1 Now Solomon son of David established himself securely over his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and highly exalted him.

2 Then Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader in all Israel— the heads of the families. 3And Solomon and the whole assembly went to the high place at Gibeon because it was the location of God’s Tent of Meeting, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.

4 Now David had brought the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. 5But the bronze altar made by Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, was in Gibeon before the tabernacle of the Lord. So Solomon and the assembly inquired of Him there.

6 Solomon offered sacrifices there before the Lord on the bronze altar at the Tent of Meeting, where he offered a thousand burnt offerings.

7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”

8 Solomon replied to God: “You have shown much loving devotion to my father David, and You have made me king in his place. 9Now, O LORD God, let Your promise to my father David be fulfilled. For You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10Now grant me wisdom and knowledge, so that I may lead this people. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

11 God said to Solomon, “Since this was in your heart instead of requesting riches or wealth or honor for yourself or death for your enemies — and since you have not even requested long life but have asked for wisdom and knowledge to govern My people over whom I have made you king — 12therefore wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. And I will also give you riches and wealth and honor unlike anything given to the kings before you or after you.”

13 So Solomon went to Jerusalem from the high place in Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, and he reigned over Israel.

14 Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 15The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

16 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. 17A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.

1 Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself. 2So he conscripted 70,000 porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.

3 Then Solomon sent word to Hiram king of Tyre:

11 Then Hiram king of Tyre wrote a letter in reply to Solomon:

17 Solomon numbered all the foreign men in the land of Israel following the census his father David had conducted, and there were found to be 153,600 in all. 18Solomon made 70,000 of them porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.

1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2Solomon began construction on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

3 The foundation that Solomon laid for the house of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, according to the old standard. 4The portico at the front, extending across the width of the temple, was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

5 He paneled the main room with cypress, which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains. 6He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and its gold was from Parvaim. 7He overlaid its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.

8 Then he made the Most Holy Place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple— twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of fine gold. 9The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

10 In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of sculptured work, and he overlaid them with gold. 11The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and touched the wall of the temple, and its other wing was five cubits long and touched the wing of the other cherub. 12The wing of the second cherub also measured five cubits and touched the wall of the temple, while its other wing measured five cubits and touched the wing of the first cherub. 13So the total wingspan of these cherubim was twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main room.

14 He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim woven into it.

15 In front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits high, each with a capital on top measuring five cubits.

16 He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork. 17Then he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south and one on the north. The pillar on the south he named Jachin, and the pillar on the north he named Boaz.

1 What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? 3Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. 6We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. 7For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. 10The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. 13Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not! 16Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

20 For when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness. 21What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death. 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.