Old/New Testament
Solomon Dedicates the Temple
7 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven[a] and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the Lord’s splendor filled the temple. 2 The priests were unable to enter the Lord’s temple because the Lord’s splendor filled the Lord’s temple. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire come down and the Lord’s splendor over the temple, they got on their knees with their faces downward toward the pavement. They worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,[b] “Certainly he is good; certainly his loyal love endures!”
4 The king and all the people were presenting sacrifices to the Lord. 5 King Solomon sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the people dedicated God’s temple. 6 The priests stood in their assigned spots, along with the Levites who had the musical instruments used for praising the Lord.[c] (These were the ones King David made for giving thanks to the Lord and which were used by David when he offered praise, saying, “Certainly his loyal love endures.”)[d] Opposite the Levites,[e] the priests were blowing the trumpets, while all Israel stood there. 7 Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the Lord’s temple. He offered burnt sacrifices, grain offerings,[f] and the fat from the peace offerings there, because the bronze altar that Solomon had made was too small to hold all these offerings.[g] 8 At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival for seven days. This great assembly included people from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Stream of Egypt in the south.[h] 9 On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had dedicated the altar for seven days and celebrated the festival for seven more days. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon[i] sent the people home. They left[j] happy and contented[k] because of the good the Lord had done for David, Solomon, and his people Israel.
The Lord Gives Solomon a Promise and a Warning
11 After Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and accomplished all his plans for the Lord’s temple and his royal palace,[l] 12 the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: “I have answered[m] your prayer and chosen this place to be my temple where sacrifices are to be made.[n] 13 When[o] I close up the sky[p] so that it doesn’t rain, or command locusts to devour the land’s vegetation,[q] or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who belong to me,[r] humble themselves, pray, seek to please me,[s] and repudiate their sinful practices,[t] then I will respond[u] from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.[v] 15 Now I will be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place.[w] 16 Now I have chosen and consecrated this temple by making it my permanent home;[x] I will be constantly present there.[y] 17 You must serve me as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations.[z] 18 Then I will establish your dynasty,[aa] just as I promised your father David, ‘You will not fail to have a successor ruling over Israel.’[ab]
19 “But if you people[ac] ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep,[ad] and decide to serve and worship other gods,[ae] 20 then I will remove you[af] from my land I have given you,[ag] I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence,[ah] and I will make you[ai] an object of mockery and ridicule[aj] among all the nations. 21 As for this temple, which was once majestic,[ak] everyone who passes by it will be shocked and say, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’ 22 Others will then answer,[al] ‘Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors,[am] who led them out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served.[an] That is why he brought all this disaster down on them.’”
Building Projects and Commercial Efforts
8 After twenty years, during which Solomon built the Lord’s temple and his royal palace, 2 Solomon rebuilt the cities that Huram[ao] had given him and settled Israelites there. 3 Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. 4 He built up Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities he had built in Hamath. 5 He made upper Beth Horon and lower Beth Horon fortified cities with walls and barred gates,[ap] 6 and built up Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to him,[aq] and all the cities where chariots and horses were kept.[ar] He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom.[as]
7 Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.[at] 8 Their descendants remained in the land (the Israelites were unable to wipe them out). Solomon conscripted them for his work crews, and they continue in that role to this very day.[au] 9 Solomon did not assign Israelites to these work crews;[av] the Israelites served as his soldiers, officers, charioteers, and commanders of his chariot forces.[aw] 10 These men worked for King Solomon as supervisors; there were a total of 250 of them who were in charge of the people.[ax]
11 Solomon moved Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David[ay] to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of King David of Israel, for the places where the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”
12 Then Solomon offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built in front of the temple’s porch.[az] 13 He observed the daily requirements for sacrifices that Moses had specified for Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and the three annual celebrations—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Shelters.[ba] 14 As his father David had decreed, Solomon[bb] appointed the divisions of the priests to do their assigned tasks, the Levitical orders to lead worship and help the priests with their daily tasks,[bc] and the divisions of the gatekeepers to serve at their assigned gates.[bd] This was what David the man of God had ordered.[be] 15 They did not neglect any detail of the king’s orders pertaining to the priests, Levites, and treasuries.[bf]
16 All the work ordered by Solomon was completed, from the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid until it was finished; the Lord’s temple was completed.
17 Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and to Elat on the coast in the land of Edom. 18 Huram sent him ships and some of his sailors, men who were well acquainted with the sea. They sailed with Solomon’s men to Ophir[bg] and took from there 450 talents[bh] of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.
Solomon Entertains a Queen
9 When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon,[bi] she came to challenge[bj] him[bk] with difficult questions.[bl] She arrived in Jerusalem with a great display of pomp,[bm] bringing with her camels carrying spices,[bn] a very large quantity of gold, and precious gems. She visited Solomon and discussed with him everything that was on her mind. 2 Solomon answered all her questions; there was no question too complex for the king.[bo] 3 When the queen of Sheba saw for herself Solomon’s wisdom, the palace[bp] he had built, 4 the food in his banquet hall,[bq] his servants and attendants[br] in their robes, his cupbearers in their robes, and his burnt sacrifices which he presented in the Lord’s temple,[bs] she was amazed.[bt] 5 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your wise sayings and insight[bu] was true! 6 I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own eyes. Indeed, I didn’t hear even half the story![bv] Your wisdom surpasses what was reported to me. 7 Your attendants, who stand before you at all times and hear your wise sayings, are truly happy![bw] 8 May the Lord your God be praised because he favored[bx] you by placing you on his throne as the one ruling on his behalf.[by] Because of your God’s love for Israel and his lasting commitment to them,[bz] he made you king over them so you could make just and right decisions.”[ca] 9 She gave the king 120 talents[cb] of gold and a very large quantity of spices and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched.[cc] 10 (Huram’s[cd] servants, aided by Solomon’s servants, brought gold from Ophir, as well as[ce] fine[cf] timber and precious gems. 11 With the timber the king made steps[cg] for the Lord’s temple and royal palace as well as stringed instruments[ch] for the musicians. No one had seen anything like them in the land of Judah before that.[ci]) 12 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she requested, more than what she had brought him.[cj] Then she left and returned[ck] to her homeland with her attendants.
Solomon’s Wealth
13 Solomon received 666 talents[cl] of gold per year,[cm] 14 besides what he collected from the merchants[cn] and traders. All the Arabian kings and the governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon. 15 King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures[co] of hammered gold were used for each shield. 16 He also made 300 small shields of hammered gold; 300 measures[cp] of gold were used for each of those shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest.[cq]
17 The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 18 There were six steps leading up to the throne, and a gold footstool was attached to the throne.[cr] The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side.[cs] 19 There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom.[ct]
20 All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon’s time.[cu] 21 The king had a fleet of large merchant ships[cv] manned by Huram’s men[cw] that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet[cx] came into port with cargoes of[cy] gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.[cz]
22 King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth.[da] 23 All the kings of the earth wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom.[db] 24 Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules.[dc]
25 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses[dd] and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and also with him in Jerusalem.[de] 26 He ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River[df] to the land of the Philistines as far as the border of Egypt. 27 The king made silver as plentiful[dg] in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was[dh] as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the foothills.[di] 28 Solomon acquired horses from Egypt and from all the lands.
Solomon’s Reign Ends
29 The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded[dj] in the Annals of Nathan the Prophet, the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the Vision of Iddo the Seer pertaining to Jeroboam son of Nebat. 30 Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem for forty years. 31 Then Solomon passed away[dk] and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam replaced him as king.
The Death of Lazarus
11 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.[a] 2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil[b] and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)[c] 3 So the sisters sent a message[d] to Jesus,[e] “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death,[f] but to God’s glory,[g] so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”[h] 5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.)[i]
6 So when he heard that Lazarus[j] was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days. 7 Then after this, he said to his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”[k] 8 The disciples replied,[l] “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders[m] were just now trying[n] to stone you to death! Are[o] you going there again?” 9 Jesus replied,[p] “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble,[q] because he sees the light of this world.[r] 10 But if anyone walks around at night,[s] he stumbles,[t] because the light is not in him.”
11 After he said this, he added,[u] “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.[v] But I am going there to awaken him.” 12 Then the disciples replied,[w] “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 (Now Jesus had been talking about[x] his death, but they[y] thought he had been talking about real sleep.)[z]
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and I am glad[aa] for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe.[ab] But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas (called Didymus[ac])[ad] said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go too, so that we may die with him.”[ae]
Speaking with Martha and Mary
17 When[af] Jesus arrived,[ag] he found that Lazarus[ah] had been in the tomb four days already.[ai] 18 (Now Bethany was less than two miles[aj] from Jerusalem, 19 so many of the Jewish people of the region[ak] had come to Martha and Mary to console them[al] over the loss of their brother.)[am] 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house.[an] 21 Martha[ao] said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant[ap] you.”[aq]
23 Jesus replied,[ar] “Your brother will come back to life again.”[as] 24 Martha said,[at] “I know that he will come back to life again[au] in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live[av] even if he dies, 26 and the one who lives and believes in me will never die.[aw] Do you believe this?” 27 She replied,[ax] “Yes, Lord, I believe[ay] that you are the Christ,[az] the Son of God who comes into the world.”[ba]
28 And when she had said this, Martha[bb] went and called her sister Mary, saying privately,[bc] “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”[bd] 29 So when Mary[be] heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
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