Wisdom Builds God's House, Division Threatens It

1. Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2. For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. 3. It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row. 4. There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks. 5. All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was facing window in three ranks. 6. He made the porch of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits; with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them. 7. He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. 8. His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch. 9. All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. 10. The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. 11. Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood. 12. The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like the inner court of Yahweh’s house and the porch of the house. 13. King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre. 14. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work. 15. For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them. 16. He made two capitals of molten brass, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 17. There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. 18. So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital. 19. The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits. 20. There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital. 21. He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz. 22. On the top of the pillars was lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished. 23. He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it. 24. Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast. 25. It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. 26. It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. 27. He made the ten bases of brass. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. 28. The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; 29. and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. 30. Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet of it had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each. 31. Its mouth within the capital and above was a cubit. Its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. 32. The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. 33. The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all of cast metal. 34. There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. 35. In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were of the same. 36. On the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. 37. He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. 38. He made ten basins of brass. One basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin. 39. He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south. 40. Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for king Solomon in Yahweh’s house: 41. the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; 42. the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; 43. the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases; 44. the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea; 45. the pots; the shovels; and the basins: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in Yahweh’s house, were of burnished brass. 46. The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. 47. Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the brass could not be determined. 48. Solomon made all the vessels that were in Yahweh’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold; 49. and the lamp stands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; 50. the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold. 51. Thus all the work that king Solomon did in Yahweh’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of Yahweh’s house. 1. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion. 2. All the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3. All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark. 4. They brought up Yahweh’s ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levites brought these up. 5. King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. 6. The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the cherubim’s wings. 7. For the cherubim spread their wings out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above. 8. The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary; but they were not seen outside. They are there to this day. 9. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10. It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled Yahweh’s house, 11. so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for Yahweh’s glory filled Yahweh’s house. 12. Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 13. I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.” 14. The king turned his face around, and blessed all the assembly of Israel; and all the assembly of Israel stood. 15. He said, “Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 16. ‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ 17. “Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 18. But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19. Nevertheless, you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.’ 20. Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 21. There I have set a place for the ark, in which is Yahweh’s covenant, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.” 22. Solomon stood before Yahweh’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; 23. and he said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart; 24. who has kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today. 25. Now therefore, may Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ 26. “Now therefore, God of Israel, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father. 27. But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 28. Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today; 29. that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place. 30. Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive. 31. “If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house; 32. then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. 33. “When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this house; 34. then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers. 35. “When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, 36. then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. 37. “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; 38. whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house, 39. then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men); 40. that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers. 41. “Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes out of a far country for your name’s sake 42. (for they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house; 43. hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name. 44. “If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name; 45. then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 46. If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 47. yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly;’ 48. if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name; 49. then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause; 50. and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51. (for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron furnace); 52. that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you. 53. For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord Yahweh.” 54. It was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before Yahweh’s altar, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55. He stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56. “Blessed be Yahweh, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant. 57. May Yahweh our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us or forsake us; 58. that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers. 59. Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before Yahweh, be near to Yahweh our God day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day requires; 60. that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh himself is God. There is no one else. 61. “Let your heart therefore be perfect with Yahweh our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as it is today.” 62. The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Yahweh. 63. Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to Yahweh, twenty two thousand head of cattle, and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated Yahweh’s house. 64. The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before Yahweh’s house; for there he offered the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Yahweh was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings. 65. So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before Yahweh our God, seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days. 66. On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad in their hearts for all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people. 1. When Solomon had finished the building of Yahweh’s house, the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, 2. Yahweh appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3. Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. 4. As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances; 5. then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6. But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them; 7. then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8. Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this land, and to this house?’ 9. and they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned Yahweh their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore Yahweh has brought all this evil on them.’” 10. At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, Yahweh’s house and the king’s house 11. (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and cypress trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12. Hiram came out of Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they didn’t please him. 13. He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul to this day. 14. Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold. 15. This is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build Yahweh’s house, his own house, Millo, Jerusalem’s wall, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16. Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, taken Gezer, burned it with fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it for a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17. Solomon built in the land Gezer, Beth Horon the lower, 18. Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness, 19. all the storage cities that Solomon had, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20. As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel; 21. their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, of them Solomon raised a levy of bondservants to this day. 22. But of the children of Israel Solomon made no bondservants; but they were the men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen. 23. These were the five hundred fifty chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, who ruled over the people who labored in the work. 24. But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of David’s city to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built Millo. 25. Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to Yahweh three times per year, burning incense with them, on the altar that was before Yahweh. So he finished the house. 26. King Solomon made a fleet of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27. Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, sailors who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. 28. They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2. to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours: 3. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4. I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus; 5. that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge; 6. even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7. so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; 8. who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9. God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. 10. Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11. For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12. Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.” 13. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14. I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius, 15. so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name. 16. (I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.) 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void. 18. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God. 19. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.” 20. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21. For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. 22. For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, 23. but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks, 24. but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26. For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; 27. but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; 28. and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are: 29. that no flesh should boast before God. 30. Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: 31. that, according as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” 1. When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2. For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4. My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5. that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 6. We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown; yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. 7. But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, 8. which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. 9. But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.” 10. But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit. 12. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. 13. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. 14. Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one. 16. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind. 1. Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. 2. I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, not even now are you ready, 3. for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men? 4. For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you fleshly? 5. Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him? 6. I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. 7. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8. Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building. 10. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it. 11. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12. But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble; 13. each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is. 14. If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. 15. If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire. 16. Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are. 18. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. 19. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.” 20. And again, “The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless.” 21. Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22. whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, 23. and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. 1. So let a man think of us as Christ’s servants, and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2. Here, moreover, it is required of stewards, that they be found faithful. 3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man’s judgment. Yes, I don’t judge my own self. 4. For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God. 6. Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another. 7. For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 8. You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you. 9. For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. 10. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. 11. Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. 12. We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. 13. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now. 14. I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15. For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News. 16. I beg you therefore, be imitators of me. 17. Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every assembly. 18. Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. 19. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. 20. For God’s Kingdom is not in word, but in power. 21. What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

1. Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me. 2. Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous. 3. For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead. 4. Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. 5. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands. 6. I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah. 7. Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit. 8. Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you. 9. Deliver me, Yahweh, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me. 10. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness. 11. Revive me, Yahweh, for your name’s sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble. 12. In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, For I am your servant.