The Daily Audio Bible

The Inner Court

²⁸ He brought me to the inner court by the south gate. And he measured the south gate according to these same measurements. ²⁹ And its little chambers and its posts and its arches were according to these same measurements. And there were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁰ The arches all around were twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide. ³¹ Its arches faced the outer court. And palm tree ornaments were on its posts. And its staircase had eight steps.

³² He brought me into the inner court facing east. And he measured the gate according to these same measurements. ³³ Its little chambers and its posts and its arches were according to these same measurements. And there were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty cubits^[a] long and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁴ Its arches faced the outer court. And palm tree ornaments were on its posts, on this side and on that side. And its staircase had eight steps.

³⁵ He brought me to the north gate and measured it according to these same measurements; ³⁶ its little chambers, its posts, and its arches, and it had windows all around: the length was fifty cubits, and the width twenty-five cubits. ³⁷ Its posts faced the outer court. And palm tree ornaments were on its posts, on this side and on that side. And its staircase had eight steps.

Chambers for Washing the Sacrifice

³⁸ The chambers and its entrance were by the posts of the gates where they washed the burnt offering. ³⁹ In the vestibule of the gate were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, to slay on it the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering. ⁴⁰ On the outside of the vestibule, as one goes up to the entrance of the north gate, were two tables. And on the other side of the vestibule of the gate were two tables. ⁴¹ Four tables were on this side and four tables on that side by the side of the gate, eight tables on which they slaughtered their sacrifices. ⁴² The four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering, of a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high.^[b] On which also they laid the instruments with which they slaughtered the burnt offering and the sacrifice. ⁴³ Within were hooks, a handbreadth wide,^[c] fastened all around. And on the tables was the flesh of the offering.

Chambers for the Singers and Priests

⁴⁴ Outside the inner gate were the chambers for the singers in the inner court, one at the side of the north gate facing south, the other at the side of the east gate facing north. ⁴⁵ He said to me, “This chamber that faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple. ⁴⁶ The chamber that faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, who come near to the Lord to minister to Him.”

⁴⁷ So he measured the court, a hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits wide, foursquare. And the altar was before the temple.

The Vestibule of the Temple

⁴⁸ Then he brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured each post of the vestibule, five cubits^[d] on this side, and five cubits on that side. And the width of the gate was three cubits^[e] on this side and three cubits on that side. ⁴⁹ The length of the vestibule was twenty cubits^[f] and the width eleven cubits.^[g] And he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it. And there were pillars by the posts, one on this side and another on that side.

The Inner Temple

41 Afterward he brought me to the temple and measured the posts, six cubits^[h] wide on the one side and six cubits wide on the other side, which was the width of the tabernacle. ² The width of the door was ten cubits.^[i] And the sides of the door were five cubits^[j] on the one side and five cubits on the other side. And he measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.^[k]

³ Then he went inward and measured the post of the door, two cubits,^[l] and the door, six cubits, and the width of the door, seven cubits.^{[m] 4} So he measured its length, twenty cubits. And before the temple, the width was twenty cubits. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵ Afterward he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits, and the width of every side chamber, four cubits,^[n] all around the temple on every side. ⁶ The side chambers were in three stories, one above the other, thirty in each story. There were offsets all around to serve as supports for the side chambers, so that they should not be supported by the wall of the temple. ⁷ The side chambers became wider with each successive story going up because the structures went up all around the temple. Therefore the width of the temple increased going upwards and thus one went up from the lowest to the highest level through the middle level.

⁸ I saw also the height all around the temple. The foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. ⁹ The thickness of the wall of the side chambers was five cubits. And that which was left was the place of the side chambers that were within. ¹⁰ Between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side. ¹¹ The doors of the side chambers opened onto the open place, one door toward the north and another door toward the south. And the width of the open place was five cubits all around.

¹² Now the building that was facing the separate yard on the west side was seventy cubits^[o] wide. And the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.^[p]

¹³ So he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; and the separate yard and the building with its walls, a hundred cubits long;^{[q] 14} also the width of the eastern face of the temple and the separate yard was a hundred cubits.

¹⁵ Then he measured the length of the building facing the yard at the west, together with its galleries on either side, one hundred cubits with the nave of the temple and the porches of the court, ¹⁶ the doorposts and the narrow windows. The galleries all around their three stories opposite the threshold were paneled with wood from the ground to the windows (the windows were covered), ¹⁷ from the space above the door, even to the inner room, as well as outside, and on every wall all around, inside and outside, by measure. ¹⁸ It was made with cherubim and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between cherub and cherub. And every cherub had two faces, ¹⁹ so that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. It was made throughout the temple all round. ²⁰ From the ground to the top of the door and on the wall of the nave, cherubim and palm trees were carved.

²¹ The posts of the temple and the face of the sanctuary were squared. The appearance of the one was as the appearance of the other. ²² The altar of wood was three cubits^[r] high, and its length two cubits. And its corners and its length and its walls were of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.” ²³ The temple and the sanctuary had two doors. ²⁴ The doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves. Two leaves were for the one door, and two leaves for the other door. ²⁵ There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees like those made on the walls. And there were thick planks on the front of the vestibule outside. ²⁶ There were beveled windows and palm trees on both sides, on the sides of the vestibule; thus were the side chambers of the temple and the thresholds.

Friendship With the World

4 Where do wars and fights among you come from? Do they not come from your lusts that war in your body? ² You lust and do not have, so you kill. You desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask, and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your passions.

⁴ You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. ⁵ Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “He yearns jealously for the spirit that lives in us”^[a]? ⁶ But He gives more grace. For this reason it says:

⁷ Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Judging a Brother

¹¹ Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. He who speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. ¹² There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

Warning Against Boasting

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit,” ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It is just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ But now you are rejoicing in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. ¹⁷ Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, it is sin.