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Solomon’s Wisdom: Architecture
5 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend for David. 2 Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, 3 “You knew David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Yahweh his God, in view of the warfare[a] which surrounded him, until Yahweh placed them[b] under the soles of his feet. 4 But now Yahweh my God has given me rest all around me. There is no adversary, and there is no bad occurrence. 5 Here I am, intending to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh promised to my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set in your place on your throne, shall build the house for my name.’ 6 So then, command that they may cut cedars for me from Lebanon, and let my servants be with your servants. The wage of your servants I will give to you according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” 7 When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and he said, “Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.” 8 Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard what you have sent to me; I will do all of your desire concerning the timber of cedars and concerning the timber of cypresses. 9 My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts in the sea to float to the place which you indicated to me. Then I shall break them up there, and you may carry them further, and you shall meet my needs[c] by giving food for my house.” 10 So Hiram was giving to Solomon the cedar timbers and the cypress timbers, everything he needed.[d] 11 Then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand dry measures of wheat as food for his household, and twenty dry measures of specially prepared olive oil;[e] thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. 12 Yahweh gave wisdom to Solomon as he promised to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made[f] a covenant.
13 Then King Solomon conscripted a forced labor from all Israel, and the forced labor numbered thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand every month;[g] the work groups were a month in Lebanon and two months at home; now Adoniram was over the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand common laborers[h] and eighty thousand stone craftsmen in the hill country. 16 Besides the chiefs of the officers Solomon had, there were three thousand three hundred having charge over the people who were doing the work. 17 When the king commanded, they quarried great stones and precious stones to lay the foundation of the house with hewn stones. 18 So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites hewed stones, and they prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.
Solomon Builds the Temple for Yahweh
6 It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites[i] went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule[j] over Israel, the month of Ziv (that is the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh. 2 Now the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits in its length and twenty cubits in its width and thirty cubits in its height. 3 The vestibule on the face of the main hall of the temple[k] was twenty cubits in its length, and the width of the temple[l] was ten cubits wide on the face of the temple.[m] 4 And he made for the temple[n] specially designed framed windows, 5 and he built a structure against the wall of the temple[o] running all along the walls of the house, for the outer sanctuary and for the inner sanctuary, and made side rooms all around. 6 The lower structure was five cubits in its width and the middle was six cubits in its width and the third was seven cubits in its width, for he made niches for the temple[p] all around to the outside, so that beams would not attach to the walls of the temple.[q] 7 Now while the temple[r] was being built, it was built with stones finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or stone shaping tool or any instrument of iron was heard in the temple[s] as it was being built. 8 The doorway of the side room in the middle of the side of the temple[t] was on the south; they went up with a stairway to the middle and from the middle to the third floor. 9 So he built the house and finished it. He covered the temple[u] with rafters and wood planks and with the cedars. 10 He also built the structure against all of the temple[v] five cubits in height and fastened it to the temple[w] with beams of cedar.
11 Then the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying, 12 “Regarding this temple[x] that you are building: if you walk in my ordinances and if you do my judgments and you keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my promise with you which I made to David your father. 13 And I will dwell among[y] the Israelites,[z] and I will not forsake my people Israel.”
14 So Solomon built the temple[aa] and finished it. 15 He lined the walls of the inside of the house[ab] with boards of cedar; from the floor of the temple[ac] up to the rafters of the ceiling he covered them with wood on the inside.[ad] He also covered the floor of the temple[ae] with cypress boards. 16 He built twenty cubits from the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor up to the ceiling, and he built for it an inner sanctuary on the inside, as the most holy place.[af] 17 The main hall of the temple[ag] was forty cubits in front of the inner sanctuary,[ah] 18 with the cedar within the inner house having carvings of gourds and buds of flowers. It was entirely of cedar; there was not a stone visible. 19 Now in the inner sanctuary in the middle of the temple[ai] he prepared the inside to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there. 20 In front, the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar. 21 Solomon overlaid the temple[aj] on the inside with pure gold, and he drew across it with golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary, which he overlaid with gold.
22 All of the temple[ak] he overlaid with gold until all of the temple[al] was finished; all of the altar which belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. 23 He made two cherubim of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, ten cubits high. 24 Five cubits was the first wing of the cherub, and five cubits the second wing of the cherub, from the tip of his one wing up to the tip of his other wing. 25 The second cherub was ten cubits according to the same[am] measurement, and there was one shape for the two cherubim. 26 The height of the first cherub was ten cubits and so was the second cherub.
27 He placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner house, and they spread out the wings of the cherubim; the wing of the first cherub touched against the wall and the wing of the second cherub was touching against the second wall; their wings spread to the middle of the house and were touching wing to wing. 28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 On all of the walls around the house, he carved engravings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers both inside and out. 30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold both inside and out. 31 He made doors of olive wood for the doorway of the inner sanctuary, as well as for the doorpost of the fifth doorframe. 32 On the two doors of olive wood he made carvings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers, and he overlaid them with gold by beating[an] out the gold on the cherubim and the palm tree images. 33 Thus he made doorframes of olive wood on four sides for the doorway of the main hall 34 and two doors of cypress wood; one door with two folding panels and the second door with two folding panels. 35 He carved cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers and overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36 Then he built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and a row of cedar beams. 37 In the fourth year,[ao] the house of Yahweh was founded in the month of Ziv. 38 In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished according to all his specifications and according to all his plans. He had built it in seven years.
Stephen’s Defense
7 And the high priest said, “Is it so concerning these things?” 2 So he said, “Men—brothers and fathers—listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he[a] was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your relatives and come to the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and[b] settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, he caused him to move to this land in which you now live. 5 And he did not give him an inheritance in it—not even a footstep[c]—and he promised to give it[d] to him for his possession, and to his descendants after him, although he did not have[e][f] a child. 6 But God spoke like this: ‘His descendants will be foreigners in a foreign land, and they will enslave them and mistreat them[g] four hundred years, 7 and the nation that[h] they will serve as slaves, I will judge,’ God said, ‘and after these things they will come out[i] and will worship me in this place.’[j] 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac did so with[k] Jacob, and Jacob did so with[l] the twelve patriarchs. 9 And the patriarchs, because they[m] were jealous of Joseph, sold him[n] into Egypt. And God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And he appointed him ruler over Egypt and all[o] his household. 11 And a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and our fathers could not find food. 12 So when[p] Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And on the second visit[q] Joseph was made known to his brothers, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh. 14 So Joseph sent and[r] summoned his father Jacob and all his[s] relatives, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down to Egypt and died, he and our fathers. 16 And they were brought back to Shechem and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “But as the time of the promise that God had made to Abraham was drawing near, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 19 This man deceitfully took advantage of our[t] people and[u] mistreated our ancestors, causing them to abandon their infants[v] so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. He[w] was brought up for three months in his[x] father’s house, 21 and when[y] he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up and brought him up as her own son.[z] 22 And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was powerful in his words and deeds.
23 “But when he was forty years old,[aa] it entered in his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24 And when he[ab] saw one of them being unjustly harmed, he defended him[ac] and avenged[ad] the one who had been oppressed by[ae] striking down the Egyptian. 25 And he thought his[af] brothers would understand that God was granting deliverance to them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day, he made an appearance to them while they[ag] were fighting and was attempting to reconcile[ah] them in peace, saying, ‘Men and brothers, why are you doing wrong to one another?’ 27 But the one who was doing wrong to his[ai] neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 You do not want to do away with me the same way[aj] you did away with the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’[ak] 29 And at this statement, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
A Prayer for Protection and Prosperity
A song of ascents. Of Solomon.[a]
127 Unless Yahweh builds a house,
its builders labor at it in vain.
Unless Yahweh guards a city,
a guard watches in vain.
2 It is in vain for you who rise early and sit late,
eating the bread of anxious toil,
when thus he[b] provides[c] for his beloved in his sleep.[d]
3 Look, children[e] are the heritage[f] of Yahweh;
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
so are the children[g] of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.[h]
They shall not be put to shame
when they speak with enemies at the gate.
28 A person of perversity will spread dissent,
and he who whispers separates a close friend.
29 A person of violence will entice his neighbor
and cause him to walk on a way that is not good.
30 He who winks his eyes does so in order to plan perverse things;
he who purses his lips will bring evil to pass.
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