The Ark Brought into the Temple

1 ^jThen Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, ^kthe leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, ^lto bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of ^mthe city of David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at ⁿthe feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 And all the elders of Israel came, and ^othe priests took up the ark. 4 And they brought up the ark of the Lord, ^pthe tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. 5 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, ^qsacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 6 ^rThen the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord ^sto its place in ^tthe inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. 8 ^uAnd the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before ^tthe inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. 9 There was nothing in the ark except ^vthe two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where ^wthe Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, ^xa cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Solomon Blesses the Lord

12 ^yThen Solomon said, “The Lord¹ has said that he would dwell ^zin thick darkness. 13 ^aI have indeed built you an exalted house, ^ba place for you to dwell in forever.” 14 Then the king turned around and ^cblessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. 15 And he said, ^d“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled ^ewhat he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, 16 ^f‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, ^gthat my name might be there. ^hBut I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ 17 ⁱNow it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18 But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19 ^jNevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ 20 Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, ^kas the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21 And there I have provided a place for the ark, ^lin which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Help Me, O Lord My God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^aan apostle of Christ Jesus ^bby the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and ^care faithful¹ in Christ Jesus:

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

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 ^eBlessed be ^fthe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing ^gin the heavenly places, 4 ^heven as he ⁱchose us in him ^jbefore the foundation of the world, that we should be ^kholy and blameless before him. In love 5 ^lhe predestined us² for ^madoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, ⁿaccording to the purpose of his will, 6 ^oto the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in ^pthe Beloved. 7 ^qIn him we have ^rredemption ^sthrough his blood, ^tthe forgiveness of our trespasses, ^uaccording to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 ^vmaking known³ to us the mystery of his will, ⁿaccording to his purpose, which he ^wset forth in Christ⁴ 10 as a plan for ^xthe fullness of time, ^yto unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.

11 In him we have obtained ^zan inheritance, ^ahaving been predestined ^baccording to the purpose of him who works all things according to ^cthe counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be ^dto the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard ^ethe word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, ^fwere sealed with the ^gpromised Holy Spirit, 14 who is ^hthe guarantee⁵ of our ⁱinheritance until ^jwe acquire ^kpossession of it,^{6 l}to the praise of his glory.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

15 For this reason, ^mbecause I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love⁷ toward all the saints, 16 I ⁿdo not cease to give thanks for you, ^oremembering you in my prayers, 17 that ^pthe God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, ^qmay give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 ^rhaving the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is ^sthe hope to which he has called you, what are ^tthe riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, ^uaccording to the working of ^vhis great might 20 that he worked in Christ ^wwhen he raised him from the dead and ^xseated him at his right hand ^yin the heavenly places, 21 ^zfar above ^aall rule and authority and power and dominion, and above ^bevery name that is named, not only in ^cthis age but also in the one to come. 22 And ^dhe put all things under his feet and gave him as ^ehead over all things to the church, 23 ^fwhich is his body, ^gthe fullness of him ^hwho fills ⁱall in all.

By Grace Through Faith

1 ^jAnd you were ^kdead in the trespasses and sins 2 ^lin which you once walked, following the course⁸ of this world, following ^mthe prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in ⁿthe sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in ^othe passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and ^pwere by nature ^qchildren of wrath, like the rest of mankind.⁹ 4 But¹⁰ God, being ^rrich in mercy, ^sbecause of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even ^twhen we were dead in our trespasses, ^umade us alive together with Christ—^vby grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and ^wseated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable ^xriches of his grace in ^ykindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For ^zby grace you have been saved ^athrough faith. And this is ^bnot your own doing; ^cit is the gift of God, 9 ^dnot a result of works, ^eso that no one may boast. 10 For ^fwe are his workmanship, ^gcreated in Christ Jesus ^hfor good works, ⁱwhich God prepared beforehand, ^jthat we should walk in them.

One in Christ

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called ^kthe circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember ^lthat you were at that time separated from Christ, ^malienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to ⁿthe covenants of promise, ^ohaving no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were ^pfar off have been brought near ^qby the blood of Christ. 14 For ^rhe himself is our peace, ^swho has made us both one and has broken down ^tin his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ^uordinances, that he might create in himself one ^vnew man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might ^wreconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and ^xpreached peace to you who were ^yfar off and peace to those who were ^znear. 18 For ^athrough him we both have ^baccess in ^cone Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer ^dstrangers and aliens,¹¹ but you are ^efellow citizens with the saints and ^fmembers of the household of God, 20 ^gbuilt on the foundation of the ^hapostles and prophets, ⁱChrist Jesus himself being ^jthe cornerstone, 21 ^kin whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into ^la holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him ^myou also are being built together ⁿinto a dwelling place for God by¹² the Spirit.

The Mystery of the Gospel Revealed

1 For this reason I, Paul, ^oa prisoner of Christ Jesus ^pon behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of ^qthe stewardship of ^rGod’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 ^show the mystery was made known to me ^tby revelation, ^uas I have written briefly. 4 ^vWhen you read this, you can perceive my insight into ^wthe mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is¹³ that the Gentiles are ^xfellow heirs, ^ymembers of the same body, and ^zpartakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

7 ^aOf this gospel I was made ^ba minister according to the gift of ^cGod’s grace, which was given me ^dby the working of his power. 8 To me, ^ethough I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, ^fto preach to the Gentiles the ^gunsearchable ^hriches of Christ, 9 and ⁱto bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery ^jhidden for ages in¹⁴ God, ^kwho created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold ^lwisdom of God ^mmight now be made known to ⁿthe rulers and authorities ^oin the heavenly places. 11 This was ^paccording to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have ^qboldness and ^raccess with ^sconfidence through our ^tfaith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering ^ufor you, ^vwhich is your glory.

Prayer for Spiritual Strength

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom ^wevery family¹⁵ in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to ^xthe riches of his glory ^yhe may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit ^zin your inner being, 17 ^aso that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being ^brooted and ^cgrounded in love, 18 may have strength to ^dcomprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and ^eheight and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ ^fthat surpasses knowledge, that ^gyou may be filled with all ^hthe fullness of God.

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