One Year Bible.

The LORD’s Response to Solomon

¹Now when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all that he had desired to do, ²the LORD appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³And the LORD said to him:

“I have heard your prayer and petition before Me. I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting My Name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.

⁴And 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, ⁵then 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.’

⁶But 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, ⁷then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.

⁸And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ ⁹And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them— because of this, the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them.’”

Solomon’s Additional Achievements

¹⁰Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built these two houses, the house of the LORD and the royal palace, ¹¹King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire. ¹²So Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.

¹³“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.

¹⁴And Hiram had sent the king 120 talents of gold.

¹⁵This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, ¹⁸Baalath, and Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, ¹⁹as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses — whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

²⁰As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites) — ²¹their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction— Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

²²But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry. ²³They were also the chief officers over Solomon’s projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work.

²⁴As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.

²⁵Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense with them before the LORD. So he completed the temple.

²⁶King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. ²⁷And Hiram sent his servants, sailors who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s servants. ²⁸They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there— 420 talents— and delivered it to Solomon.

Solomon’s Additional Achievements

¹Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own palace, ²Solomon rebuilt the cities Hiram had given him and settled Israelites there.

³Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it. ⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness, in addition to all the store cities that he had built in Hamath. ⁵He rebuilt Upper and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, ⁶as well as Baalath, all the store cities that belonged to Solomon, and all the cities for his chariots and horses — whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

⁷As for all the people who remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (these people were not Israelites) — ⁸their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites had not destroyed — Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

⁹But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slave labor, because they were his men of war, the leaders of his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry. ¹⁰They were also the chief officers for King Solomon: 250 supervisors.

¹¹Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her. For he said, “My wife must not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy.”

¹²At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD he had built in front of the portico. ¹³He observed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed feasts — the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁴In keeping with the ordinances of his father David, Solomon appointed the divisions of the priests over their service, and the Levites for their duties to offer praise and to minister before the priests according to the daily requirement. He also appointed gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate, for this had been the command of David, the man of God. ¹⁵They did not turn aside from the king’s command regarding the priests or the Levites in any matter, including that of the treasuries.

¹⁶Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out, from the day the foundation was laid for the house of the LORD until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the coast of Edom. ¹⁸So Hiram sent him ships captained by his servants, along with crews of experienced sailors. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and acquired from there 450 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

Release from the Law

¹Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? ²For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. ³So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. ⁵For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death. ⁶But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

God’s Law Is Holy

⁷What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ⁸But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

⁹Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death. ¹¹For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

¹²So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Struggling with Sin

¹³Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good. ¹⁷In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

¹⁸I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. ²⁰And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. ²³But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Walking by the Spirit

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.

⁹You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.

Heirs with Christ

¹²Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ — if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Future Glory

¹⁸I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. ²³Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. ²⁷And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

God Works in All Things

²⁸And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God— and He is interceding for us.

More than Conquerors

³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶As it is written:

“For Your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.