He who is slow to anger is greater than the mighty. He who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city. Proverbs 16:32

1 Kings 7

Solomon Builds his Palace

¹ Solomon had been building his own house for thirteen years, and then he finished his entire house. ² He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was 150 feet, its width 75 feet, and its height 45 feet, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. ³ It was covered with cedar above, over the 45 beams that rested on the pillars, fifteen per row. ⁴ There were beams in three rows, and each window was facing another window in three rows. ⁵ All the doors and posts were made rectangular with frames, and each window was facing another window in three rows.

⁶ He made the porch of pillars. Its length was 75 feet and its width 45 feet, with a hall before them, and pillars and a threshold before them.

⁷ He made the hall of the throne where he was to judge, the Hall of Judgment, and it was covered with cedar from floor to rafters.

⁸ His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the hall, was of similar work. He also made a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this hall.

⁹ All these were built with costly, cut stones, cut according to measurements, sawed with saws, inside and outside, from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.

¹⁰ The foundation was of great, costly stones, twelve and fifteen feet in length. ¹¹ Above were costly stones, cut according to measurements, and cedar wood. ¹² The great court around had three sections of cut stone, and a section of cedar beams, like the inner court of the Lord’s house and the hall of the house.

The Work of Hiram

¹³ King Solomon sent for Hiram and brought him out of Tyre. ¹⁴ He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze, and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to do every work of bronze. He came to king Solomon and performed all his work.

¹⁵ Hiram fashioned the two pillars of bronze, each 27 feet high and a line of eighteen feet encircled either of them. ¹⁶ He made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was 7½ feet, and the height of the other capital was 7½ feet. ¹⁷ There were nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. ¹⁸ So he made the pillars, and there were two rows around on the one network to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, and he did the same for the other capital.

¹⁹ The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the hall were of lily work, six feet. ²⁰ There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were 200 pomegranates in rows around the other capital. ²¹ He set up the pillars at the temple hall. He set up the right pillar and called it Jachin, and he set up the left pillar, and called it Boaz. ²² On the top of the pillars was lily work, so the work of the pillars was finished.

The Sea of Cast Metal

²³ Hiram made the molten sea of fifteen feet from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was 7½ feet, and a line of 45 feet encircled it. ²⁴ Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it, ten every 18 inches, encircling the sea. The buds were cast in two rows when it was cast. ²⁵ It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. ²⁶ It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held 12,000 gallons.

The Ten Bases

²⁷ He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was six feet, six feet in width, and 4½ feet in height. ²⁸ The work of the bases was like this: they had panels, and there were panels between the ledges; ²⁹ and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

³⁰ Every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and the four feet of it had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin with wreaths at the side of each. ³¹ Its mouth within the capital and above was 18 inches. Its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, eighteen inches, and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. ³² The four wheels were underneath the panels and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was 27 inches. ³³ The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all of cast metal.

³⁴ There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. ³⁵ In the top of the base there was a round band nine inches high, and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same. ³⁶ On the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had the same casting, measurement, and shape.

The Ten Bronze Basins

³⁸ He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained 40 baths, and every basin was six feet, and on every one of the ten bases one basin. ³⁹ He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south.

The Vessels

⁴⁰ Hiram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for king Solomon in the house of the Lord: ⁴¹ the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, ⁴² the 400 pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars, ⁴³ the ten bases, the ten basins on the bases, ⁴⁴ the one sea, the twelve oxen under the sea, ⁴⁵ the pots, the shovels, and the basins. All these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in the house of the Lord, were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold; ⁴⁹ and the lamp stands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; ⁵⁰ the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.

⁵¹ Thus all the work that king Solomon did in the house of the Lord was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

Acts 7:30-59

³⁰ “When 40 years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him,

³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look. ³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

³⁵ This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—the Lord has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷ This is that Moses, who said to the Israelites, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ ³⁸ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us, ³⁹ to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. ⁴² But the Lord turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets,

‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³ You took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
the star of your god Rephan,
the figures which you made to worship.
I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ ^a

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; ⁴⁵ which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom the Lord drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David, ⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of the Lord, and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But Solomon built him a house. ⁴⁸ However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁴⁹ ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth a footstool for my feet.
What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord.
‘Or what is the place of my rest?
⁵⁰ Did my hand not make all these things?’ ^b

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. ⁵³ You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and did not keep it!”

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴ Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ⁵⁵ But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, ⁵⁶ and said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, then rushed at him with one accord. ⁵⁸ They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ He knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

^{a Amos 5:25-27
b Isaiah 66:1-2}

Psalm 128

Blessed are they who Fear the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

¹ Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways.
² For you will eat the labor of your hands.
You will be happy, and it will be well with you.
³ Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house,
your children like olive plants around your table.
⁴ Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.
⁵ May the Lord bless you out of Zion,
and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
⁶ Yes, may you see your children’s children.
Peace be upon Israel.

Proverbs 16:31-33

³¹ Gray hair is a crown of glory.
It is attained by a life of righteousness.
³² He who is slow to anger is greater than the mighty;
He who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.
³³ The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.

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