The
Awful Horror
(Matthew 24.15-28;
Luke 21.20-24)
Mark 13 14"You
will see 'The Awful Horror' standing in the place where
he should not be." (Note to the reader: understand
what this means!) "Then those who are in Judea must
run away to the hills. 15Someone who is on the
roof of a house must not lose time by going down into the
house to get anything to take along. 16Someone
who is in the field must not go back to the house for a
cloak. 17How terrible it will be in those days
for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little
babies! 18Pray to God that these things will
not happen in the winter! 19For the trouble of
those days will be far worse than any the world has ever
known from the very beginning when God created the world
until the present time. Nor will there ever be anything
like it again. 20But the Lord has reduced the
number of those days; if he had not, nobody would
survive. For the sake of his chosen people, however, he
has reduced those days.
 21"Then,
if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or,
'Look, there he is!'--do not believe it. 22For
false Messiahs and false prophets will appear. They will
perform miracles and wonders in order to deceive even
God's chosen people, if possible. 23Be on your
guard! I have told you everything ahead of time.
The Coming of the Son
of Man
(Matthew 24.29-31;
Luke 21.25-28)
24"In
the days after that time of trouble the sun will grow
dark, the moon will no longer shine, 25the
stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will
be driven from their courses. 26Then the Son
of Man will appear, coming in the clouds with great power
and glory. 27He will send the angels out to
the four corners of the earth to gather God's chosen
people from one end of the world to the other.
The Lesson of the Fig
Tree
(Matthew 24.32-35;
Luke 21.29-33)
28"Let
the fig tree teach you a lesson. When its branches become
green and tender and it starts putting out leaves, you
know that summer is near. 29In the same way,
when you see these things happening, you will know that
the time is near, ready to begin. 30Remember
that all these things will happen before the people now
living have all died. 31Heaven and earth will
pass away, but my words will never pass away.
No One Knows the Day or
Hour
(Matthew 24.36-44)
32"No
one knows, however, when that day or hour will
come--neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son; only the
Father knows. 33Be on watch, be alert, for you
do not know when the time will come. 34It will
be like a man who goes away from home on a trip and
leaves his servants in charge, after giving to each one
his own work to do and after telling the doorkeeper to
keep watch. 35Watch, then, because you do not
know when the master of the house is coming--it might be
in the evening or at midnight or before dawn or at
sunrise. 36If he comes suddenly, he must not
find you asleep. 37What I say to you, then, I
say to all: Watch!"
Solomon's Palace
1 Kings 7
Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him
thirteen years. 2-3The Hall of the Forest of
Lebanon was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet
high. It had three rows of cedar pillars, 15 in each row,
with cedar beams resting on them. The ceiling was of
cedar, extending over storerooms, which were supported by
the pillars. 4On each of the two side walls
there were three rows of windows. 5The
doorways and the windows had rectangular frames, and the
three rows of windows in each wall faced the opposite
rows.
6The
Hall of Columns was 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. It had
a covered porch, supported by columns.
7The
Throne Room, also called the Hall of Judgment, where
Solomon decided cases, had cedar panels from the floor to
the rafters.
8Solomon's
own quarters, in another court behind the Hall of
Judgment, were made like the other buildings. He also
built the same kind of house for his wife, the daughter
of the king of Egypt.
9All
these buildings and the great court were made of fine
stones from the foundations to the eaves. The stones were
prepared at the quarry and cut to measure, with their
inner and outer sides trimmed with saws. 10The
foundations were made of large stones prepared at the
quarry, some of them twelve feet long and others fifteen
feet long. 11On top of them were other stones,
cut to measure, and cedar beams. 12The palace
court, the inner court of the Temple, and the entrance
room of the Temple had walls with one layer of cedar
beams for every three layers of cut stones.
Huram's Task
13King
Solomon sent for a man named Huram, a craftsman living in
the city of Tyre, who was skilled in bronze work. 14His
father, who was no longer living, was from Tyre, and had
also been a skilled bronze craftsman; his mother was from
the tribe of Naphtali. Huram was an intelligent and
experienced craftsman. He accepted King Solomon's
invitation to be in charge of all the bronze work.
The Two Bronze Columns
(2 Chronicles 3.15 -17)
15Huram
cast two bronze columns, each one 27 feet tall and 18
feet in circumference, and placed them at the entrance of
the Temple. 16He also made two bronze
capitals, each one 7˝ feet tall, to be placed on top of
the columns. 17The top of each column was
decorated with a design of interwoven chains 18and
two rows of bronze pomegranates.
19The
capitals were shaped like lilies, 6 feet tall, 20and
were placed on a rounded section which was above the
chain design. There were 200 pomegranates in two rows
around each capital.
21Huram
placed these two bronze columns in front of the entrance
of the Temple: the one on the south side was named Jachin
and the one on the north was named Boaz. 22The
lily-shaped bronze capitals were on top of the columns.
 And
so the work on the columns was completed.
The Bronze Tank
(2 Chronicles 4.2-5)
23Huram
made a round tank of bronze, 7˝ feet deep, 15 feet in
diameter, and 45 feet in circumference. 24All
around the outer edge of the rim of the tank were two
rows of bronze gourds, which had been cast all in one
piece with the rest of the tank. 25The tank
rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced
outward, three facing in each direction. 26The
sides of the tank were 3 inches thick. Its rim was like
the rim of a cup, curving outward like the petals of a
lily. The tank held about 10,000 gallons.
The Bronze Carts
27Huram
also made ten bronze carts; each was 6 feet long, 6 feet
wide, and 4˝ feet high. 28They were made of
square panels which were set in frames, 29with
the figures of lions, bulls, and winged creatures on the
panels; and on the frames, above and underneath the lions
and bulls, there were spiral figures in relief. 30Each
cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. At the
four corners were bronze supports for a basin; the
supports were decorated with spiral figures in relief. 31There
was a circular frame on top for the basin. It projected
upward 18 inches from the top of the cart and 7 inches
down into it. It had carvings around it. 32The
wheels were 25 inches high; they were under the panels,
and the axles were of one piece with the carts. 33The
wheels were like chariot wheels; their axles, rims,
spokes, and hubs were all of bronze. 34There
were four supports at the bottom corners of each cart,
which were of one piece with the cart. 35There
was a 9-inch band around the top of each cart; its
supports and the panels were of one piece with the cart. 36The
supports and panels were decorated with figures of winged
creatures, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was
space for them, with spiral figures all around. 37This,
then, is how the carts were made; they were all alike,
having the same size and shape.
38Huram
also made ten basins, one for each cart. Each basin was 6
feet in diameter and held 200 gallons. 39He
placed five of the carts on the south side of the Temple,
and the other five on the north side; the tank he placed
at the southeast corner.
Summary List
of Temple Furnishings
(2 Chronicles 4.11--5.1)
40-45Huram
also made pots, shovels, and bowls. He completed all his
work for King Solomon for the LORD's
Temple. This is what he made:
 The
two columns
The
two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the columns
The
design of interwoven chains on each capital
The
400 bronze pomegranates, in two rows of 100 each around
the design on each capital
The
ten carts
The
ten basins
The
tank
The
twelve bulls supporting the tank
The
pots, shovels, and bowls
All
this equipment for the Temple, which Huram made for King
Solomon, was of polished bronze. 46The king
had it all made in the foundry between Sukkoth and
Zarethan, in the Jordan Valley. 47Solomon did
not have these bronze objects weighed, because there were
too many of them, and so their weight was never
determined.
48Solomon
also had gold furnishings made for the Temple: the altar,
the table for the bread offered to God, 49the
ten lampstands that stood in front of the Most Holy
Place, five on the south side and five on the north; the
flowers, lamps, and tongs; 50the cups, lamp
snuffers, bowls, dishes for incense, and the pans used
for carrying live coals; and the hinges for the doors of
the Most Holy Place and of the outer doors of the Temple.
All these furnishings were made of gold.
51When
King Solomon finished all the work on the Temple, he
placed in the Temple storerooms all the things that his
father David had dedicated to the LORD--the
silver, gold, and other articles.
Hosea Announces Punishment
for Israel
Hosea 9 People
of Israel, stop celebrating your festivals like pagans.
You have turned away from your God and have been
unfaithful to him. All over the land you have sold
yourselves like prostitutes to the god Baal and have
loved the grain you thought he paid you with! 2But
soon you will not have enough grain and olive oil, and
there will be no wine. 3The people of Israel
will not remain in the LORD's land,
but will have to go back to Egypt and will have to eat
forbidden food in Assyria. 4In those foreign
lands they will not be able to make wine offerings to the
LORD or bring their sacrifices to
him. Their food will defile everyone who eats it, like
food eaten at funerals. It will be used only to satisfy
their hunger; none of it will be taken as an offering to
the LORD's Temple. 5And
when the time comes for the appointed festivals in honor
of the LORD, what will they do
then? 6When the disaster comes and the people
are scattered, the Egyptians will gather them up--gather
them for burial there at Memphis! Their treasures of
silver and the places where their homes once stood will
be overgrown with weeds and thorn bushes.
7The
time for punishment has come, the time when people will
get what they deserve. When that happens, Israel will
know it! "This prophet," you say, "is a
fool. This inspired man is insane." You people hate
me so much because your sin is so great. 8God
has sent me as a prophet to warn his people Israel. Yet
wherever I go, you try to trap me like a bird. Even in
God's Temple the people are the prophet's enemies. 9They
are hopelessly evil in what they do, just as they were at
Gibeah. God will remember their sin and punish them
for it.
Israel's Sin and Its
Consequences
10The
LORD says, "When I first found
Israel, it was like finding grapes growing in the desert.
When I first saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the
first ripe figs of the season. But when they came to
Mount Peor, they began to worship Baal and soon became as
disgusting as the gods they loved. 11Israel's
greatness will fly away like a bird, and there will be no
more children born to them, no more women pregnant, no
more children conceived. 12But even if they
did bring up children, I would take them away and not
leave one alive. When I abandon these people, terrible
things will happen to them."
13LORD, I can see their children being
hunted down and killed. 14What shall I ask you
to do to these people? Make their women barren! Make them
unable to nurse their babies!
The LORD's
Judgment on Israel
15The
LORD says, "All their
evildoing began in Gilgal. It was there that I began to
hate them. And because of the evil they have done, I will
drive them out of my land. I will not love them any more;
all their leaders have rebelled against me. 16The
people of Israel are like a plant whose roots have dried
up and which bears no fruit. They will have no children,
but even if they did, I would kill the children so dear
to them."
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