¹When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lᴏʀᴅ filled the temple. ²And the priests could not enter the house of the Lᴏʀᴅ, because the glory of the Lᴏʀᴅ had filled the Lᴏʀᴅ’s house. ³When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lᴏʀᴅ on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lᴏʀᴅ, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever.” ⁴Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lᴏʀᴅ. ⁵King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶And the priests attended to their services; the Levites also with instruments of the music of the Lᴏʀᴅ, which King David had made to praise the Lᴏʀᴅ, saying, “For His mercy endures forever,” whenever David offered praise by their ministry. The priests sounded trumpets opposite them, while all Israel stood. ⁷Furthermore Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lᴏʀᴅ; for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat. ⁸At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt. ⁹And on the eighth day they held a sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. ¹⁰On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lᴏʀᴅ had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel. ¹¹Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lᴏʀᴅ and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lᴏʀᴅ and in his own house. ¹²Then the Lᴏʀᴅ appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. ¹⁶For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. ¹⁷As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, ¹⁸then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’ ¹⁹“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, ²⁰then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ²¹And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lᴏʀᴅ done thus to this land and this house?’ ²²Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lᴏʀᴅ God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

¹The Elder, To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, ²because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: ³Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. ⁴I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. ⁵And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. ⁶This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. ⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. ⁸Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. ⁹Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; ¹¹for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. ¹²Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. ¹³The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen.

¹I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. ²Then the Lᴏʀᴅ answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. ³For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. ⁴“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. ⁵“Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man, And he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, He gathers to himself all nations And heaps up for himself all peoples. ⁶“Will not all these take up a proverb against him, And a taunting riddle against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases What is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges’? ⁷Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty. ⁸Because you have plundered many nations, All the remnant of the people shall plunder you, Because of men’s blood And the violence of the land and the city, And of all who dwell in it. ⁹“Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, That he may set his nest on high, That he may be delivered from the power of disaster! ¹⁰You give shameful counsel to your house, Cutting off many peoples, And sin against your soul. ¹¹For the stone will cry out from the wall, And the beam from the timbers will answer it. ¹²“Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, Who establishes a city by iniquity! ¹³Behold, is it not of the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts That the peoples labor to feed the fire, And nations weary themselves in vain? ¹⁴For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lᴏʀᴅ, As the waters cover the sea. ¹⁵“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, Pressing him to your bottle, Even to make him drunk, That you may look on his nakedness! ¹⁶You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also—drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the Lᴏʀᴅ’s right hand will be turned against you, And utter shame will be on your glory. ¹⁷For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, And the plunder of beasts which made them afraid, Because of men’s blood And the violence of the land and the city, And of all who dwell in it. ¹⁸“What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of lies, That the maker of its mold should trust in it, To make mute idols? ¹⁹Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’ Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet in it there is no breath at all. ²⁰But the Lᴏʀᴅ is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

¹And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, ²and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. ³So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; ⁴for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.” ⁵Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, ⁶“These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.” ⁷So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?” ⁸And He said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them. ⁹But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.” ¹⁰Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. ¹²But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. ¹³But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. ¹⁴Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; ¹⁵for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. ¹⁶You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. ¹⁸But not a hair of your head shall be lost. ¹⁹By your patience possess your souls. ²⁰“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. ²¹Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. ²²For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. ²³But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. ²⁴And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. ²⁵“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; ²⁶men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. ²⁷Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” ²⁹Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. ³⁰When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. ³¹So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. ³²Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. ³⁴“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. ³⁵For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” ³⁷And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet. ³⁸Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.