1 Kings 8 Cross References - MSB

¹ At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. ² And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim. ³ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, ⁴ and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up. ⁵ There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. ⁶ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles. ⁸ The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD ¹¹ so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. ¹² Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. ¹³ I have indeed built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.” ¹⁴ And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all ¹⁵ and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ ¹⁷ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’ ²⁰ Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. 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, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.” ²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, ²³ and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. ²⁴ You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day. ²⁵ Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk before Me as you have done.’ ²⁶ And now, O God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David. ²⁷ But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. ²⁸ Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today. ²⁹ May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive. ³¹ When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, ³² then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness. ³³ When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple, ³⁴ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers. ³⁵ When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, ³⁶ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance. ³⁷ When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, ³⁸ then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— ³⁹ be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men— ⁴⁰ so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers. ⁴¹ And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name— ⁴² for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, ⁴³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name. ⁴⁴ When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, ⁴⁵ then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause. ⁴⁶ When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near, ⁴⁷ and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’ ⁴⁸ and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, ⁴⁹ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. ⁵⁰ May You forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all the transgressions they have committed against You, and may You grant them compassion in the eyes of their captors to show them mercy. ⁵¹ For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron. ⁵² May Your eyes be open to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they call to You. ⁵³ For You, O Lord GOD, as Your inheritance, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.” ⁵⁴ Now when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. ⁵⁵ And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses. ⁵⁷ May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He never leave us nor forsake us. ⁵⁸ May He incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances He commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹ And may these words with which I have made my petition before the LORD be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He may uphold the cause of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God. There is no other! ⁶¹ So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.” ⁶² Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. ⁶³ And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD. ⁶⁴ On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to contain all these offerings. ⁶⁵ So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all. ⁶⁶ On the fifteenth day Solomon sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things that the LORD had done for His servant David and for His people Israel.

² And the leaders of Israel, the heads of their families, presented an offering. These men were the tribal leaders who had supervised the registration. ³ They brought as their offering before the LORD six covered carts and twelve oxen—an ox from each leader and a cart from every two leaders—and presented them before the tabernacle.

² he summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers. “I am old and well along in years,” he said,

¹ Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

⁷ Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David). ⁸ On that day he said, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must use the water shaft to reach the lame and blind who are despised by David.” That is why it is said, “The blind and the lame will never enter the palace.” ⁹ So David took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built it up all the way around, from the supporting terraces inward.

¹ David again assembled the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand in all. ² And he and all his troops set out for Baale of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name—the name of the LORD of Hosts, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

⁶ When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled.

¹² Now it was reported to King David, “The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and had the ark of God brought up from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with rejoicing. ¹³ When those carrying the ark of the LORD had advanced six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf. ¹⁴ And David, wearing a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the LORD, ¹⁵ while he and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sounding of the ram’s horn. ¹⁶ As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart. ¹⁷ So they brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

¹⁵ Then Solomon awoke, and indeed it had been a dream. So he returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.

⁷ So David took up residence in the fortress; that is why it was called the City of David.

¹ Then David conferred with all his leaders, the commanders of hundreds and of thousands. ² And he said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if this is of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers in all the land of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites in their cities and pasturelands, so that they may join us. ³ Then let us bring back the ark of our God, for we did not inquire of Him in the days of Saul.” ⁴ And because this proposal seemed right to all the people, the whole assembly agreed to it. ⁵ So David assembled all Israel, from the River Shihor in Egypt to Lebo-hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.

³ And David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it.

²⁵ So David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands went with rejoicing to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom.

²⁹ As the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.

¹ Now David summoned all the leaders of Israel to Jerusalem: the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the divisions in the king’s service, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, along with the court officials and mighty men—every mighty man of valor.

² At that time Solomon assembled in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. ³ So all the men of Israel came together to the king at the feast in the seventh month. ⁴ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark, ⁵ and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. The Levitical priests carried them up. ⁶ There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. ⁷ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles. ⁹ The poles of the ark extended far enough that their ends were visible from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.

¹ Then Hezekiah sent word throughout all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh inviting them to come to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem to keep the Passover of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹ By the seventh month, the Israelites had settled in their towns, and the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.

¹¹ Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; proclaim His deeds among the nations.

²¹ that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion and praise Him in Jerusalem,

¹⁶ So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.

¹³ I am bringing My righteousness near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion and adorn Israel with My splendor.

⁶ For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

³⁴ “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days.

¹² On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work, and you shall observe a feast to the LORD for seven days. ¹³ As a pleasing aroma to the LORD, you are to present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, ¹⁴ along with the grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil with each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths of an ephah with each of the two rams, ¹⁵ and a tenth of an ephah with each of the fourteen lambs. ¹⁶ Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. ¹⁷ On the second day you are to present twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, ¹⁸ along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. ¹⁹ Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. ²⁰ On the third day you are to present eleven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, ²¹ along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. ²² Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. ²³ On the fourth day you are to present ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, ²⁴ along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. ²⁵ Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. ²⁶ On the fifth day you are to present nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, ²⁷ along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. ²⁸ Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. ²⁹ On the sixth day you are to present eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, ³⁰ along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. ³¹ Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. ³² On the seventh day you are to present seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, ³³ along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. ³⁴ Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. ³⁵ On the eighth day you are to hold a solemn assembly; you must not do any regular work. ³⁶ As a pleasing aroma to the LORD, you are to present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of one bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished, ³⁷ along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed. ³⁸ Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. ³⁹ You are to present these offerings to the LORD at your appointed times, in addition to your vow and freewill offerings, whether burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, or peace offerings.” ⁴⁰ So Moses spoke all this to the Israelites just as the LORD had commanded him.

¹³ You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.

⁶⁵ So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all.

³ So all the men of Israel came together to the king at the feast in the seventh month.

⁸ So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast for seven days. ⁹ On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar had lasted seven days, and the feast seven days more. ¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the good things that the LORD had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.

⁴ They also celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles in accordance with what is written, and they offered burnt offerings daily based on the number prescribed for each day.

¹⁴ And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month. ¹⁵ So they proclaimed this message and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” ¹⁶ And the people went out, brought back branches, and made booths on their own rooftops, in their courtyards, in the court of the house of God, and in the squares by the Water Gate and by the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ The whole assembly who had returned from exile made booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated like this. And there was great rejoicing. ¹⁸ Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. The Israelites kept the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day they held an assembly, according to the ordinance.

¹⁶ Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁷ And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them. ¹⁸ And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁹ This will be the punishment of Egypt and of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

² However, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near.

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

¹⁵ When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy objects, or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the Tent of Meeting.

⁹ But he did not give any to the Kohathites, since they were to carry on their shoulders the holy objects for which they were responsible.

⁹ So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.

³ and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you are to set out from your positions and follow it.

⁶ And he said to the priests, “Take the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them.

¹⁴ So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of them. ¹⁵ Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,

⁹ Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood. And the stones are there to this day.

⁶ So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the LORD.”

² Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before Him forever.”

¹¹ David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹² And he said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves so that you may bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. ¹³ It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the LORD our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.” ¹⁴ So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD.

⁵ and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. The Levitical priests carried them up. ⁶ There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. ⁷ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.

² “On the first day of the first month you are to set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. ³ Put the ark of the Testimony in it and screen off the ark with the veil. ⁴ Then bring in the table and set out its arrangement; bring in the lampstand as well, and set up its lamps. ⁵ Place the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the Testimony, and hang the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle. ⁶ Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. ⁷ And place the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ⁸ Set up the surrounding courtyard and hang the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard. ⁹ Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it along with all its furnishings, and it shall be holy. ¹⁰ Anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it shall be most holy. ¹¹ Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them. ¹² Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water. ¹³ And you are to clothe Aaron with the holy garments, anoint him, and consecrate him, so that he may serve Me as a priest. ¹⁴ Bring his sons forward and clothe them with tunics. ¹⁵ Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may also serve Me as priests. Their anointing will qualify them for a permanent priesthood throughout their generations.” ¹⁶ Moses did everything just as the LORD had commanded him. ¹⁷ So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year. ¹⁸ When Moses set up the tabernacle, he laid its bases, positioned its frames, inserted its crossbars, and set up its posts. ¹⁹ Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, just as the LORD had commanded him. ²⁰ Moses took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attaching the poles to the ark; and he set the mercy seat atop the ark. ²¹ Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle, put up the veil for the screen, and shielded off the ark of the Testimony, just as the LORD had commanded him. ²² Moses placed the table in the Tent of Meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil. ²³ He arranged the bread on it before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded him. ²⁴ He also placed the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle ²⁵ and set up the lamps before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded him. ²⁶ Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the veil, ²⁷ and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the LORD had commanded him. ²⁸ Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle. ²⁹ He placed the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, just as the LORD had commanded him. ³⁰ He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing; ³¹ and from it Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and feet. ³² They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. ³³ And Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar, and he hung the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard. So Moses finished the work.

⁴ Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar there.

³ And 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.

¹³ When those carrying the ark of the LORD had advanced six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.

⁶² Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. ⁶³ And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD.

¹ So they brought the ark of God and placed it inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

²⁰ And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat. ²¹ Set the mercy seat atop the ark, and put the Testimony that I will give you into the ark. ²² And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.

³³ And hang the veil from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the veil. So the veil will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. ³⁴ Put the mercy seat on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place.

⁹ And the cherubim had wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the mercy seat.

²⁰ Moses took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attaching the poles to the ark; and he set the mercy seat atop the ark. ²¹ Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle, put up the veil for the screen, and shielded off the ark of the Testimony, just as the LORD had commanded him.

⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

² And he and all his troops set out for Baale of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name—the name of the LORD of Hosts, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

¹⁷ So they brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

¹⁹ Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.

²⁷ And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched.

⁴ and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.

⁷ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

¹ For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm of Asaph. Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

¹ The LORD reigns; let the nations tremble! He is enthroned above the cherubim; let the earth quake!

¹⁶ “O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

⁵ The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.

¹³ And make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, in order to carry it. ¹⁵ The poles are to remain in the rings of the ark; they must not be removed.

⁴ Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. ⁵ He inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark in order to carry it.

²⁰ Moses took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attaching the poles to the ark; and he set the mercy seat atop the ark.

⁹ The poles of the ark extended far enough that their ends were visible from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.

¹⁵ So the guards took the money and did as they were instructed. And this account has been circulated among the Jews to this very day.

²¹ And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night.

²⁴ At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion.

¹⁰ And as Aaron was speaking to the whole congregation of Israel, they looked toward the desert, and there in a cloud the glory of the LORD appeared.

³³ So Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with an omer of manna. Then place it before the LORD to be preserved for the generations to come.”

⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” ⁸ So Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

¹⁶ and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. ¹⁷ And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

²¹ Set the mercy seat atop the ark, and put the Testimony that I will give you into the ark.

²⁷ The LORD also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” ²⁸ So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

² And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

¹⁵ On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.

¹⁰ The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die.”

¹³ He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow—the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone.

² And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you are to place them in the ark.” ³ So I made an ark of acacia wood, chiseled out two stone tablets like the originals, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ And the LORD wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly. The LORD gave them to me, ⁵ and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made, as the LORD had commanded me; and there they have remained.

²⁶ “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.

²¹ And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.

¹³ The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” And the temple, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud ¹⁴ so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.

¹ When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. ² The priests were unable to enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled it. ³ When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.”

⁴ Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and stood over the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD.

⁴ containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

⁸ And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

¹ When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. ² The priests were unable to enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled it.

⁶ And Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.”

²³ Moses and Aaron then entered the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.

² and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory.

⁴ and the glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. ⁵ Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

⁴ Then the man brought me to the front of the temple by way of the north gate. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling His temple, and I fell facedown.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

¹⁸ And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

¹¹ shining with the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious jewel, like a jasper, as clear as crystal.

²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp.

²¹ And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

¹¹ You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.

²² The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

¹ Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud; ² and I have built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.” ³ And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all ⁴ and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, ⁵ ‘Since the day I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over My people Israel. ⁶ But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ ⁷ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. ⁹ Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’ ¹⁰ Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹¹ And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with the children of Israel.”

⁸ Smoke rose from His nostrils, and consuming fire came from His mouth; glowing coals blazed forth. ⁹ He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet. ¹⁰ He mounted a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind. ¹¹ He made darkness His hiding place, and storm clouds a canopy around Him.

² Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.

¹⁵ Truly You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

¹⁸ For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to blackness, darkness, and storm;

¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance—the place, O LORD, You have prepared for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established.

¹³ He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

¹² He will build a house for Me, and I will establish his throne forever.

¹⁰ He is the one who will build a house for My Name. He will be My son, and I will be his Father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ ¹¹ Now, my son, may the LORD be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as He said you would.

⁶ And He said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him as My son, and I will be his Father.

¹⁰ Consider now that the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it.”

²⁰ David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do it. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you before all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.

² and I have built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.”

⁶⁸ But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved. ⁶⁹ He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever.

¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home: ¹⁴ “This is My resting place forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired this home.

²¹ “Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.

¹⁴ For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”

⁵ The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” ⁶ Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises. ⁷ For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second. ⁸ But God found fault with the people and said: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ⁹ It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord. ¹⁰ For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. ¹¹ No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. ¹² For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins and lawless acts no more.” ¹³ By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

¹¹ But when Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation. ¹² He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

²⁴ For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.

⁶ So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes.

¹⁸ When David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Hosts.

⁵⁵ And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses.

² When David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.

³ And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all

⁶ The priests stood at their posts, as did the Levites with the musical instruments of the LORD, which King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD and with which David had offered praise, saying, “For His loving devotion endures forever.” Across from the Levites, the priests sounded trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

¹⁸ A large number of the people—many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun—had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah interceded for them, saying, “May the LORD, who is good, provide atonement for everyone ¹⁹ who sets his heart on seeking God—the LORD, the God of his fathers—even if he is not cleansed according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.” ²⁰ And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

⁷ The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law as they stood in their places.

² Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you.

² Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into the boat and sat down, while all the people stood on the shore.

⁵⁰ When Jesus had led them out as far as Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ While He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven.

⁴⁵ Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.

¹⁵ But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you. ¹⁶ If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”

⁵ “Go and tell My servant David that this is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build for Me a house to dwell in?

¹² And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

²⁵ And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house. Do as You have promised,

²⁸ And now, O Lord GOD, You are God! Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant. ²⁹ Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord GOD, have spoken, and with Your blessing the house of Your servant will be blessed forever.”

¹⁰ Then David blessed the LORD in the sight of all the assembly and said: “May You be blessed, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.

²⁰ Then David said to the whole assembly, “Blessed be the LORD your God.” So the whole assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers. They bowed down and paid homage to the LORD and to the king.

⁴ and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

²⁶ On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, where they blessed the LORD. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Beracah to this day.

⁵ Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting: Blessed be Your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.

¹³ Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

¹⁸ Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. ¹⁹ And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.

¹⁸ But it is we who will bless the LORD, both now and forevermore. Hallelujah!

¹ Praise the LORD, all you nations! Extol Him, all you peoples! ² For great is His loving devotion toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Hallelujah!

² I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness; You have exalted Your name and Your word above all else.

²⁰ But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

⁵⁴ He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful, ⁵⁵ as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people.

⁷⁰ as He spoke through His holy prophets, those of ages past,

⁷² to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁵ Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

¹¹ then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD.

¹ Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.”

⁴ But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying, ⁵ “Go and tell My servant David that this is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build for Me a house to dwell in? ⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt until this day, but I have moved about with a tent as My dwelling. ⁷ In all My journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever asked any of the leaders I appointed to shepherd My people Israel, ‘Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’ ⁸ Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel.

²⁹ May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.

³⁶ I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put My Name.

²⁷ For the LORD had said, “I will remove Judah from My sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”

⁵ For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt until this day, but I have moved from tent to tent and dwelling to dwelling. ⁶ In all My journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever asked any of the leaders I appointed to shepherd My people, ‘Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’

⁴ Yet the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me out of all my father’s house to be king over Israel forever. For He chose Judah as leader, and from the house of Judah He chose my father’s household, and from my father’s sons He was pleased to make me king over all Israel.

⁹ but if you return to Me and keep and practice My commandments, then even if your exiles have been banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name.’

⁷⁰ He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;

¹⁹ You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people. ²⁰ I have found My servant David; with My sacred oil I have anointed him.

¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home:

¹² But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

² he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” ³ And Nathan replied to the king, “Go and do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”

¹ After David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.” ² And Nathan replied to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.” ³ But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying, ⁴ “Go and tell My servant David that this is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build Me a house in which to dwell. ⁵ For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt until this day, but I have moved from tent to tent and dwelling to dwelling. ⁶ In all My journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever asked any of the leaders I appointed to shepherd My people, ‘Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’ ⁷ Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like the greatest in the land. ⁹ And I will provide a place for My people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own and be disturbed no more. No longer will the sons of wickedness oppress them as they did at the beginning ¹⁰ and have done since the day I appointed judges over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build a house for you. ¹¹ And when your days are fulfilled and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He will build a house for Me, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I will be his Father, and he will be My son. And I will never remove My loving devotion from him as I removed it from your predecessor. ¹⁴ But I will set him over My house and My kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.” ¹⁵ So Nathan relayed to David all the words of this entire vision.

⁷ “My son,” said David to Solomon, “it was in my heart to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God,

² Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and as a footstool for our God. I had made preparations to build it,

⁷ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. ⁹ Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’

¹² For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

³ “As you are well aware, due to the wars waged on all sides against my father David, he could not build a house for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD had put his enemies under his feet. ⁴ But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or crisis. ⁵ So behold, I plan to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God, according to what the LORD said to my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the house for My Name.’

⁴ “Go and tell My servant David that this is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build Me a house in which to dwell.

¹¹ And when your days are fulfilled and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He will build a house for Me, and I will establish his throne forever.

⁸ but this word of the LORD came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and waged great wars. You are not to build a house for My Name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before Me. ⁹ But a son will be born to you who will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side; for his name will be Solomon, and I will grant to Israel peace and quiet during his reign. ¹⁰ He is the one who will build a house for My Name. He will be My son, and I will be his Father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

¹⁵ and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

⁵ And of all my sons—for the LORD has given me many sons—He has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. ⁶ And He said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him as My son, and I will be his Father.

⁸ You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites, of the Amorites and Perizzites, of the Jebusites and Girgashites—to give it to his descendants. You have kept Your promise, because You are righteous.

⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

¹⁰ For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

²⁵ because I, the LORD, will speak whatever word I speak, and it will be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak a message and bring it to pass, declares the Lord GOD.’”

¹⁴ I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.’”

²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.

²¹ being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.

⁶ being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

²⁸ So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

⁹ When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.

¹¹ And at the end of forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

⁵ There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. ⁶ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

²⁹ Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s.

³³ Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.

⁵⁴ Now when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.

¹⁴ And she looked out and saw the king standing by the pillar, according to the custom. The officers and trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason! Treason!”

³ So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

¹² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ¹³ Now Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, ¹⁴ and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. ¹⁵ You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day. ¹⁶ Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ ¹⁷ And now, O LORD, God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant David. ¹⁸ But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. ¹⁹ Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You. ²⁰ May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. ²¹ Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive. ²² When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, ²³ then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness. ²⁴ When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading before You in this temple, ²⁵ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to them and their fathers. ²⁶ When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, ²⁷ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance. ²⁸ When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, ²⁹ then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— ³⁰ be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of men— ³¹ so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers. ³² And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, ³³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name. ³⁴ When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, ³⁵ then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause. ³⁶ When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to a land far or near, ³⁷ and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’ ³⁸ and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, ³⁹ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You. ⁴⁰ Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. ⁴¹ Now therefore, arise, O LORD God, and enter Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may Your godly ones rejoice in goodness. ⁴² O LORD God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember Your loving devotion to Your servant David.”

⁵ At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God,

¹³ As for you, if you direct your heart and lift up your hands to Him,

² Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.

⁴ So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift my hands.

¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

⁸ Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

²⁰ There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

¹⁵ God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.

¹¹ Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

⁹ Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

² There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.

²² How great You are, O Lord GOD! For there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears.

⁴ and so that the LORD may fulfill His promise to me: ‘If your descendants take heed to walk faithfully before Me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

⁶ Solomon replied, “You have shown much loving devotion to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. And You have maintained this loving devotion by giving him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

¹² “As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.

³ “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁵ Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion with those who love Him and keep His commandments,

³² So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

¹⁰ All my bones will exclaim, “Who is like You, O LORD, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?”

⁸ O Lord, there is none like You among the gods, nor any works like Yours.

³ You said, “I have made a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant: ⁴ ‘I will establish your offspring forever and build up your throne for all generations.’” Selah ⁵ The heavens praise Your wonders, O LORD—Your faithfulness as well—in the assembly of the holy ones. ⁶ For who in the skies can compare with the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD? ⁷ In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared, and awesome above all who surround Him. ⁸ O LORD God of Hosts, who is like You? O mighty LORD, Your faithfulness surrounds You.

⁵ Who is like the LORD our God, the One enthroned on high?

¹⁸ To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?

²⁵ “To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

⁶ There is none like You, O LORD. You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.

¹⁶ The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.

⁴ And I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed, “O, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of loving devotion to those who love Him and keep His commandments,

¹⁸ Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea. ²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.

¹² And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹⁶ Your house and kingdom will endure forever before Me, and your throne will be established forever.”

¹⁴ and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. ¹⁵ You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day.

²⁷ For You, O LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant when You said, ‘I will build a house for you.’ Therefore Your servant has found the courage to offer this prayer to You.

⁴ And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances, ⁵ then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ ⁶ But if indeed you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,

²³ And now, O LORD, let the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house be established forever. Do as You have promised, ²⁴ so that Your name will be established and magnified forever when it is said, ‘The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, is God over Israel.’ And may the house of Your servant David be established before You. ²⁵ For You, my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build a house for him. Therefore Your servant has found the courage to pray before You. ²⁶ And now, O LORD, You are God! And You have promised this goodness to Your servant. ²⁷ So now You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O LORD, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever.”

⁹ As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

¹⁶ Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ ¹⁷ And now, O LORD, God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant David.

¹⁷ For this is what the LORD says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸ nor will the priests who are Levites ever fail to have a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.” ¹⁹ And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ “This is what the LORD says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time, ²¹ then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant and with My ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne. ²² As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.” ²³ Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ “Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation. ²⁵ This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them.”

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people. ⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, ⁷⁰ as He spoke through His holy prophets, those of ages past, ⁷¹ salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, ⁷² to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,

¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was a work like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.

¹⁷ “Go in peace,” Eli replied, “and may the God of Israel grant the petition you have asked of Him.”

²⁵ And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house. Do as You have promised, ²⁶ so that Your name will be magnified forever when it is said, ‘The LORD of Hosts is God over Israel.’ And the house of Your servant David will be established before You.

²³ and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

⁹ Now, 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.

⁴⁹ Remember Your word to Your servant, upon which You have given me hope.

¹⁷ The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

³ I will give you the treasures of darkness and the riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name.

⁵ This was in order to establish the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is to this day.” “Amen, LORD,” I answered.

³⁶ Then the nations around you that remain will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was destroyed, and I have replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it. ³⁷ This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock.

¹⁴ Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it.

⁶ But who is able to build a house for Him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain Him? Who then am I, that I should build a house for Him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before Him?

¹⁸ But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

⁴ The LORD is exalted over all the nations, His glory above the heavens.

⁷ Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? ⁸ If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea, ¹⁰ even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”— ¹² even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You. ¹³ For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?

²⁴ “Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.

⁴⁸ However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says: ⁴⁹ ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or where will My place of repose be?

²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.

¹⁶ What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”

² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows.

¹ Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

¹⁹ Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You.

¹ For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved my distress; show me grace and hear my prayer.

¹ For the choirmaster, to be accompanied by flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning.

³ Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I call to You all day long.

⁶ Hear my prayer, O LORD, and attend to my plea for mercy. ⁷ In the day of my distress I call on You, because You answer me.

¹ A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You. ² May my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry.

² May my prayer be set before You like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering.

¹⁷ So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion. ¹⁹ O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”

¹ Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart:

⁷ Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help?

²⁴ You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

² You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.

⁶ You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt.

² you are to take some of the firstfruits of all your produce from the soil of the land that the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name,

¹⁶ ‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

⁴³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

⁵² May Your eyes be open to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they call to You.

¹⁶ Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

⁴ Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.”

⁷ Manasseh even took the carved Asherah pole he had made and set it up in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever.

⁵ ‘Since the day I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over My people Israel. ⁶ But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

²⁰ May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.

⁴⁰ Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ For I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.

⁹ For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in this matter. From now on, therefore, you will be at war.”

⁸ They have lived in the land and have built in it a sanctuary for Your Name, saying,

⁴ Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”

⁷ Manasseh even took the carved image he had made and set it up in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever.

⁶ let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned.

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.

¹⁰ Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

¹⁸ Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.

¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask Me for anything in My name, I will do it.

³⁴ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers.

³⁶ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.

³⁹ be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men—

⁴⁹ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause.

²¹ Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.

¹⁴ and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

⁸ They have lived in the land and have built in it a sanctuary for Your Name, saying, ⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us—whether sword or judgment, plague or famine—we will stand before this temple and before You, for Your Name is in this temple. We will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear us and save us.’

⁵ Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion with those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁶ let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned.

¹³ The LORD looks down from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. ¹⁴ From His dwelling place He gazes on all who inhabit the earth.

² You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah

⁵ Who is like the LORD our God, the One enthroned on high? ⁶ He humbles Himself to behold the heavens and the earth.

¹ A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.

³ If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand? ⁴ But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared.

² Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. After all, God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.

¹⁵ For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

¹⁹ O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”

⁹ So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.

⁸ If the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has taken his neighbor’s property. ⁹ In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any lost item that someone claims, ‘This is mine,’ both parties shall bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges find guilty must pay back double to his neighbor. ¹⁰ If a man gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any other animal to be cared for by his neighbor, but it dies or is injured or stolen while no one is watching, ¹¹ an oath before the LORD shall be made between the parties to determine whether or not the man has taken his neighbor’s property. The owner must accept the oath and require no restitution.

¹ “If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity.

¹⁶ The priest is to bring the wife forward and have her stand before the LORD. ¹⁷ Then he is to take some holy water in a clay jar and put some of the dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. ¹⁸ After the priest has the woman stand before the LORD, he is to let down her hair and place in her hands the grain offering of memorial, which is the grain offering for jealousy. The priest is to hold the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹ And he is to put the woman under oath and say to her, ‘If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be immune to this bitter water that brings a curse. ²⁰ But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority and have defiled yourself and lain carnally with a man other than your husband’— ²¹ and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse—‘then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell. ²² May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach and cause your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.’ Then the woman is to say, ‘Amen, Amen.’

²² When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, ²³ then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.

⁷ Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.

⁷ maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

²⁷ When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, her thigh will shrivel, and she will become accursed among her people.

¹ If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court to be judged, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned.

³¹ So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

¹⁵ Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—both are detestable to the LORD.

¹⁰ Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor. ¹¹ Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.

¹³ He engages in usury and takes excess interest. Will this son live? He will not! Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.

²⁰ The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him.

³⁰ Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall.

⁶ God “will repay each one according to his deeds.” ⁷ To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. ⁸ But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be anger and wrath. ⁹ There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek; ¹⁰ but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Greek.

¹³ For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous.

⁹ Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

¹⁷ And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.

²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

³⁹ Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers. ⁴⁰ But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me— ⁴¹ and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

²⁵ The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁴⁸ you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

⁸ O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?

¹¹ Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these things with their own possessions. ¹² This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you whatever is devoted to destruction.

¹ Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, ² and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

⁷ All this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods ⁸ and walked in the customs of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites, as well as in the practices introduced by the kings of Israel. ⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city, they built high places in all their cities. ¹⁰ They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ They burned incense on all the high places like the nations that the LORD had driven out before them. They did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger. ¹² They served idols, although the LORD had told them, “You shall not do this thing.” ¹³ Yet through all His prophets and seers, the LORD warned Israel and Judah, saying, “Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes, according to the entire Law that I commanded your fathers and delivered to you through My servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the LORD their God. ¹⁵ They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate. ¹⁶ They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal. ¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. ¹⁸ So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained,

¹¹ The king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. ¹² This happened because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD their God, but violated His covenant—all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded—and would neither listen nor obey.

²⁴ When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading before You in this temple, ²⁵ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to them and their fathers.

¹⁴ Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy. ¹⁷ So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,

⁵ At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God, ⁶ and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens. ⁷ From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and put to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day. ⁸ But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the LORD our God to preserve for us a remnant and to give us a stake in His holy place. Even in our bondage, our God has given us new life and light to our eyes. ⁹ Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but He has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁰ And now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken the commandments ¹¹ that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end. ¹² Now, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, leaving it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ ¹³ After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this), ¹⁴ shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not become so angry with us as to wipe us out, leaving no remnant or survivor? ¹⁵ O LORD, God of Israel, You are righteous! For we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before You.”

⁸ Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses when You said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, ⁹ but if you return to Me and keep and practice My commandments, then even if your exiles have been banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name.’

¹ On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads. ² Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³ While they stood in their places, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and they spent another quarter of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God. ⁴ And the Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani—stood on the raised platform and cried out in a loud voice to the LORD their God. ⁵ Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting: Blessed be Your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.

¹⁰ You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.

¹⁵ Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.

³ So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴ And I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed, “O, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of loving devotion to those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances. ⁶ We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, leaders, and fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷ To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You. ⁸ O LORD, we are covered with shame—our kings, our leaders, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him ¹⁰ and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us through His servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. ¹² You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. ¹³ Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it upon us. For the LORD our God is righteous in all He does; yet we have not obeyed His voice. ¹⁵ Now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for Yourself a name renowned to this day, we have sinned; we have acted wickedly. ¹⁶ O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, I pray that Your anger and wrath may turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all around us.

¹⁰ When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.

¹⁵ for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

⁸ And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’”

⁴³ Thus the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled in it.

³⁰ Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.

¹ In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows: ² “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. ³ Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴ And let every survivor, wherever he lives, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.’” ⁵ So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had stirred—prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. ⁶ And all their neighbors supported them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuables, in addition to all their freewill offerings.

⁴⁷ Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name, that we may glory in Your praise.

⁴ Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out in joyful dancing. ⁵ Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant and enjoy the fruit. ⁶ For there will be a day when watchmen will call out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Arise, let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God!’” ⁷ For this is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations! Make your praises heard, and say, ‘O LORD, save Your people, the remnant of Israel!’ ⁸ Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, including the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor. They will return as a great assembly! ⁹ They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”

²⁷ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and of beast.

³⁷ I will surely gather My people from all the lands to which I have banished them in My furious anger and great wrath, and I will return them to this place and make them dwell in safety.

¹⁰ This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted—inhabited by neither man nor beast—there will be heard again ¹¹ the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD. ¹² This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. ¹³ In the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.

¹² You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.

²⁵ Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress.

² And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

¹⁹ I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,

¹⁷ or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.

¹² The LORD will open the heavens, His abundant storehouse, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none.

²³ The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. ²⁴ The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

¹³ So Gad went and said to David, “Do you choose to endure three years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

²⁹ May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.

³³ When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple,

¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

²⁴ When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading before You in this temple,

²⁶ When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. ¹⁶ Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!

¹³ But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.

¹ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: ² “Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem. ³ The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads. ⁴ The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads. ⁵ Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass. ⁶ Wild donkeys stand on barren heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of pasture.” ⁷ Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, act for the sake of Your name. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against You.

¹³ “Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to cut off from it both man and beast,

³⁰ Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall. ³¹ Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent and live!

¹ Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

¹³ Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. ¹⁴ Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. ¹⁵ Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty. ¹⁶ Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God? ¹⁷ The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away. ¹⁸ How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering. ¹⁹ To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field. ²⁰ Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.

¹⁵ Blow the ram’s horn in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a sacred assembly. ¹⁶ Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. ¹⁷ Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.

²⁵ But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all the land.

⁹ that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

⁹ so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.”

⁶ These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

²³ As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. And I will continue to teach you the good and right way.

¹ After a long time, in the third year of the drought, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.”

²⁷ At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!” ²⁸ So they shouted louder and cut themselves with knives and lances, as was their custom, until the blood gushed over them. ²⁹ Midday passed, and they kept on raving until the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was no response; no one answered, no one paid attention. ³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people approached him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down. ³¹ And Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come and said, “Israel shall be your name.” ³² And with the stones, Elijah built an altar in the name of the LORD. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. ³³ Next, he arranged the wood, cut up the bull, placed it on the wood, ³⁴ and said, “Fill four waterpots and pour the water on the offering and on the wood.” “Do it a second time,” he said, and they did it a second time. “Do it a third time,” he said, and they did it a third time. ³⁵ So the water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. ³⁶ At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command. ³⁷ Answer me, O LORD! Answer me, so that this people will know that You, the LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back again.” ³⁸ Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water in the trench. ³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell facedown and said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!” ⁴⁰ Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.

⁴⁵ Meanwhile, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain began to fall. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.

²⁶ When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, ²⁷ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.

⁸ Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make straight Your way before me.

⁴ Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. ⁵ Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

⁸ Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way.

¹² Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the path chosen for him.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path, because of my oppressors.

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you.

⁹ You sent abundant rain, O God; You refreshed Your weary inheritance.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.

¹² Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,

³³ Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I will keep them to the end.

⁸ Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.

²¹ And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

⁸ And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

²² Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.

³ Pray that the LORD your God will tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.”

² And many nations will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

¹⁶ They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You seek favor from no one, because You pay no attention to external appearance.

¹⁷ Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth yielded its crops.

¹⁶ then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.

²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. ²⁶ When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied. ²⁷ But if in spite of all this you do not obey Me, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me, ²⁸ then I will walk in fury against you, and I, even I, will punish you sevenfold for your sins. ²⁹ You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters. ³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you. ³¹ I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices. ³² And I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who dwell in it will be appalled. ³³ But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste. ³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ As long as it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not receive during the Sabbaths when you lived in it. ³⁶ As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them. ³⁷ They will stumble over one another as before the sword, though no one is behind them. So you will not be able to stand against your enemies. ³⁸ You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will consume you. ³⁹ Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers. ⁴⁰ But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me— ⁴¹ and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes. ⁴⁴ Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.” ⁴⁶ These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws that the LORD established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.

²¹ The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land that you are entering to possess. ²² The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.

³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it. ³⁹ You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off. ⁴¹ You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. ⁴² Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land.

⁵² They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you. ⁵³ Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you. ⁵⁴ The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived, ⁵⁵ refusing to share with any of them the flesh of his children he will eat because he has nothing left in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates. ⁵⁶ The most gentle and refined woman among you, so gentle and refined she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge the husband she embraces and her son and daughter ⁵⁷ the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within your gates. ⁵⁸ If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God— ⁵⁹ He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses. ⁶⁰ He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The LORD will also bring upon you every sickness and plague not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.

²⁵ So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver. ²⁶ As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!” ²⁷ He answered, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?” ²⁸ Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’ ²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him, and the next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him.’ But she had hidden her son.”

¹² between three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies and overtaken by their swords, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague upon the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

²⁸ When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, ²⁹ then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— ³⁰ be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of men— ³¹ so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us—whether sword or judgment, plague or famine—we will stand before this temple and before You, for Your Name is in this temple. We will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear us and save us.’

³⁴ He spoke, and the locusts came—young locusts without number. ³⁵ They devoured every plant in their land and consumed the produce of their soil.

² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Judah.

¹ In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to the city. ² And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached. ³ Then all the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-sarsekim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.

²¹ For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?

⁴ What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten. ⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth. ⁶ For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness. ⁷ It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.

²⁵ I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you. ²⁶ You will have plenty to eat, until you are satisfied. You will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you. My people will never again be put to shame.

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

²⁹ then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—

⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the LORD in front of the new courtyard ⁶ and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can stand against You. ⁷ Our God, did You not drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend? ⁸ They have lived in the land and have built in it a sanctuary for Your Name, saying, ⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us—whether sword or judgment, plague or famine—we will stand before this temple and before You, for Your Name is in this temple. We will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear us and save us.’ ¹⁰ And now, here are the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt; but Israel turned away from them and did not destroy them. ¹¹ See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession that You gave us as an inheritance. ¹² Our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this vast army that comes against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” ¹³ Meanwhile all the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, were standing before the LORD.

¹¹ Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

³ When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah

⁶ O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon—even from Mount Mizar.

⁹ I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”

¹¹ Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

²¹ When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within, ²² I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.

¹⁵ When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

³ Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me. ⁴ Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul. ⁵ I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

¹⁰ The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares in its joy.

⁴ Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”

¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ¹⁶ “O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁷ Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. ¹⁹ They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands. ²⁰ And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.” ²¹ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,

¹⁷ Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

¹ This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up. ² And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?” ³ So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said. ⁴ This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵ Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?” ⁶ So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD.

²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”

³² then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

³⁰ be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of men—

⁴ The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men. ⁵ The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.

²⁰ The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands. ²¹ For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God. ²² For all His ordinances are before me; I have not disregarded His statutes. ²³ And I have been blameless before Him and kept myself from iniquity. ²⁴ So the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight. ²⁵ To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless; ²⁶ to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.

⁴ Repay them according to their deeds and for their works of evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them what they deserve.

¹⁰ I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.

¹⁹ the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

²⁴ But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew them all. ²⁵ He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.

¹⁷ Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

²⁴ And they prayed, “Lord, You know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two You have chosen

¹² For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

²³ Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

¹² “Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.

¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

²⁰ “Do not be afraid,” Moses replied. “For God has come to test you, so that the fear of Him may be before you, to keep you from sinning.”

² so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged.

¹³ Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name.

²⁴ Above all, fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you.

¹³ He will bless those who fear the LORD—small and great alike.

⁴ But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared.

³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.

⁵ Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.

³¹ Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

² He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly.

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

⁴ Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

⁵ Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you who serve Him, and those who fear Him, small and great alike!”

⁸ Then Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships they had encountered along the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. ⁹ And Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the LORD had done for Israel, whom He had rescued from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ Jethro declared, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for He did this when they treated Israel with arrogance.” ¹² Then Moses’ father-in-law Jethro brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.

¹⁶ But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

¹¹ Boaz replied, “I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you came to a people you did not know before.

¹ Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions. ² She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan—with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. So she came to Solomon and spoke to him all that was on her mind.

¹ Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. And he was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. ² At this time the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken a young girl from the land of Israel, and she was serving Naaman’s wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “If only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.” ⁴ And Naaman went and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said. ⁵ “Go now,” said the king of Aram, “and I will send you with a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman departed, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing. ⁶ And the letter that he took to the king of Israel stated: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman, so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” ⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life, that this man expects me to cure a leper? Surely you can see that he is seeking a quarrel with me!”

¹⁶ But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” And although Naaman urged him to accept it, he refused. ¹⁷ “If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much soil as a pair of mules can carry. For your servant will never again make a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any other god but the LORD.

³² And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,

³ Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will utterly exclude me from His people.” And let the eunuch not say, “I am but a dry tree.” ⁴ For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose what pleases Me and hold fast to My covenant— ⁵ I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. ⁶ And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be His servants—all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and who hold fast to My covenant— ⁷ I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

¹ Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. ² For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you. ³ Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. ⁴ Lift up your eyes and look around: They all gather and come to you; your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will be carried on the arm. ⁵ Then you will look and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and swell with joy, because the riches of the sea will be brought to you, and the wealth of the nations will come to you. ⁶ Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah, and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praises of the LORD. ⁷ All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will serve you and go up on My altar with acceptance; I will adorn My glorious house. ⁸ Who are these who fly like clouds, like doves to their shelters? ⁹ Surely the islands will wait for Me, with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring your children from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. ¹⁰ Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in anger, yet in favor I will show you mercy.

¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,

⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came and pleaded with Him,

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those following Him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found even in Israel such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

⁴² The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.

²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.” ²³ But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ The woman came and knelt before Him. “Lord, help me!” she said. ²⁶ But Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” ²⁸ “O woman,” Jesus answered, “your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

¹⁸ Was no one found except this foreigner to return and give glory to God?”

²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast.

²⁷ So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and on his return was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that chariot and stay by it.” ³⁰ So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. ³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth. ³³ In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can recount His descendants? For His life was removed from the earth.” ³⁴ “Tell me,” said the eunuch, “who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?” ^{37 38} And Philip gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

¹ At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment. ² He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly. ³ One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” ⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God.

¹³ Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation. ¹⁶ Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.

¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him.

¹⁵ For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth.

¹⁴ In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹⁴ The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.

⁵ And the LORD descended in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name, the LORD. ⁶ Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

²⁴ “O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant. For what god in heaven or on earth can perform such works and mighty acts as Yours?

⁶ Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

³⁴ Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?

² Know this day that it is not your children who have known and seen the discipline of the LORD your God: His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm; ³ the signs and works He did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land;

¹⁰ For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction. ¹¹ When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

⁹ When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

⁹ “Your servants have come from a very distant land,” they replied, “because of the fame of the LORD your God. For we have heard the reports about Him: all that He did in Egypt, ¹⁰ and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.

³⁶ Instead, worship the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. You are to bow down to Him and offer sacrifices to Him.

³¹ And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.

⁸ O Lord, there is none like You among the gods, nor any works like Yours. ⁹ All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.

¹³ Mighty is Your arm; strong is Your hand. Your right hand is exalted.

¹² with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. His loving devotion endures forever.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?

¹² who sent His glorious arm to lead them by the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to gain for Himself everlasting renown,

¹⁹ I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations. ²⁰ And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”

¹⁹ Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me.

¹¹ For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand that had overpowered him.

¹⁷ “Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!

⁹ But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were living, in whose sight I had revealed Myself to Israel by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷ The king said to Daniel, “Your God is truly the God of gods and Lord of kings, the Revealer of Mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.”

²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

¹⁶ Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

²⁷ So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁴ He did this so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God.”

⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

¹⁹ And now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”

³³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.

² that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.

¹⁰ May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts. ¹¹ May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him.

⁹ All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.

¹⁵ So the nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory.

⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

¹ And the LORD said to Moses, ² “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.” ³ So Moses told the people, “Arm some of your men for war, that they may go against the Midianites and execute the LORD’s vengeance on them. ⁴ Send into battle a thousand men from each tribe of Israel.” ⁵ So a thousand men were recruited from each tribe of Israel—twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent the thousand from each tribe into battle, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who took with him the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling. ⁷ Then they waged war against Midian, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every male. ⁸ Among the slain were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. ⁹ The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their children, and they plundered all their herds, flocks, and goods. ¹⁰ Then they burned all the cities where the Midianites had lived, as well as all their encampments, ¹¹ and carried away all the plunder and spoils, both people and animals. ¹² They brought the captives, spoils, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.

¹ When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you. ² When you are about to go into battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army, ³ saying to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be alarmed or terrified because of them. ⁴ For the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”

³ The LORD your God Himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the LORD has said. ⁴ And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, when He destroyed them along with their land. ⁵ The LORD will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

² “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel. ³ I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised to Moses. ⁴ Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—and west as far as the Great Sea. ⁵ No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

² And the LORD said to Joshua, “Behold, I have delivered Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty men of valor. ³ March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days. ⁴ Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark. Then on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns. ⁵ And when there is a long blast of the ram’s horn and you hear its sound, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the wall of the city will collapse and all your people will charge straight into the city.”

¹ Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. ² And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”

¹ After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?” ² “Judah shall go up,” answered the LORD. “Indeed, I have delivered the land into their hands.”

⁶ She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun.

¹⁴ The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

³ Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

¹⁸ and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’

⁸ and David inquired of the LORD: “Should I pursue these raiders? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” the LORD replied, “for you will surely overtake them and rescue the captives.”

¹⁹ So David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” “Go,” replied the LORD, “for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

²³ So David inquired of the LORD, who answered, “Do not march straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.

³⁴ When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,

⁹ Then Zerah the Cushite came against them with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots, and they advanced as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa marched out against him and lined up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. ¹¹ Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.” ¹² So the LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled.

³¹ When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “This is the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him. God drew them away from him.

²⁰ In response, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out to heaven in prayer,

⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim.

²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

⁴ For You have upheld my just cause; You sit on Your throne judging righteously.

²⁸ They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.

³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ As long as it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not receive during the Sabbaths when you lived in it. ³⁶ As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them. ³⁷ They will stumble over one another as before the sword, though no one is behind them. So you will not be able to stand against your enemies. ³⁸ You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will consume you. ³⁹ Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.

²⁶ I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷ Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

³⁶ The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone.

⁶⁴ Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. ⁶⁶ So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see. ⁶⁸ The LORD will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

²⁸ The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’

⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

¹⁸ So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained,

²³ Finally, the LORD removed Israel from His presence, as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their homeland into Assyria, where they are to this day.

²¹ There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land.

³⁶ When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to a land far or near,

⁴ Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

¹⁴ What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? ¹⁵ If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes, ¹⁶ how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

¹² Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

³ If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?

² Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.

⁹ Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?

²⁰ Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

⁶ We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.

⁶ Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

⁷ To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You. ⁸ O LORD, we are covered with shame—our kings, our leaders, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him ¹⁰ and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us through His servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. ¹² You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. ¹³ Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it upon us. For the LORD our God is righteous in all He does; yet we have not obeyed His voice.

²⁴ They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

²² But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.

² We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.

⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.

⁴⁰ But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me— ⁴¹ and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes. ⁴⁴ Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.”

²⁹ But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰ When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. ³¹ For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.

¹ “When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you, ² and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey His voice with all your heart and all your soul according to everything I am giving you today,

³⁷ and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’

¹² And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. ¹³ And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

⁶ and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens. ⁷ From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and put to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day.

⁶ let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned. ⁷ We have behaved corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that You gave Your servant Moses. ⁸ Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses when You said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, ⁹ but if you return to Me and keep and practice My commandments, then even if your exiles have been banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name.’ ¹⁰ They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand. ¹¹ O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.)

²⁶ But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies. ²⁷ So You delivered them into the hands of enemies who oppressed them, and in their time of distress they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who saved them from the hands of their enemies. ²⁸ But as soon as they had rest, they again did evil in Your sight. So You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, who had dominion over them. When they cried out to You again, You heard from heaven, and You delivered them many times in Your compassion. ²⁹ You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They stubbornly shrugged their shoulders; they stiffened their necks and would not obey. ³⁰ You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they would not listen, so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.

²⁷ Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved. ²⁸ He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’

⁶ We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.

⁶ Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. ⁷ No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. ⁸ But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand. ⁹ Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people! ¹⁰ Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹ Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins. ¹² After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?

¹⁸ I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God. ¹⁹ After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ ²⁰ Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.

⁶¹ Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of My covenant with you.

⁶³ so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Lord GOD.”

²⁸ Because he considered and turned from all the transgressions he had committed, he will surely live; he will not die.

⁵ we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances. ⁶ We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, leaders, and fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷ To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You. ⁸ O LORD, we are covered with shame—our kings, our leaders, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him ¹⁰ and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us through His servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You.

⁷ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.

¹⁰ Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

¹⁷ Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death! ¹⁸ I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

²⁹ But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁵ And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts.

¹⁵ “We have sinned,” the Israelites said to the LORD. “Deal with us as You see fit; but please deliver us today!” ¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel.

³ Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and Ashtoreths among you, prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only. And He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites put away the Baals and Ashtoreths and served only the LORD.

² Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart.

¹⁰ With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.

¹⁴⁵ I call with all my heart; answer me, O LORD! I will obey Your statutes.

²⁶ My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.

⁶ Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

¹⁰ Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

⁷ I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

¹² Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you, declares the LORD. I will restore you to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

¹³ Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth.

¹ Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity. ² Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.

⁴ At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’

³⁶ As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”

¹⁰ For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.

⁴⁵ then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.

¹⁵ but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’ ¹⁶ Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’

⁹ For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

⁶ this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted Ezra all his requests, for the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.

²⁷ Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put into the heart of the king to so honor the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, ²⁸ and who has shown me favor before the king, his counselors, and all his powerful officials. And because the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, I took courage and gathered the leaders of Israel to return with me.

¹¹ O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.)

⁴ “What is your request?” replied the king. So I prayed to the God of heaven ⁵ and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city where my fathers are buried, so that I may rebuild it.” ⁶ Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time. ⁷ I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may letters be given to me for the governors west of the Euphrates, so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah. ⁸ And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house I will occupy.” And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.

⁴⁶ He made them objects of compassion to all who held them captive.

⁷ When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even the man’s enemies live at peace with him.

⁹ Now God had granted Daniel favor and compassion from the chief official, ¹⁰ but he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age? You would endanger my head before the king!”

¹⁰ and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.

¹¹ But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people.

¹³ But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them. ¹⁴ And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared: ¹⁸ ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

²⁰ Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.

²⁶ And I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people and the wickedness of their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise, those in the land from which You brought us out will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’ ²⁹ But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.”

⁵³ For You, O Lord GOD, as Your inheritance, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.”

³⁹ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You.

¹⁰ They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand.

¹⁶ Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. ¹⁷ Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage. ¹⁸ For a short while Your people possessed Your holy place, but our enemies have trampled Your sanctuary.

⁹ Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!

⁴ which I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey Me, and do everything I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.’

¹⁹ The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and of the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.

⁵ For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You.

¹⁸ The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.

⁵ Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. ⁶ And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”

¹⁶ For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

⁹ For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, not reckoning themselves among the nations.

⁶ For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth. ⁷ The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. ⁸ But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

² for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

⁹ But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.

¹ This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death. ² He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand. ³ Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words—

²⁶ “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, and the clouds in His majesty. ²⁷ The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’ ²⁸ So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew. ²⁹ Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is the shield that protects you, the sword in which you boast. Your enemies will cower before you, and you shall trample their high places.”

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” ¹⁷ “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” ¹⁸ And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

¹⁸ I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

¹⁴ He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

¹² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ¹³ Now Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

¹ When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

¹ One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

⁴¹ And He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed,

⁴⁵ When Jesus rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.

³⁶ When Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.

⁵ But when our time there had ended, we set out on our journey. All the disciples, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city and knelt down on the beach to pray with us.

²³ “Tell Aaron and his sons: This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ²⁴ ‘May the LORD bless you and keep you; ²⁵ may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; ²⁶ may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.’

¹⁴ And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all

²⁰ until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to the possession I have given you.”

¹⁰ When you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you dwell securely,

¹² And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

⁴⁴ And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵ Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.

¹⁴ Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed. ¹⁵ But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.

¹⁹ And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and He let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.

¹⁰ Know, then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail, for the LORD has done what He promised through His servant Elijah.”

⁶ Because the land was at peace, Asa built fortified cities in Judah. In those days no one made war with him, because the LORD had given him rest.

⁷² to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

³ Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world. ⁴ For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this manner: “And on the seventh day God rested from all His works.” ⁵ And again, as He says in the passage above: “They shall never enter My rest.” ⁶ Since, then, it remains for some to enter His rest, and since those who formerly heard the good news did not enter because of their disobedience, ⁷ God again designated a certain day as “Today,” when a long time later He spoke through David as was just stated: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” ⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

⁶ Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

⁸ The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

⁵ No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

⁹ Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

²² Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.

⁷ “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater One with us than with him. ⁸ With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

⁷ The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

¹¹ The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

¹⁰ Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

¹⁰ Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.

²³ “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).

²⁰ and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”

³¹ What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

¹ Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

⁴⁵ These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,

¹ These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess,

³ Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.

³⁶ Turn my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetous gain.

⁴ Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.

³³ “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.

¹³ For God it is who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

²¹ equip you with every good work to do His will. And may He accomplish in you what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

²⁵ May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze, and may your strength match your days.”

¹ A prayer of one who is afflicted, when he grows faint and pours out his lament before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry for help come before You. ² Do not hide Your face from me in my day of distress. Incline Your ear to me; answer me quickly when I call.

³ Give us each day our daily bread.

⁹ I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those You have given Me; for they are Yours.

²⁰ I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one— ²³ I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me. ²⁴ Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

² He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

³⁵ You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.

³⁹ Know therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell facedown and said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”

⁶ Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.

⁸ Do not tremble or fear. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are My witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock; I know not one.”

²⁴ Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,

⁵ I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will equip you for battle, though you have not known Me, ⁶ so that all may know, from where the sun rises to where it sets, that there is none but Me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.

²² Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

¹⁰ But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation. ¹¹ Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.” ¹² The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

²⁷ Then you will know that I am present in Israel and that I am the LORD your God, and there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame.

¹³ You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

⁴ For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.

³ And Abijam walked in all the sins that his father before him had committed, and his heart was not as fully devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of David his forefather had been.

¹⁴ The high places were not removed, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted to the LORD all his days.

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.

⁸ Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.”

³⁷ Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace.

¹ Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well. ¹⁶ Nevertheless, we must live up to the standard we have already attained, being of the same mind.

¹⁷ So they brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. ¹⁸ When David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Hosts. ¹⁹ Then he distributed to every man and woman among the multitude of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. And all the people departed, each for his own home.

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. ⁵ And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶ The priests stood at their posts, as did the Levites with the musical instruments of the LORD, which King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD and with which David had offered praise, saying, “For His loving devotion endures forever.” Across from the Levites, the priests sounded trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing. ⁷ Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar he had made could not contain all these offerings.

¹⁶ Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. ¹⁷ For the dedication of the house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and a sin offering for all Israel of twelve male goats, one for each tribe of Israel.

¹ “If one’s offering is a peace offering and he offers an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he must present it without blemish before the LORD. ² He is to lay his hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood on all sides of the altar. ³ From the peace offering he is to bring an offering made by fire to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ⁴ both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ⁵ Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar atop the burnt offering that is on the burning wood, as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ⁶ If, however, one’s peace offering to the LORD is from the flock, he must present a male or female without blemish. ⁷ If he is presenting a lamb for his offering, he must present it before the LORD. ⁸ He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle its blood on all sides of the altar. ⁹ And from the peace offering he shall bring an offering made by fire to the LORD consisting of its fat: the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ¹⁰ both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ¹¹ Then the priest is to burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire to the LORD. ¹² If one’s offering is a goat, he is to present it before the LORD. ¹³ He must lay his hand on its head and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle its blood on all sides of the altar. ¹⁴ And from his offering he shall present an offering made by fire to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ¹⁵ both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ¹⁶ Then the priest is to burn the food on the altar as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD’s. ¹⁷ This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”

¹⁰ When the altar was anointed, the leaders approached with their offerings for its dedication and presented them before the altar. ¹¹ And the LORD said to Moses, “Each day one leader is to present his offering for the dedication of the altar.”

⁸⁴ So these were the offerings from the leaders of Israel for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed: twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls, and twelve gold dishes. ⁸⁵ Each silver platter weighed a hundred and thirty shekels, and each silver bowl seventy shekels. The total weight of the silver articles was two thousand four hundred shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. ⁸⁶ The twelve gold dishes filled with incense weighed ten shekels each, according to the sanctuary shekel. The total weight of the gold dishes was a hundred and twenty shekels. ⁸⁷ All the livestock for the burnt offering totaled twelve bulls, twelve rams, and twelve male lambs a year old—together with their grain offerings—and twelve male goats for the sin offering. ⁸⁸ All the livestock sacrificed for the peace offering totaled twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty male goats, and sixty male lambs a year old. This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed.

²¹ The next day they offered sacrifices and presented burnt offerings to the LORD: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, along with their drink offerings, and other sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.

⁴ Behold, I am about to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God to dedicate to Him for burning fragrant incense before Him, for displaying the showbread continuously, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening as well as on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts of the LORD our God. This is ordained for Israel forever.

⁵ And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

¹¹ At that time they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from all the plunder they had brought back.

³² The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD. ³³ And the consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. ³⁴ However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had been consecrated. For the Levites had been more diligent in consecrating themselves than the priests had been. ³⁵ Furthermore, the burnt offerings were abundant, along with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the LORD was established.

²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah contributed a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the assembly, and the officials contributed a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep for the assembly, and a great number of priests consecrated themselves.

⁷ From his own flocks and herds Josiah contributed 30,000 lambs and goats plus 3,000 bulls for the Passover offerings for all the people who were present. ⁸ His officials also contributed willingly to the people and priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the administrators of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 Passover offerings and 300 bulls. ⁹ Additionally, Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, as well as Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, officers of the Levites, donated to the Levites 5,000 Passover offerings and 500 bulls.

²⁷ At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from all their homes and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

¹⁷ And it shall be the prince’s part to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—for all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.

⁷ Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

²² At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,

¹ He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

⁷ Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar he had made could not contain all these offerings.

¹⁸ On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

³¹ And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

³⁴ “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days. ³⁵ On the first day there shall be a sacred assembly. You must not do any regular work. ³⁶ For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you must not do any regular work. ³⁷ These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for presenting offerings by fire to the LORD—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its designated day. ³⁸ These offerings are in addition to the offerings for the LORD’s Sabbaths, and in addition to your gifts, to all your vow offerings, and to all the freewill offerings you give to the LORD. ³⁹ On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the produce of the land, you are to celebrate a feast to the LORD for seven days. There shall be complete rest on the first day and also on the eighth day. ⁴⁰ On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. ⁴¹ You are to celebrate this as a feast to the LORD for seven days each year. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come; you are to celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴² You are to dwell in booths for seven days. All the native-born of Israel must dwell in booths, ⁴³ so that your descendants may know that I made the Israelites dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’”

⁵ where it will turn from Azmon, join the Brook of Egypt, and end at the Sea.

⁸ and from Mount Hor to Lebo-hamath, then extend to Zedad,

³ from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as that of the Avvites;

⁵ the land of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath.

³ the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

²¹ And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²⁴ For Solomon had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates—over all the kingdoms from Tiphsah to Gaza—and he had peace on all sides.

² And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.

²⁵ This Jeroboam restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word that the LORD, the God of Israel, had spoken through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.

⁸ So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast for seven days. ⁹ On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar had lasted seven days, and the feast seven days more.

¹³ In the second month, a very great assembly gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

²³ The whole assembly agreed to observe seven more days, so they observed seven days with joy.

⁹ I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know. ¹⁰ I have not covered up Your righteousness in my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and salvation; I have not concealed Your loving devotion and faithfulness from the great assembly.

¹⁴ For behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of Hosts, “and they will oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”

⁷ There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

¹⁸ Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do,

¹¹ and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.

¹ At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David.

⁴⁷ and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’

¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the good things that the LORD had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.

³⁶ Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had prepared for the people, because everything had been accomplished so quickly.

²⁶ So there was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for nothing like this had happened there since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel.

¹⁰ Then Nehemiah told them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send out portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout to the Rock of our salvation! ² Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.

¹ A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. ² Serve the LORD with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs.

⁴ Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people; visit me with Your salvation, ⁵ that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, and give glory with Your inheritance.

⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper.

⁹ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.

⁹ Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed. ¹⁰ I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹³ As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.” ¹⁴ When you see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the hand of the LORD will be revealed to His servants, but His wrath will be shown to His enemies.

¹² They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish. ¹³ Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow. ¹⁴ I will fill the souls of the priests abundantly, and will fill My people with My goodness,” declares the LORD.

¹⁴ Sing for joy, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!

⁹ Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁷ How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.

⁴⁶ With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!