far as I was concerned, the good law which was supposed to show me the way of life resulted instead in my being given the death penalty. ¹¹ Sin fooled me by taking the good laws of God and using them to make me guilty of death. ¹² But still, you see, the law itself was wholly right and good.

¹³ But how can that be? Didn’t the law cause my doom? How then can it be good? No, it was sin, devilish stuff that it is, that used what was good to bring about my condemnation. So you can see how cunning and deadly and damnable it is. For it uses God’s good laws for its own evil purposes.

17 I am pleading for your help, O Lord; for I have been honest and have done what is right, and you must listen to my earnest cry! ² Publicly acquit me, Lord, for you are always fair. ³ You have tested me and seen that I am good. You have come even in the night and found nothing amiss and know that I have told the truth. ⁴ I have followed your commands and have not gone along with cruel and evil men. ⁵ My feet have not slipped from your paths.

⁶ Why am I praying like this? Because I know you will answer me, O God! Yes, listen as I pray. ⁷ Show me your strong love in wonderful ways, O Savior of all those seeking your help against their foes. ⁸ Protect me as you would the pupil of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings as you hover over me.

⁹ My enemies encircle me with murder in their eyes. ¹⁰ They are pitiless and arrogant. Listen to their boasting. ¹¹ They close in upon me and are ready to throw me to the ground. ¹² They are like lions eager to tear me apart, like young lions hiding and waiting their chance.

^13-14 Lord, arise and stand against them. Push them back! Come and save me from these men of the world whose only concern is earthly gain—these men whom you have filled with your treasures so that their children and grandchildren are rich and prosperous.

¹⁵ But as for me, my contentment is not in wealth but in seeing you and knowing all is well between us. And when I awake in heaven, I will be fully satisfied, for I will see you face-to-face.

²² Kindness makes a man attractive. And it is better to be poor than dishonest.

²³ Reverence for God gives life, happiness, and protection from harm.