28Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate; and he measured the south gate according to those same measurements. 29Its guardrooms also, its side pillars and its porches were according to those same measurements. And the gate and its porches had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 30There were porches all around, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide. 31Its porches were toward the outer court; and palm tree ornaments were on its side pillars, and its stairway had eight steps.

32He brought me into the inner court toward the east. And he measured the gate according to those same measurements. 33Its guardrooms also, its side pillars and its porches were according to those same measurements. And the gate and its porches had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 34Its porches were toward the outer court; and palm tree ornaments were on its side pillars, on each side, and its stairway had eight steps.

35Then he brought me to the north gate; and he measured it according to those same measurements, 36with its guardrooms, its side pillars and its porches. And the gate had windows all around; the length was fifty cubits and the width twenty-five cubits. 37Its side pillars were toward the outer court; and palm tree ornaments were on its side pillars on each side, and its stairway had eight steps.

38A chamber with its doorway was by the side pillars at the gates; there they rinse the burnt offering. 39In the porch of the gate were two tables on each side, on which to slaughter the burnt offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering. 40On the outer side, as one went up to the gateway toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side of the porch of the gate were two tables. 41Four tables were on each side next to the gate; or, eight tables on which they slaughter sacrifices. 42For the burnt offering there were four tables of hewn stone, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide and one cubit high, on which they lay the instruments with which they slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice. 43The double hooks, one handbreadth in length, were installed in the house all around; and on the tables was the flesh of the offering.

44From the outside to the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner court, one of which was at the side of the north gate, with its front toward the south, and one at the side of the south gate facing toward the north. 45He said to me, “This is the chamber which faces toward the south, intended for the priests who keep charge of the temple; 46but the chamber which faces toward the north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who from the sons of Levi come near to the Lord to minister to Him.” 47He measured the court, a perfect square, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide; and the altar was in front of the temple.

48Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured each side pillar of the porch, five cubits on each side; and the width of the gate was three cubits on each side. 49The length of the porch was twenty cubits and the width eleven cubits; and at the stairway by which it was ascended were columns belonging to the side pillars, one on each side.

The Inner Temple

1Then he brought me to the nave and measured the side pillars; six cubits wide on each side was the width of the side pillar. 2The width of the entrance was ten cubits and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side. And he measured the length of the nave, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits. 3Then he went inside and measured each side pillar of the doorway, two cubits, and the doorway, six cubits high; and the width of the doorway, seven cubits. 4He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the nave; and he said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

5Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits; and the width of the side chambers, four cubits, all around about the house on every side. 6The side chambers were in three stories, one above another, and thirty in each story; and the side chambers extended to the wall which stood on their inward side all around, that they might be fastened, and not be fastened into the wall of the temple itself. 7The side chambers surrounding the temple were wider at each successive story. Because the structure surrounding the temple went upward by stages on all sides of the temple, therefore the width of the temple increased as it went higher; and thus one went up from the lowest story to the highest by way of the second story. 8I saw also that the house had a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers were a full rod of six long cubits in height. 9The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. But the free space between the side chambers belonging to the temple 10and the outer chambers was twenty cubits in width all around the temple on every side. 11The doorways of the side chambers toward the free space consisted of one doorway toward the north and another doorway toward the south; and the width of the free space was five cubits all around.

12The building that was in front of the separate area at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.

13Then he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; the separate area with the building and its walls were also a hundred cubits long. 14Also the width of the front of the temple and that of the separate areas along the east side totaled a hundred cubits.

15He measured the length of the building along the front of the separate area behind it, with a gallery on each side, a hundred cubits; he also measured the inner nave and the porches of the court. 16The thresholds, the latticed windows and the galleries round about their three stories, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, and from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered), 17over the entrance, and to the inner house, and on the outside, and on all the wall all around inside and outside, by measurement. 18It was carved with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces, 19a man’s face toward the palm tree on one side and a young lion’s face toward the palm tree on the other side; they were carved on all the house all around. 20From the ground to above the entrance cherubim and palm trees were carved, as well as on the wall of the nave.

21The doorposts of the nave were square; as for the front of the sanctuary, the appearance of one doorpost was like that of the other. 22The altar was of wood, three cubits high and its length two cubits; its corners, its base and its sides were of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.” 23The nave and the sanctuary each had a double door. 24Each of the doors had two leaves, two swinging leaves; two leaves for one door and two leaves for the other. 25Also there were carved on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the front of the porch outside. 26There were latticed windows and palm trees on one side and on the other, on the sides of the porch; thus were the side chambers of the house and the thresholds.

Things to Avoid

1What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? 6But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

11Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?

13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

19Open to me the gates of righteousness;

I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord.

20This is the gate of the Lord;

The righteous will enter through it.

21I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me,

And You have become my salvation.

22The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief corner stone.

23This is the Lord’s doing;

It is marvelous in our eyes.

24This is the day which the Lord has made;

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25O Lord, do save, we beseech You;

O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity!

26Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord;

We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.

27The Lord is God, and He has given us light;

Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

28You are my God, and I give thanks to You;

You are my God, I extol You.

29Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

3A poor man who oppresses the lowly

Is like a driving rain which leaves no food.

4Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,

But those who keep the law strive with them.

5Evil men do not understand justice,

But those who seek the Lord understand all things.