¹Then Solomon spoke: “The Lᴏʀᴅ said He would dwell in the dark cloud. ²I have surely built You an exalted house, And a place for You to dwell in forever.” ³Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. ⁴And he said: “Blessed be the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, ⁵‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel. ⁶Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there; and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ ⁷Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel. ⁸But the Lᴏʀᴅ said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart. ⁹Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.’ ¹⁰So the Lᴏʀᴅ has fulfilled His word which He spoke, and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lᴏʀᴅ promised; and I have built the temple for the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel. ¹¹And there I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lᴏʀᴅ which He made with the children of Israel.” ¹²Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lᴏʀᴅ in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands ¹³(for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven); ¹⁴and he said: “Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. ¹⁵You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶Therefore, Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ ¹⁷And now, O Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David. ¹⁸“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! ¹⁹Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lᴏʀᴅ my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: ²⁰that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant prays toward this place. ²¹And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive. ²²“If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, ²³then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. ²⁴“Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, ²⁵then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers. ²⁶“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, ²⁷then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance. ²⁸“When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; ²⁹whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: ³⁰then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men), ³¹that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers. ³²“Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but who comes from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; ³³then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name. ³⁴“When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, ³⁵then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. ³⁶“When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; ³⁷yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness’; ³⁸and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: ³⁹then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. ⁴⁰Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. ⁴¹“Now therefore, Arise, O Lᴏʀᴅ God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O Lᴏʀᴅ God, be clothed with salvation, And let Your saints rejoice in goodness. ⁴²“O Lᴏʀᴅ God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed; Remember the mercies of Your servant David.”

¹Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. ⁵Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. ⁷For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. ⁹If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. ¹⁰He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹²He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. ¹⁴Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. ¹⁶If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. ¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. ¹⁸We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. ¹⁹We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. ²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. ²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

¹The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. ²O Lᴏʀᴅ, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save. ³Why do You show me iniquity, And cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises. ⁴Therefore the law is powerless, And justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore perverse judgment proceeds. ⁵“Look among the nations and watch— Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you. ⁶For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, A bitter and hasty nation Which marches through the breadth of the earth, To possess dwelling places that are not theirs. ⁷They are terrible and dreadful; Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. ⁸Their horses also are swifter than leopards, And more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead; Their cavalry comes from afar; They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. ⁹“They all come for violence; Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. ¹⁰They scoff at kings, And princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, For they heap up earthen mounds and seize it. ¹¹Then his mind changes, and he transgresses; He commits offense, Ascribing this power to his god.” ¹²Are You not from everlasting, O Lᴏʀᴅ my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lᴏʀᴅ, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction. ¹³You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A person more righteous than he? ¹⁴Why do You make men like fish of the sea, Like creeping things that have no ruler over them? ¹⁵They take up all of them with a hook, They catch them in their net, And gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. ¹⁶Therefore they sacrifice to their net, And burn incense to their dragnet; Because by them their share is sumptuous And their food plentiful. ¹⁷Shall they therefore empty their net, And continue to slay nations without pity?

¹Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him ²and spoke to Him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?” ³But He answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me: ⁴The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?” ⁵And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” ⁷So they answered that they did not know where it was from. ⁸And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” ⁹Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time. ¹⁰Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹²And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out. ¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him.’ ¹⁴But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ ¹⁵So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others.” And when they heard it they said, “Certainly not!” ¹⁷Then He looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone’? ¹⁸“Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” ¹⁹And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people—for they knew He had spoken this parable against them. ²⁰So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor. ²¹Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: ²²Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” ²³But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test Me? ²⁴Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s.” ²⁵And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²⁶But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent. ²⁷Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, ²⁸saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁹Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. ³⁰And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. ³¹Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. ³²Last of all the woman died also. ³³Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.” ³⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; ³⁶nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. ³⁷But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ³⁸For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.” ³⁹Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” ⁴⁰But after that they dared not question Him anymore. ⁴¹And He said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? ⁴²Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, ⁴³Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ‘ ⁴⁴“Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?” ⁴⁵Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples, ⁴⁶“Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, ⁴⁷who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”