One Year Bible.

Do Not Rebuke Me in Your Anger

¹A Psalm of David, for remembrance.

O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger

or discipline me in Your wrath.

²For Your arrows have pierced me deeply,

and Your hand has pressed down on me.

³There is no soundness in my body

because of Your anger;

there is no rest in my bones

because of my sin.

⁴For my iniquities have overwhelmed me;

they are a burden too heavy to bear.

⁵My wounds are foul and festering

because of my sinful folly.

⁶I am bent and brought low;

all day long I go about mourning.

⁷For my loins are full of burning pain,

and no soundness remains in my body.

⁸I am numb and badly crushed;

I groan in anguish of heart.

⁹O Lord, my every desire is before You;

my groaning is not hidden from You.

¹⁰My heart pounds, my strength fails,

and even the light of my eyes has faded.

¹¹My beloved and friends shun my disease,

and my kinsmen stand at a distance.

¹²Those who seek my life lay snares;

those who wish me harm speak destruction,

plotting deceit all day long.

¹³But like a deaf man, I do not hear;

and like a mute man, I do not open my mouth.

¹⁴I am like a man who cannot hear,

whose mouth offers no reply.

¹⁵I wait for You, O LORD;

You will answer, O Lord my God.

¹⁶For I said, “Let them not gloat over me —

those who taunt me when my foot slips.”

¹⁷For I am ready to fall,

and my pain is ever with me.

¹⁸Yes, I confess my iniquity;

I am troubled by my sin.

¹⁹Many are my enemies without cause,

and many hate me without reason.

²⁰Those who repay my good with evil

attack me for pursuing the good.

²¹Do not forsake me, O LORD;

be not far from me, O my God.

²²Come quickly to help me,

O Lord my Savior.

The Council at Jerusalem

¹Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas. I took Titus along also. ²I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I spoke privately to those recognized as leaders, for fear that I was running or had already run in vain. ³Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.

⁴This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. ⁵We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

⁶But as for the highly esteemed— whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism— those leaders added nothing to me. ⁷On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. ⁸For the One who was at work in Peter’s apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in my apostleship to the Gentiles.

⁹And recognizing the grace that I had been given, James, Cephas, and John — those reputed to be pillars — gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Confronts Cephas

¹¹When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹²For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group. ¹³The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

¹⁴When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

¹⁵We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners” ¹⁶know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ a minister of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. ²⁰I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. ²¹I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

The Man with a Measuring Rod

¹In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month — in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been struck down — on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He took me there. ²In visions of God He took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose southern slope was a structure that resembled a city.

³So He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze. He was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. ⁴“Son of man,” he said to me, “look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Report to the house of Israel everything you see.”

The East Gate

⁵And I saw a wall surrounding the temple area. Now the length of the measuring rod in the man’s hand was six long cubits (each measuring a cubit and a handbreadth), and he measured the wall to be one rod thick and one rod high.

⁶Then he came to the gate facing east and climbed its steps. He measured the threshold of the gate to be one rod deep. ⁷Each gate chamber was one rod long and one rod wide, and there were five cubits between the gate chambers. The inner threshold of the gate by the portico facing inward was one rod deep. ⁸Then he measured the portico of the gateway inside; ⁹it was eight cubits deep, and its jambs were two cubits thick. And the portico of the gateway faced the temple.

¹⁰There were three gate chambers on each side of the east gate, each with the same measurements, and the gateposts on either side also had the same measurements. ¹¹And he measured the width of the gateway entrance to be ten cubits, and its length was thirteen cubits.

¹²In front of each gate chamber was a wall one cubit high, and the gate chambers were six cubits square. ¹³Then he measured the gateway from the roof of one gate chamber to the roof of the opposite one; the distance was twenty-five cubits from doorway to doorway.

¹⁴Next he measured the gateposts to be sixty cubits high. The gateway extended around to the gatepost of the courtyard. ¹⁵And the distance from the entrance of the gateway to the far end of its inner portico was fifty cubits.

¹⁶The gate chambers and their side pillars had beveled windows all around the inside of the gateway. The porticos also had windows all around on the inside. Each side pillar was decorated with palm trees.

The Outer Court

¹⁷Then he brought me into the outer court, and there were chambers and a pavement laid out all around the court. Thirty chambers faced the pavement, ¹⁸which flanked the gateways and corresponded to the length of the gates; this was the lower pavement.

¹⁹Then he measured the distance from the front of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner court; it was a hundred cubits on the east side as well as on the north.

The North Gate

²⁰He also measured the length and width of the gateway of the outer court facing north. ²¹Its three gate chambers on each side, its side pillars, and its portico all had the same measurements as the first gate: fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. ²²Its windows, portico, and palm trees had the same measurements as those of the gate facing east. Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them.

²³There was a gate to the inner court facing the north gate, just as there was on the east. He measured the distance from gateway to gateway to be a hundred cubits.

The South Gate

²⁴Then he led me to the south side, and I saw a gateway facing south. He measured its side pillars and portico, and they had the same measurements as the others. ²⁵Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around, like the other windows. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. ²⁶Seven steps led up to it, and its portico was opposite them; it had palm trees on its side pillars, one on each side.

²⁷The inner court also had a gate facing south, and he measured the distance from gateway to gateway toward the south to be a hundred cubits.

The Gates of the Inner Court

²⁸Next he brought me into the inner court through the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it had the same measurements as the others. ²⁹Its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁰(The porticoes around the inner court were twenty-five cubits long and five cubits deep.) ³¹Its portico faced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees. Eight steps led up to it.

³²And he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gateway; it had the same measurements as the others. ³³Its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁴Its portico faced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees on each side. Eight steps led up to it.

³⁵Then he brought me to the north gate and measured it. It had the same measurements as the others, ³⁶as did its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico. It also had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁷Its portico faced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees on each side. Eight steps led up to it.

Eight Tables for Sacrifices

³⁸There was a chamber with a doorway by the portico in each of the inner gateways. There the burnt offering was to be washed. ³⁹Inside the portico of the gateway were two tables on each side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings were to be slaughtered.

⁴⁰Outside, as one goes up to the entrance of the north gateway, there were two tables on one side and two more tables on the other side of the gate’s portico. ⁴¹So there were four tables inside the gateway and four outside — eight tables in all — on which the sacrifices were to be slaughtered.

⁴²There were also four tables of dressed stone for the burnt offering, each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit high. On these were placed the utensils used to slaughter the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices.

⁴³The double-pronged hooks, each a handbreadth long, were fastened all around the inside of the room, and the flesh of the offering was to be placed on the tables.

Chambers for Ministry

⁴⁴Outside the inner gate, within the inner court, were two chambers, one beside the north gate and facing south, and another beside the south gate and facing north.

⁴⁵Then the man said to me: “The chamber that faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple, ⁴⁶and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, the only Levites who may approach the LORD to minister before Him.”

The Inner Court

⁴⁷Next he measured the court. It was square, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide. And the altar was in front of the temple.

⁴⁸Then he brought me to the portico of the temple and measured the side pillars of the portico to be five cubits on each side. The width of the gateway was fourteen cubits and its sidewalls were three cubits on either side. ⁴⁹The portico was twenty cubits wide and twelve cubits deep, and ten steps led up to it. There were columns by the side pillars, one on each side.

Inside the Temple

¹Then the man brought me into the outer sanctuary and measured the side pillars to be six cubits wide on each side. ²The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side. He also measured the length of the outer sanctuary to be forty cubits, and the width to be twenty cubits.

³And he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the side pillars at the entrance to be two cubits wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the walls on each side were seven cubits wide. ⁴Then he measured the room adjacent to the inner sanctuary to be twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

Outside the Temple

⁵Next he measured the wall of the temple to be six cubits thick, and the width of each side room around the temple was four cubits. ⁶The side rooms were arranged one above another in three levels of thirty rooms each. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be fastened into the wall of the temple itself. ⁷The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive level, because the structure surrounding the temple ascended by stages corresponding to the narrowing of the temple wall as it rose upward. And so a stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest, through the middle one.

⁸I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the full length of a rod, six long cubits. ⁹The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick, and the open area between the side rooms of the temple ¹⁰and the outer chambers was twenty cubits wide all around the temple. ¹¹The side rooms opened into this area, with one entrance on the north and another on the south. The open area was five cubits wide all around.

¹²Now the building that faced the temple courtyard on the west was seventy cubits wide, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, with a length of ninety cubits.

¹³Then he measured the temple to be a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long. ¹⁴The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits.

The Interior Structures

¹⁵Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits. The outer sanctuary, the inner sanctuary, and the porticoes facing the court, ¹⁶as well as the thresholds and the beveled windows and the galleries all around with their three levels opposite the threshold, were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows, and the windows were covered.

¹⁷In the space above the outside of the entrance to the inner sanctuary on all the walls, spaced evenly around the inner and outer sanctuary, ¹⁸were alternating carved cherubim and palm trees. Each cherub had two faces: ¹⁹the face of a man was toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion was toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all the way around the temple. ²⁰Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the outer sanctuary from the floor to the space above the entrance.

²¹The outer sanctuary had a rectangular doorframe, and the doorframe of the sanctuary was similar.

²²There was an altar of wood three cubits high and two cubits square. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. And the man told me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”

²³Both the outer sanctuary and the inner sanctuary had double doors, ²⁴and each door had two swinging panels. There were two panels for one door and two for the other. ²⁵Cherubim and palm trees like those on the walls were carved on the doors of the outer sanctuary, and there was a wooden canopy outside, on the front of the portico. ²⁶There were beveled windows and palm trees on the sidewalls of the portico. The side rooms of the temple also had canopies.