13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the
Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need
to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is
proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went
up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of
God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven
said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist
him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers
throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10And the God of all
grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have
suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong,
firm and steadfast. 11To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
It
took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his
palace. 2 He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a
hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high,[a] with four
rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. 3 It was
roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams,
fifteen to a row. 4 Its windows were placed high in sets of
three, facing each other. 5 All the doorways had rectangular
frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other.[b]
6 He
made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide.[c] In front of
it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.
7 He
built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he
covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling.[d]8 And
the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design.
Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had
married.
9 All
these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation
to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and smoothed on
their inner and outer faces. 10 The foundations were laid with
large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits[e] and some
eight.[f]11 Above
were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. 12 The
great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and
one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of
the Lord with its portico.
13 King
Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,[g]14 whose
mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was from Tyre
and a skilled craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom, with
understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to
King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.
15 He
cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in
circumference.[h]16 He
also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each
capital was five cubits[i] high. 17 A
network of interwoven chains adorned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven
for each capital. 18 He made pomegranates in two rows[j] encircling
each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars.[k] He did the
same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in
the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits[l] high. 20 On
the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network,
were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. 21 He
erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he
named Jakin[m] and the one
to the north Boaz.[n]22 The
capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was
completed.
23 He
made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to
rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits[o] to measure
around it. 24 Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a
cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.
25 The
Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing
south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their
hindquarters were toward the center. 26 It was a handbreadth[p] in
thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held
two thousand baths.[q]
27 He
also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide
and three high.[r]28 This
is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. 29 On
the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim—and on the
uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered
work. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles,
and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. 31 On
the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one
cubit[s] deep. This
opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half.[t] Around its
opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. 32 The
four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to
the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The
wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all
of cast metal.
34 Each
stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. 35 At
the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit[u] deep. The
supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. 36 He
engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on
the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. 37 This
is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and
were identical in size and shape.
38 He
then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths[v] and
measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. 39 He
placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the
north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the
temple. 40 He also made the pots[w] and shovels
and sprinkling bowls.
So
Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of
the Lord:
41 the
two pillars;
the
two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the
two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the
pillars;
42 the
four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates
for each network decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);
43 the
ten stands with their ten basins;
44 the
Sea and the twelve bulls under it;
45 the
pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.
All
these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of burnished bronze. 46 The
king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and
Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all these things unweighed, because
there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.
48 Solomon
also made all the furnishings that were in the Lord’s
temple:
the
golden altar;
the
golden table on which was the bread of the Presence;
49 the
lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of
the inner sanctuary);
the
gold floral work and lamps and tongs;
50 the
pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers;
and
the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and
also for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
51 When
all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in the
things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and the
furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.
