Solomon Builds the Temple

1 ^zIn the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord. 2 The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits¹ long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. 3 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was ^atwenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. 4 And he made for the house windows ^bwith recessed frames.² 5 He also built a structure³ against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made ^cside chambers all around. 6 ^dThe lowest story⁴ was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

7 When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

8 The entrance for the lowest⁵ story was on the south side of the house, and ^eone went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. 9 So he built the house and finished it, and he ^fmade the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. 10 He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are building, ^gif you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will ^hestablish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13 And ⁱI will dwell among the children of Israel and will ^jnot forsake my people Israel.”

14 So Solomon built the house and finished it. 15 He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. 16 He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the ^kMost Holy Place. 17 The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was ^lforty cubits long. 18 The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. 19 The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to ^mset there the ⁿark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 The inner sanctuary⁶ was ^otwenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, ^pand twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid⁷ an altar of cedar. 21 And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole ^qaltar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

23 In the inner sanctuary he made two ^rcherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. 24 Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25 The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. 26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. 27 He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. And the wings of the cherubim were ^sspread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings ^ttouched each other in the middle of the house. 28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and ^upalm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. 30 The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made ^vdoors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.⁸ 32 He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

33 So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, 34 and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36 He built the inner court with ^wthree courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

37 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

Greeting

1 Paul, an ^aapostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in ^bEphesus, and are ^cfaithful¹ in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 ^dBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the ^eheavenly places, 4 ^feven as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be ^gholy and blameless before him. In love 5 he ^hpredestined us² for ⁱadoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the ^jpurpose of his will, 6 ^kto the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the ^lBeloved. 7 In him we have ^mredemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our ⁿtrespasses, according to the ^oriches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in ^pall wisdom and insight 9 making known³ to us the ^qmystery of his will, according to his purpose, which ^rhe set forth in Christ⁴ 10 as a plan for the ^sfullness of time, ^tto unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.

11 In him we have obtained an ^uinheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you ^vheard the ^wword of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were ^xsealed with ^ythe promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the ^zguarantee⁵ of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,⁶ to the praise of his glory.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

15 For this reason, because ^aI have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love⁷ toward all the saints, 16 ^bI do ^cnot cease to give thanks for you, ^dremembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you ^ethe Spirit of wisdom and of ^frevelation in the ^gknowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts ^henlightened, that you may know what is ⁱthe hope to which ^jhe has called you, what are the ^kriches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, ^laccording to the working of his great ^mmight 20 that he worked in Christ when ⁿhe raised him from the dead and ^oseated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 ^pfar ^qabove all rule and authority and power and dominion, and ^rabove every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he ^sput ^tall things under his feet and gave him as ^uhead over all things to the church, 23 which is his ^vbody, the ^wfullness of him who ^xfills all in all.

By Grace Through Faith

1 And you were ^ydead in the trespasses and sins 2 ^zin which ^ayou once walked, following the course⁸ of this world, following the ^bprince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the ^csons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the ^dpassions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.⁹ 4 But¹⁰ God, being rich in ^emercy, ^fbecause of the great love with which he loved us, 5 ^geven when we were dead in our trespasses, ^hmade us alive together with Christ—ⁱby grace you have been saved— 6 and ^jraised us up with him and seated us with him in the ^kheavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable ^lriches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For ^mby grace you have been saved ⁿthrough faith. And this is ^onot your own doing; it is the ^pgift of God, 9 ^qnot a result of works, ^rso that no one may ^sboast. 10 For we are his ^tworkmanship, ^ucreated in Christ Jesus for good works, ^vwhich God prepared beforehand, that we should ^wwalk in them.

One in Christ

11 Therefore remember that ^xat one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called ^ythe circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, ^zalienated from the commonwealth of Israel and ^astrangers to ^bthe covenants of ^cpromise, ^dhaving no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus ^eyou who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our ^fpeace, who has made us both ^gone and has broken down ^hin his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 ⁱby abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might ^jreconcile us both to God ^kin one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and ^lpreached ^mpeace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have ⁿaccess in ^oone Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,¹¹ but you are ^pfellow citizens with the saints and members of the ^qhousehold of God, 20 ^rbuilt on the ^sfoundation of the ^tapostles and prophets, ^uChrist Jesus himself being the ^vcornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, ^wbeing joined together, grows into a ^xholy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being ^ybuilt together into a ^zdwelling place for God by¹² the Spirit.

The Mystery of the Gospel Revealed

1 For this reason I, Paul, a ^aprisoner of Christ Jesus ^bon behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the ^cstewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the ^dmystery was made known to me by ^erevelation, ^fas I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 ^gwhich was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy ^hapostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 ⁱThis mystery is¹³ that the Gentiles are ^jfellow heirs, ^kmembers of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

7 Of this gospel I was made a ^lminister according to the gift of ^mGod’s grace, which was given me ⁿby the working of his power. 8 To me, ^othough I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and ^pto bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery ^qhidden for ages in¹⁴ God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God ^rmight now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the ^sheavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal ^tpurpose that ^uhe has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have ^vboldness and ^waccess with ^xconfidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to ^ylose heart over what I am suffering ^zfor you, which is your glory.

Prayer for Spiritual Strength

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family¹⁵ in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the ^ariches of his glory he may grant you to be ^bstrengthened with power through his Spirit in your ^cinner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being ^drooted and ^egrounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and ^fheight and depth, 19 and to know the ^glove of Christ that ^hsurpasses knowledge, that ⁱyou may be filled with all the ^jfullness of God.

20 ^kNow to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power ^lat work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.