1 Kings 11, Philippians 2, Ezekiel 41, Psalm 92, 93

1 Kings 11,

1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter-Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.
 
2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.
 
3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.
 
4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
 
5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.
 
6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.
 
7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.
 
8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
 
9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
 
10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command.
 
11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.
 
12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
 
13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."
 
14 Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.
 
15 Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom.
 
16 Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom.
 
17 But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father.
 
18 They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking men from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food.
 
19 Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage.
 
20 The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh's own children.
 
21 While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me go, that I may return to my own country."
 
22 "What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?" Pharaoh asked. "Nothing," Hadad replied, "but do let me go!"
 
23 And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah.
 
24 He gathered men around him and became the leader of a band of rebels when David destroyed the forces of Zobah; the rebels went to Damascus, where they settled and took control.
 
25 Rezon was Israel's adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel.
 
26 Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon's officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.
 
27 Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father.
 
28 Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.
 
29 About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country,
 
30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.
 
31 Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes.
 
32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe.
 
33 I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David, Solomon's father, did.
 
34 " 'But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who observed my commands and statutes.
 
35 I will take the kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes.
 
36 I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name.
 
37 However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel.
 
38 If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.
 
39 I will humble David's descendants because of this, but not forever.' "
 
40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon's death.
 
41 As for the other events of Solomon's reign-all he did and the wisdom he displayed-are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon?
 
42 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
 
43 Then he rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.
 

Philippians 2,

1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
 
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
 
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
 
4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
 
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
 
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
 
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
 
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!
 
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
 
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
 
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
 
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
 
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing,
 
15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe
 
16 as you hold out the word of life-in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
 
17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
 
18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
 
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you.
 
20 I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.
 
21 For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
 
22 But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
 
23 I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me.
 
24 And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
 
25 But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.
 
26 For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.
 
27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
 
28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.
 
29 Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him,
 
30 because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.
 

Ezekiel 41,

1 Then the man brought me to the outer sanctuary and measured the jambs; the width of the jambs was six cubits on each side.
 
2 The entrance was ten cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were five cubits wide. He also measured the outer sanctuary; it was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide.
 
3 Then he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the jambs of the entrance; each was two cubits wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were seven cubits wide.
 
4 And he measured the length of the inner sanctuary; it was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits across the end of the outer sanctuary. He said to me, "This is the Most Holy Place."
 
5 Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was six cubits thick, and each side room around the temple was four cubits wide.
 
6 The side rooms were on three levels, one above another, thirty on each level. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports were not inserted into the wall of the temple.
 
7 The side rooms all around the temple were wider at each successive level. The structure surrounding the temple was built in ascending stages, so that the rooms widened as one went upward. A stairway went up from the lowest floor to the top floor through the middle floor.
 
8 I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the length of the rod, six long cubits.
 
9 The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. The open area between the side rooms of the temple
 
10 and the priests' rooms was twenty cubits wide all around the temple.
 
11 There were entrances to the side rooms from the open area, one on the north and another on the south; and the base adjoining the open area was five cubits wide all around.
 
12 The building facing the temple courtyard on the west side was seventy cubits wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.
 
13 Then he measured the temple; it was a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long.
 
14 The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits.
 
15 Then he measured the length of the building facing the 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 portico facing the court,
 
16 as well as the thresholds and the narrow windows and galleries around the three of them-everything beyond and including the threshold was covered with wood. The floor, the wall up to the windows, and the windows were covered.
 
17 In the space above the outside of the entrance to the inner sanctuary and on the walls at regular intervals all around the inner and outer sanctuary
 
18 were carved cherubim and palm trees. Palm trees alternated with cherubim. Each cherub had two faces:
 
19 the face of a man toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a lion toward the palm tree on the other. They were carved all around the whole temple.
 
20 From the floor to the area above the entrance, cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the outer sanctuary.
 
21 The outer sanctuary had a rectangular doorframe, and the one at the front of the Most Holy Place was similar.
 
22 There was a wooden altar three cubits high and two cubits square; its corners, its base and its sides were of wood. The man said to me, "This is the table that is before the LORD."
 
23 Both the outer sanctuary and the Most Holy Place had double doors.
 
24 Each door had two leaves-two hinged leaves for each door.
 
25 And on the doors of the outer sanctuary were carved cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls, and there was a wooden overhang on the front of the portico.
 
26 On the sidewalls of the portico were narrow windows with palm trees carved on each side. The side rooms of the temple also had overhangs.
 

Psalm 92, 93

1 It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High,
 
2 to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,
 
3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.
 
4 For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
 
5 How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts!
 
6 The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand,
 
7 that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
 
8 But you, O LORD, are exalted forever.
 
9 For surely your enemies, O LORD, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.
 
10 You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured upon me.
 
11 My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
 
12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
 
13 planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
 
14 They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
 
15 proclaiming, "The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him."
 

    
1 The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
 
2 Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity.
 
3 The seas have lifted up, O LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
 
4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea-the LORD on high is mighty.
 
5 Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O LORD.