The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

Now these are the foundations, which Solomon laid, to build the house of God, the length by the first measure sixty cubits, the breadth twenty cubits.

And the porch in the front, which was extended in length according to the measure of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits: and the height was a hundred and twenty cubits: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

And the greater house he ceiled with deal boards, and overlaid them with plates of fine gold throughout: and he graved in them palm trees, and like little chains interlaced with one another.

He paved also the floor of the temple with most precious marble, of great beauty.

And the gold of the plates with which he overlaid the house, and the beams thereof, and the posts, and the walls, and the doors was of the finest: and he graved cherubims on the walls.

He made also the house of the holy of holies: the length of it according to the breadth of the temple, twenty cubits, and the breadth of it in like manner twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with plates of gold, amounting to about six hundred talents.

He made also nails of gold, and the weight of every nail was fifty sicles: the upper chambers also he overlaid with gold.

He made also in the house of the holy of holies two cherubims of image work: and he overlaid them with gold.

The wings of the cherubims were extended twenty cubits, so that one wing was five cubits long, and reached to the wall of the house: and the other was also five cubits long, and reached to the wing of the other cherub.

In like manner the wing of the other cherub, was five cubits long, and reached to the wall: and his other wing was five cubits long, and touched the wing of the other cherub.

So the wings of the two cherubims were spread forth, and were extended twenty cubits: and they stood upright on their feet, and their faces were turned toward the house without.

He made also a veil of violet, purple, scarlet, and silk: and wrought in it cherubims.

He made also before the doors of the temple two pillars, which were five and thirty cubits high: and their chapiters were five cubits.

He made also as it were little chains in the oracle, and he put them on the heads of the pillars: and a hundred pomegranates, which he put between the little chains.

These pillars he put at the entrance of the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left: that which was on the right hand, he called Jachin: and that on the left hand, Booz.

He made also an altar of brass twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits broad, and ten cubits high.

Also a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass: it was five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about.

And under it there was the likeness of oxen, and certain engravings on the outside of ten cubits compassed the belly of the sea, as it were with two rows.

And the oxen were cast: and the sea itself was set upon the twelve oxen, three of which looked toward the north, and other three toward the west: and other three toward the south, and the other three that remained toward the east, and the sea stood upon them: and the hinder parts of the oxen were inward under the sea.

Now the thickness of it was a handbreadth, and the brim of it was like the brim of a cup, or of a crisped lily: and it held three thousand measures.

He made also ten lavers: and he set five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them all such things as they were to offer for holocausts: but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

And he made ten golden candlesticks, according to the form which they were commanded to be made by: and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.

Moreover also ten tables: and he set them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. Also a hundred bowls of gold.

He made also the court of the priests, and a great hall, and doors in the hall, which he covered with brass.

And he set the sea on the right side over against the east toward the south.

And Hiram made caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls: and finished all the king's work the house of God:

That is to say, the two pillars, and the pommels, and the chapiters, and the network, to cover the chapiters over the pommels.

And four hundred pomegranates, and two wreaths of network, so that two rows of pomegranates were joined to each wreath, to cover the pommels, and the chapiters of the pillars.

He made also bases, and lavers, which he set upon the bases:

One sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;

And the caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls. All the vessels did Hiram his father make for Solomon in the house of the Lord of the finest brass.

In the country near the Jordan did the king cast them, in a clay ground between Sochot and Saredatha.

And the multitude of vessels was innumerable, so that the weight of the brass was not known.

And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of God, and the golden altar, and the tables, upon which were the loaves of proposition,

The candlesticks also of most pure gold with their lamps to give light before the oracle, according to the manner.

And certain flowers, and lamps, and golden tongs: all were made of the finest gold.

The vessels also for the perfumes, and the censers, and the bowls, and the mortars, of pure gold. And he graved the doors of the inner temple, that is, for the holy of holies: and the doors of the temple without were of gold. And thus all the work was finished which Solomon made in the house of the Lord.

Then Solomon brought in all those things that David his father had vowed, the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels he put among the treasures of the house of God.

And after this he gathered together the ancients of Israel and all the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families, of the children of Israel to Jerusalem, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Sion.

And all the men of Israel came to the king in the solemn day of the seventh month.

And when all the ancients of Israel were come, the Levites took up the ark,

And brought it in, together with all the furniture of the tabernacle. And the priests with the Levites carried the vessels of the sanctuary, which were in the tabernacle.

And king Solomon and all the assembly of Israel and all that were gathered together before the ark, sacrificed rams, and oxen without number: so great was the multitude of the victims.

And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, that is, to the oracle of the temple, into the holy of holies under the wings of the cherubims:

So that the cherubims spread their wings over the place, in which the ark was set, and covered the ark itself and its staves.

Now the ends of the staves wherewith the ark was carried, because they were some thing longer, were seen before the oracle: but if a man were a little outward, he could not see them. So the ark has been there unto this day.

And there was nothing else in the ark but the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord gave the law to the children of Israel, at their coming out of Egypt.

Now when the priests were come out of the sanctuary, for all the priests that could be found there, were sanctified: and as yet at that time the courses and orders of the ministries were not divided among them,

Both the Levites and the singing men, that is, both they that were under Asaph, and they that were under Heman, and they that were under Idithun, with their sons, and their brethren, clothed with fine linen, sounded with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, standing on the east side of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests, sounding with trumpets.

So when they all sounded together, both with trumpets, and voice, and cymbals, and organs, and with divers kind of musical instruments, and lifted up their voice on high: the sound was heard afar off, so that when they began to praise the Lord, and to say: Give glory to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever: the house of God was filled with a cloud.

Nor could the priests stand and minister by reason of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

Then Solomon said: The Lord promised that he would dwell in a cloud.

But I have built a house to his name, that he might dwell there for ever.

And the king turned his face, and blessed all the multitude of Israel for all the multitude stood attentive and he said:

Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who hath accomplished in deed that which he spoke to David my father, saying:

From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel, for a house to be built in it to my name: neither chose I any other man, to be the ruler of my people Israel.

But I chose Jerusalem, that my name might be there: and I chose David to set him over my people Israel.

And whereas David my father had a mind to build a house to the name of the Lord the God of Israel,

The Lord said to him: Forasmuch as it was thy will to build a house to my name, thou hast done well indeed in having such a will:

But thou shalt not build the house, but thy son, who shall come out of thy loins, he shall build a house to my name.

The Lord therefore hath accomplished his word which he spoke: and I am risen up in the place of David my father, and sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised: and have built a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

And I have put in it the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with the children of Israel.

And he stood before the altar of the Lord, in presence of all the multitude of Israel, and stretched forth his hands.

For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, and had set it in the midst of the temple, which was five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high: and he stood upon it: then kneeling down in the presence of all the multitude of Israel, and lifting up his hands towards heaven,

He said: O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven nor in earth: who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts:

Who hast performed to thy servant David my father all that thou hast promised him: and hast accomplished in fact, what thou hast spoken with thy mouth, as also the present time proveth.

Now then, O Lord God of Israel, fulfil to thy servant David my father, whatsoever thou hast promised him, saying: There shall not fail thee a man in my sight, to sit upon the throne of Israel: yet so that thy children take heed to their ways, and walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

And now, Lord God of Israel, let thy word be established which thou hast spoken to thy servant David.

Is it credible then that God should dwell with men on the earth? If heaven and the heavens of heavens do not contain thee, how much less this house, which I have built?

But to this end only it is made, that thou mayest regard the prayer of thy servant and his supplication, O Lord my God: and mayest hear the prayers which thy servant poureth out before thee.

That thou mayest open thy eyes upon this house day and night, upon the place wherein thou hast promised that thy name should be called upon,

And that thou wouldst hear the prayer which thy servant prayeth in it: hearken then to the prayers of thy servant, and of thy people Israel. Whosoever shall pray in its place, hear thou from thy dwelling place, that is, from heaven, and shew mercy.

If any man sin against his neighbour, and come to swear against him, and bind himself with a curse before the altar in this house:

Then hear thou from heaven, and do justice to thy servants, so to requite the wicked by making his wickedness fall upon his own head, and to revenge the just, rewarding him according to his justice.

If thy people Israel be overcome by their enemies, (for they will sin against thee,) and being converted shall do penance, and call upon thy name, and pray to thee in this place,

Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel and bring them back into the land which thou gavest to them, and their fathers.

If the heavens be shut up, and there fall no rain by reason of the sin of the people, and they shall pray to thee in this place, and confess to thy name, and be converted from their sins, where thou dost afflict them,

Then hear thou from heaven, O Lord, and forgive the sins of thy servants and of thy people Israel and teach them the good way in which they may walk: and give rain to thy land which thou hast given to thy people to possess.

If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence or blasting, or mildew, or locusts, or caterpillars: or if their enemies waste the country, and besiege the cities, whatsoever scourge or infirmity shall be upon them:

Then if any of thy people Israel, knowing his own scourge and infirmity shall pray, and shall spread forth his hands in this house,

Hear thou from heaven, from thy high dwelling place, and forgive, and render to every one according to his ways, which thou knowest him to have in his heart: for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:

That they may fear thee, and walk in thy ways all the days that they live upon the face of the land, which thou hast given to our fathers.

If the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, come from a far country, for the sake of thy great name, and thy strong hand, and thy stretched out arm, and adore in this place:

Hear thou from heaven thy firm dwelling place, and do all that which that stranger shall call upon thee for: that all the people of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee, as thy people Israel, and may know, that thy name is invoked upon this house, which I have built.

If thy people go out to war against their enemies, by the way that thou shalt send them, and adore thee towards the way of this city, which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built to thy name:

Then hear thou from heaven their prayers, and their supplications, and revenge them.

And if they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them up to their enemies, and they lead them away captive to a land either afar off, or near at hand,

And if they be converted in their heart in the land to which they were led captive, and do penance, and pray to thee in the land of their captivity saying: We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have dealt unjustly:

And return to thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their captivity, to which they were led away, and adore thee towards the way of their own land which thou gavest their fathers, and of the city, which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built to thy name:

Then hear thou from heaven, that is, from thy firm dwelling place, their prayers, and do judgment, and forgive thy people, although they have sinned:

For thou art my God: let thy eyes, I beseech thee, be open, and let thy ears be attentive to the prayer, that is made in this place.

Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, put on salvation, and thy saints rejoice in good things.

O Lord God, turn not away the face of thy anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

And when Solomon had made an end of his prayer, fire came down from heaven, and consumed the holocausts and the victims: and the majesty of the Lord filled the house.

Neither could the priests enter into the temple of the Lord, because the majesty of the Lord had filled the temple of the Lord.

Moreover all the children of Israel saw the fire coming down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house: and falling down with their faces to the ground, upon the stone pavement, they adored and praised the Lord: because he is good, because his mercy endureth for ever.

And the king and all the people sacrificed victims before the Lord.

And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand rams: and the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

And the priests stood in their offices: and the Levites with the instruments of music of the Lord, which king David made to praise the Lord: because his mercy endureth for ever, singing the hymns of David by their ministry: and the priests sounded with trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

Solomon also sanctified the middle of the court before the temple of the Lord: for he offered there the holocausts, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar, which he had made, could not hold the holocausts and the sacrifices and the fat: