1 Kings 8

• 1. Solomon then summoned the leaders of all the tribes and families of Israel to assemble in Jerusalem. They were to bring the Ark of the LORD's covenant from its location in the City of David, also known as Zion, to its new place in the Temple.
• 2. They all assembled before the king at the annual Festival of Shelters in early autumn.
• 3. When all the leaders of Israel arrived, the priests picked up the Ark.
• 4. Then the priests and Levites took the Ark of the LORD, along with the Tabernacle and all its sacred utensils, and carried them up to the Temple.
• 5. King Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed sheep and oxen before the Ark in such numbers that no one could keep count!
• 6. Then the priests carried the Ark of the LORD's covenant into the inner sanctuary of the Temple--the Most Holy Place--and placed it beneath the wings of the cherubim.
• 7. The cherubim spread their wings over the Ark, forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles.
• 8. These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the front entrance of the Temple's main room--the Holy Place--but not from outside it. They are still there to this day.
• 9. Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were leaving the land of Egypt.
• 10. As the priests came out of the inner sanctuary, a cloud filled the Temple of the LORD.
• 11. The priests could not continue their work because the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple.
• 12. Then Solomon prayed, "O LORD, you have said that you would live in thick darkness.
• 13. But I have built a glorious Temple for you, where you can live forever!"
• 14. Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave this blessing:
• 15. "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father, David.
• 16. For he told my father, `From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among the tribes of Israel as the place where a temple should be built to honor my name. But now I have chosen David to be king over my people.'"
• 17. Then Solomon said, "My father, David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
• 18. But the LORD told him, `It is right for you to want to build the Temple to honor my name,
• 19. but you are not the one to do it. One of your sons will build it instead.'
• 20. "And now the LORD has done what he promised, for I have become king in my father's place. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
• 21. And I have prepared a place there for the Ark, which contains the covenant that the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt."
• 22. Then Solomon stood with his hands lifted toward heaven before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire community of Israel.
• 23. He prayed, "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven or earth. You keep your promises and show unfailing love to all who obey you and are eager to do your will.
• 24. You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and today you have fulfilled it with your own hands.
• 25. And now, O LORD, God of Israel, carry out your further promise to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, `If your descendants guard their behavior as you have done, they will always reign over Israel.'
• 26. Now, O God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David, my father.
• 27. "But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!
• 28. Listen to my prayer and my request, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today.
• 29. May you watch over this Temple both day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place.
• 30. May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.
• 31. "If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of the altar at this Temple,
• 32. then hear from heaven and judge between your servants--the accuser and the accused. Punish the guilty party and acquit the one who is innocent.
• 33. "If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn to you and call on your name and pray to you here in this Temple,
• 34. then hear from heaven and forgive their sins and return them to this land you gave their ancestors.
• 35. "If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this Temple and confess your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them,
• 36. then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to do what is right, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession.
• 37. "If there is a famine in the land, or plagues, or crop disease, or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people's enemies are in the land besieging their towns--whatever the trouble is--
• 38. and if your people offer a prayer concerning their troubles or sorrow, raising their hands toward this Temple,
• 39. then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people whatever they deserve, for you alone know the human heart.
• 40. Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.
• 41. "And when foreigners hear of you and come from distant lands to worship your great name--
• 42. for they will hear of you and of your mighty miracles and your power--and when they pray toward this Temple,
• 43. then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. Then all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built bears your name.
• 44. "If your people go out at your command to fight their enemies, and if they pray to the LORD toward this city that you have chosen and toward this Temple that I have built for your name,
• 45. then hear their prayers from heaven and uphold their cause.
• 46. "If they sin against you--and who has never sinned?--you may become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to a foreign land far or near.
• 47. But in that land of exile, they may turn to you again in repentance and pray, `We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.'
• 48. Then if they turn to you with their whole heart and soul and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors, toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name,
• 49. then hear their prayers from heaven where you live. Uphold their cause
• 50. and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Make their captors merciful to them,
• 51. for they are your people--your special possession--whom you brought out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt.
• 52. "May your eyes be open to my requests and to the requests of your people Israel. Hear and answer them whenever they cry out to you.
• 53. For when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O Sovereign LORD, you told your servant Moses that you had separated Israel from among all the nations of the earth to be your own special possession."
• 54. When Solomon finished making these prayers and requests to the LORD, he stood up in front of the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands raised toward heaven.
• 55. He stood there and shouted this blessing over the entire community of Israel:
• 56. "Praise the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Moses.
• 57. May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never forsake us.
• 58. May he give us the desire to do his will in everything and to obey all the commands, laws, and regulations that he gave our ancestors.
• 59. And may these words that I have prayed in the presence of the LORD be before him constantly, day and night, so that the LORD our God may uphold my cause and the cause of his people Israel, fulfilling our daily needs.
• 60. May people all over the earth know that the LORD is God and that there is no other god.
• 61. And may you, his people, always be faithful to the LORD our God. May you always obey his laws and commands, just as you are doing today."
• 62. Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices to the LORD.
• 63. Solomon sacrificed peace offerings to the LORD numbering 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. And so the king and all Israel dedicated the Temple of the LORD.
• 64. That same day the king dedicated the central area of the courtyard in front of the LORD's Temple. He offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar in the LORD's presence was too small to handle so many offerings.
• 65. Then Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters in the presence of the LORD their God. A large crowd had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north to the brook of Egypt in the south. The celebration went on for fourteen days in all--seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters.
• 66. After the festival was over, Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king as they went, and they were all joyful and happy because the LORD had been good to his servant David and to his people Israel.

Ephesians 5

• 1. Follow God's example in everything you do, because you are his dear children.
• 2. Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, because that sacrifice was like sweet perfume to him.
• 3. Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people.
• 4. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes--these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.
• 5. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is really an idolater who worships the things of this world.
• 6. Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the terrible anger of God comes upon all those who disobey him.
• 7. Don't participate in the things these people do.
• 8. For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it!
• 9. For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
• 10. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
• 11. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, rebuke and expose them.
• 12. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.
• 13. But when the light shines on them, it becomes clear how evil these things are.
• 14. And where your light shines, it will expose their evil deeds. This is why it is said, "Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
• 15. So be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise.
• 16. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days.
• 17. Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.
• 18. Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.
• 19. Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts.
• 20. And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 21. And further, you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
• 22. You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord.
• 23. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior.
• 24. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything.
• 25. And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her
• 26. to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word.
• 27. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.
• 28. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man is actually loving himself when he loves his wife.
• 29. No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church.
• 30. And we are his body.
• 31. As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one."
• 32. This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.
• 33. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Ezekiel 38

• 1. This is another message that came to me from the LORD:
• 2. "Son of man, prophesy against Gog of the land of Magog, the prince who rules over the nations of Meshech and Tubal.
• 3. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: Gog, I am your enemy!
• 4. I will turn you around and put hooks into your jaws to lead you out to your destruction. I will mobilize your troops and cavalry and make you a vast and mighty horde, all fully armed.
• 5. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya will join you, too, with all their weapons.
• 6. Gomer and all its hordes will also join you, along with the armies of Beth-togarmah from the distant north and many others.
• 7. "Get ready; be prepared! Keep all the armies around you mobilized, and take command of them.
• 8. A long time from now you will be called into action. In the distant future you will swoop down on the land of Israel, which will be lying in peace after her recovery from war and after the return of her people from many lands.
• 9. You and all your allies--a vast and awesome horde--will roll down on them like a storm and cover the land like a cloud.
• 10. "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: At that time evil thoughts will come to your mind, and you will devise a wicked scheme.
• 11. You will say, `Israel is an unprotected land filled with unwalled villages! I will march against her and destroy these people who live in such confidence!
• 12. I will go to those once-desolate cities that are again filled with people who have returned from exile in many nations. I will capture vast amounts of plunder and take many slaves, for the people are rich with cattle now, and they think the whole world revolves around them!'
• 13. But Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish will ask, `Who are you to rob them of silver and gold? Who are you to drive away their cattle and seize their goods and make them poor?'
• 14. "Therefore, son of man, prophesy against Gog. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: When my people are living in peace in their land, then you will rouse yourself.
• 15. You will come from your homeland in the distant north with your vast cavalry and your mighty army,
• 16. and you will cover the land like a cloud. This will happen in the distant future. I will bring you against my land as everyone watches, and my holiness will be displayed by what happens to you. Then all the nations will know that I am the LORD.
• 17. "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You are the one I was talking about long ago, when I announced through Israel's prophets that in future days I would bring you against my people.
• 18. But when Gog invades the land of Israel, says the Sovereign LORD, my fury will rise!
• 19. For in my jealousy and blazing anger, I promise a mighty shaking in the land of Israel on that day.
• 20. All living things--all the fish, birds, animals, and people--will quake in terror at my presence. Mountains will be thrown down; cliffs will crumble; walls will fall to the earth.
• 21. I will summon the sword against you throughout Israel, says the Sovereign LORD. Your men will turn against each other in mortal combat.
• 22. I will punish you and your hordes with disease and bloodshed; I will send torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and burning sulfur!
• 23. Thus will I show my greatness and holiness, and I will make myself known to all the nations of the world. Then they will know that I am the LORD!

New Living Translation: 278 of 365 days.