The Lord Appears to Solomon

1 ^jAs soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord ^kand the king’s house and ^lall that Solomon desired to build, 2 ^mthe Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, ⁿby putting my name there forever. ^oMy eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 4 And as for you, if you will ^pwalk before me, ^qas David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5 ^rthen I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 ^sBut if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 ^tthen I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, ^uand the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, ^vand Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins.¹ Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ^w‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because ^xthey abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Solomon’s Other Acts

10 ^yAt the end of ^ztwenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house, 11 and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. 13 Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of ^aCabul to this day. 14 Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents² of gold.

15 And this is the account of ^bthe forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the Lord and his own house and ^cthe Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and ^dHazor and ^eMegiddo and Gezer 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed ^fthe Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to ^ghis daughter, Solomon’s wife; 17 so Solomon rebuilt Gezer) and ^hLower Beth-horon 18 and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,³ 19 and all the store cities that Solomon had, and ⁱthe cities for his chariots, and the cities for ^jhis horsemen, and whatever Solomon ^kdesired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel— 21 ^ltheir descendants who were left after them in the land, ^mwhom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction⁴—ⁿthese Solomon drafted to be ^oslaves, and so they are to this day. 22 But ^pof the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.

23 These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work: ^q550 ^rwho had charge of the people who carried on the work.

24 But ^gPharaoh’s daughter went up from the city of David to ^sher own house that Solomon had built for her. ^tThen he built ^uthe Millo.

25 Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, making offerings with it⁵ before the Lord. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon built a fleet of ships at ^vEzion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 And Hiram sent ^wwith the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to ^xOphir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.

Children and Parents

1 ^sChildren, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 ^t“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, ^ubut bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Bondservants and Masters

5 ^vBondservants,¹ obey your earthly masters² with fear and trembling, ^wwith a sincere heart, ^xas you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as ^ypeople-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 ^zknowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, ^awhether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, ^band stop your threatening, knowing that ^che who is both their Master³ and yours is in heaven, and that ^dthere is no partiality with him.

The Whole Armor of God

10 Finally, ^ebe strong in the Lord and in ^fthe strength of his might. 11 ^gPut on ^hthe whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against ⁱthe schemes of the devil. 12 For ^jwe do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against ^kthe rulers, against the authorities, against ^lthe cosmic powers over ^mthis present darkness, against ⁿthe spiritual forces of evil ^oin the heavenly places. 13 Therefore ^ptake up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in ^qthe evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, ^rhaving fastened on the belt of truth, and ^shaving put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, ^tas shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up ^uthe shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all ^vthe flaming darts of ^wthe evil one; 17 and take ^sthe helmet of salvation, and ^xthe sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying ^yat all times ^zin the Spirit, ^awith all prayer and supplication. To that end, ^bkeep alert with all perseverance, making ^csupplication for all the saints, 19 and ^dalso for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth ^eboldly to proclaim ^fthe mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I ^gam an ambassador ^hin chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Final Greetings

21 ⁱSo that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, ^jTychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may ^kencourage your hearts.

23 ^lPeace be to the brothers,⁴ and ^mlove with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who ⁿlove our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.

1 “And you, ^qson of man, ^rprophesy against ^sGog and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^tI am against you, O Gog, ^uchief prince of ^vMeshech¹ and ^vTubal. 2 ^wAnd I will turn you about and drive you forward,² and bring you up from ^xthe uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the ^ymountains of Israel. 3 Then ^zI will strike your bow from your left hand, and ^zwill make your arrows drop out of your right hand. 4 ^aYou shall fall on ^ythe mountains of Israel, you and all your ^bhordes and the peoples who are with you. ^cI will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 You shall fall in the open field, for ^dI have spoken, declares the Lord God. 6 ^eI will send fire on ^fMagog and on those ^gwho dwell securely in ^hthe coastlands, and ⁱthey shall know that I am the Lord.

7 “And ^jmy holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and ^kI will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And ^lthe nations shall know that I am ^mthe Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 8 ⁿBehold, it is coming and it will be brought about, declares the Lord God. That is the day ^oof which I have spoken.

9 “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and ^pmake fires of the weapons and burn them, shields and bucklers, bow and arrows, ^qclubs³ and spears; and they will make fires of them for seven years, 10 so that they will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any out of the forests, for ^pthey will make their fires of the weapons. ^rThey will seize the spoil of those who despoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord God.

11 “On that day I will give to ^sGog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of ^tHamon-gog.⁴ 12 For ^useven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order ^vto cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day that ^wI show my glory, declares the Lord God. 14 They will set apart men to travel through the land regularly and bury those travelers remaining on the face of the land, so as ^vto cleanse it. At⁵ the end of ^xseven months they will make their search. 15 And when these travel through the land and anyone sees a human bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of ^yHamon-gog. 16 (Hamonah⁶ is also the name of the city.) Thus shall they cleanse the land.

17 “As for you, ^zson of man, thus says the Lord God: ^aSpeak to ^bthe birds of every sort and to ^ball beasts of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to ^cthe sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood. 18 ^dYou shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, of bulls, all of them ^efat beasts of Bashan. 19 And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. 20 And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors,’ declares the Lord God.

21 “And ^fI will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see ^gmy judgment that I have executed, and ^gmy hand that I have laid on them. 22 ^hThe house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. 23 And ⁱthe nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that ^jI hid my face from them and ^kgave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them ^laccording to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.

The Lord Will Restore Israel

25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now ^mI will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on ⁿthe whole house of Israel, and ^oI will be jealous for my holy name. 26 They shall ^pforget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when ^qthey dwell securely in their land with ^rnone to make them afraid, 27 ^swhen I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, ^tand through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. 28 ^hThen they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. 29 ^uAnd I will not hide my face anymore from them, when ^vI pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”

Book Four

From Everlasting to Everlasting

A ^sPrayer of Moses, the ^tman of God.