1 Kings 6

• 1. It was in midspring, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign, that he began the construction of the Temple of the LORD. This was 480 years after the people of Israel were delivered from their slavery in the land of Egypt.
• 2. The Temple that King Solomon built for the LORD was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
• 3. The foyer at the front of the Temple was 30 feet wide, running across the entire width of the Temple. It projected outward 15 feet from the front of the Temple.
• 4. Solomon also made narrow, recessed windows throughout the Temple.
• 5. A complex of rooms was built against the outer walls of the Temple, all the way around the sides and rear of the building.
• 6. The complex was three stories high, the bottom floor being 7 1/2 feet wide, the second floor 9 feet wide, and the top floor 10 1/2 feet wide. The rooms were connected to the walls of the Temple by beams resting on ledges built out from the wall. So the beams were not inserted into the walls themselves.
• 7. The stones used in the construction of the Temple were prefinished at the quarry, so the entire structure was built without the sound of hammer, ax, or any other iron tool at the building site.
• 8. The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the Temple. There were winding stairs going up to the second floor, and another flight of stairs between the second and third floors.
• 9. After completing the Temple structure, Solomon put in a ceiling made of beams and planks of cedar.
• 10. As already stated, there was a complex of rooms on three sides of the building, attached to the Temple walls by cedar timbers. Each story of the complex was 7 1/2 feet high.
• 11. Then the LORD gave this message to Solomon:
• 12. "Concerning this Temple you are building, if you keep all my laws and regulations and obey all my commands, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father, David.
• 13. I will live among the people of Israel and never forsake my people."
• 14. So Solomon finished building the Temple.
• 15. The entire inside, from floor to ceiling, was paneled with wood. He paneled the walls and ceilings with cedar, and he used cypress for the floors.
• 16. He partitioned off an inner sanctuary--the Most Holy Place--at the far end of the Temple. It was 30 feet deep and was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.
• 17. The main room of the Temple, outside the Most Holy Place, was 60 feet long.
• 18. Cedar paneling completely covered the stone walls throughout the Temple, and the paneling was decorated with carvings of gourds and open flowers.
• 19. Solomon prepared the inner sanctuary in the rear of the Temple, where the Ark of the LORD's covenant would be placed.
• 20. This inner sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Solomon overlaid its walls and ceiling with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar made of cedar.
• 21. Then he overlaid the rest of the Temple's interior with pure gold, and he made gold chains to protect the entrance to the Most Holy Place.
• 22. So he finished overlaying the entire Temple with gold, including the altar that belonged to the Most Holy Place.
• 23. Within the inner sanctuary Solomon placed two cherubim made of olive wood, each 15 feet tall.
• 24. The wingspan of each of the cherubim was 15 feet, each wing being 7 1/2 feet long.
• 25. The two cherubim were identical in shape and size;
• 26. each was 15 feet tall.
• 27. Solomon placed them side by side in the inner sanctuary of the Temple. Their outspread wings reached from wall to wall, while their inner wings touched at the center of the room.
• 28. He overlaid the two cherubim with gold.
• 29. All the walls of the inner sanctuary and the main room were decorated with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
• 30. The floor in both rooms was overlaid with gold.
• 31. For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon made double doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.
• 32. These doors were decorated with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and the doors were overlaid with gold.
• 33. Then he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the entrance to the Temple.
• 34. There were two folding doors of cypress wood, and each door was hinged to fold back upon itself.
• 35. These doors were decorated with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and the doors were overlaid with gold.
• 36. The walls of the inner courtyard were built so that there was one layer of cedar beams after every three layers of hewn stone.
• 37. The foundation of the LORD's Temple was laid in midspring of the fourth year of Solomon's reign.
• 38. The entire building was completed in every detail by midautumn of the eleventh year of his reign. So it took seven years to build the Temple.

Ephesians 3

• 1. I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus because of my preaching to you Gentiles.
• 2. As you already know, God has given me this special ministry of announcing his favor to you Gentiles.
• 3. As I briefly mentioned earlier in this letter, God himself revealed his secret plan to me.
• 4. As you read what I have written, you will understand what I know about this plan regarding Christ.
• 5. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now he has revealed it by the Holy Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.
• 6. And this is the secret plan: The Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God's children. Both groups have believed the Good News, and both are part of the same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ Jesus.
• 7. By God's special favor and mighty power, I have been given the wonderful privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.
• 8. Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.
• 9. I was chosen to explain to everyone this plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.
• 10. God's purpose was to show his wisdom in all its rich variety to all the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. They will see this when Jews and Gentiles are joined together in his church.
• 11. This was his plan from all eternity, and it has now been carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 12. Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God's presence, assured of his glad welcome.
• 13. So please don't despair because of what they are doing to me here. It is for you that I am suffering, so you should feel honored and encouraged.
• 14. When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
• 15. the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
• 16. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.
• 17. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.
• 18. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
• 19. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
• 20. Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.
• 21. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.

Ezekiel 36

• 1. "Son of man, prophesy to Israel's mountains. Give them this message: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD!
• 2. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Your enemies have taunted you, saying, `Aha! Now the ancient heights belong to us!'
• 3. Therefore, son of man, give the mountains of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: Your enemies have attacked you from all directions, and now you are possessed by many nations. You are the object of much mocking and slander.
• 4. Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign LORD. He speaks to the hills and mountains, ravines and valleys, and to ruined wastes and long-deserted cities that have been destroyed and mocked by foreign nations everywhere.
• 5. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My jealous anger is on fire against these nations, especially Edom, because they have shown utter contempt for me by gleefully taking my land for themselves as plunder.
• 6. "Therefore, prophesy to the hills and mountains, the ravines and valleys of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: I am full of fury because you have suffered shame before the surrounding nations.
• 7. Therefore, says the Sovereign LORD, I have raised my hand and sworn an oath that those nations will soon have their turn at suffering shame.
• 8. But the mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit to prepare for my people's return--and they will be coming home again soon!
• 9. See, I am concerned for you, and I will come to help you. Your ground will be tilled and your crops planted.
• 10. I will greatly increase the population of Israel, and the ruined cities will be rebuilt and filled with people.
• 11. Not only the people, but your flocks and herds will also greatly multiply. O mountains of Israel, I will bring people to live on you once again. I will make you even more prosperous than you were before. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
• 12. I will cause my people to walk on you once again, and you will be their inheritance. You will never again devour their children.
• 13. "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Now the other nations taunt you, saying, `Israel is a land that devours her own people!'
• 14. But you will never again devour your people or bereave your nation, says the Sovereign LORD.
• 15. I will not allow those foreign nations to sneer at you, and you will no longer be shamed by them or cause your nation to fall, says the Sovereign LORD."
• 16. Then this further message came to me from the LORD:
• 17. "Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their evil deeds. To me their conduct was as filthy as a bloody rag.
• 18. They polluted the land with murder and by worshiping idols, so I poured out my fury on them.
• 19. I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived.
• 20. But when they were scattered among the nations, they brought dishonor to my holy name. For the nations said, `These are the people of the LORD, and he couldn't keep them safe in his own land!'
• 21. Then I was concerned for my holy name, which had been dishonored by my people throughout the world.
• 22. "Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: I am bringing you back again but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, which you dishonored while you were scattered among the nations.
• 23. I will show how holy my great name is--the name you dishonored among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign LORD, then the nations will know that I am the LORD.
• 24. For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.
• 25. "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.
• 26. And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart.
• 27. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.
• 28. "And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God.
• 29. I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops, and I will abolish famine in the land.
• 30. I will give you great harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines.
• 31. Then you will remember your past sins and hate yourselves for all the evil things you did.
• 32. But remember, says the Sovereign LORD, I am not doing this because you deserve it. O my people of Israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done!
• 33. "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When I cleanse you from your sins, I will bring people to live in your cities, and the ruins will be rebuilt.
• 34. The fields that used to lie empty and desolate--a shock to all who passed by--will again be farmed.
• 35. And when I bring you back, people will say, `This godforsaken land is now like Eden's garden! The ruined cities now have strong walls, and they are filled with people!'
• 36. Then the nations all around--all those still left--will know that I, the LORD, rebuilt the ruins and planted lush crops in the wilderness. For I, the LORD, have promised this, and I will do it.
• 37. "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am ready to hear Israel's prayers for these blessings, and I am ready to grant them their requests.
• 38. I will multiply them like the sacred flocks that fill Jerusalem's streets at the time of her festivals. The ruined cities will be crowded with people once more, and everyone will know that I am the LORD."

New Living Translation: 276 of 365 days.