Jesus Prays in Gethsemane
(Matthew 26.36-46; Luke 22.39-46)

The Arrest of Jesus
(Matthew 26.47-56; Luke 22.47-53; John 18.3-12)

⁴³Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders. ⁴⁴The traitor had given the crowd a signal: "The man I kiss is the one you want. Arrest him and take him away under guard."
⁴⁵As soon as Judas arrived, he went up to Jesus and said, "Teacher!" and kissed him. ⁴⁶So they arrested Jesus and held him tight. ⁴⁷But one of those standing there drew his sword and struck at the High Priest's slave, cutting off his ear. ⁴⁸Then Jesus spoke up and said to them, "Did you have to come with swords and clubs to capture me, as though I were an outlaw? ⁴⁹Day after day I was with you teaching in the Temple, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must come true."
⁵⁰Then all the disciples left him and ran away.
⁵¹A certain young man, dressed only in a linen cloth, was following Jesus. They tried to arrest him, ⁵²but he ran away naked, leaving the cloth behind.

Jesus before the Council
(Matthew 26.57-68; Luke 22.54, 55, 63-71; John 18.13, 14, 19-24)

⁵³Then Jesus was taken to the High Priest's house, where all the chief priests, the elders, and the teachers of the Law were gathering. ⁵⁴Peter followed from a distance and went into the courtyard of the High Priest's house. There he sat down with the guards, keeping himself warm by the fire. ⁵⁵The chief priests and the whole Council tried to find some evidence against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they could not find any. ⁵⁶Many witnesses told lies against Jesus, but their stories did not agree.
⁵⁷Then some men stood up and told this lie against Jesus: ⁵⁸"We heard him say, 'I will tear down this Temple which men have made, and after three days I will build one that is not made by men.'" ⁵⁹Not even they, however, could make their stories agree.
⁶⁰The High Priest stood up in front of them all and questioned Jesus, "Have you no answer to the accusation they bring against you?"
⁶¹But Jesus kept quiet and would not say a word. Again the High Priest questioned him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?"
⁶²"I am," answered Jesus, "and you will all see the Son of Man seated at the right side of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven!"
⁶³The High Priest tore his robes and said, "We don't need any more witnesses! ⁶⁴You heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?"
They all voted against him: he was guilty and should be put to death.
⁶⁵Some of them began to spit on Jesus, and they blindfolded him and hit him. "Guess who hit you!" they said. And the guards took him and slapped him.

Peter Denies Jesus
(Matthew 26.69-75; Luke 22.56-62; John 18.15-18, 25-27)

⁶⁶Peter was still down in the courtyard when one of the High Priest's servant women came by. ⁶⁷When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked straight at him and said, "You, too, were with Jesus of Nazareth."
⁶⁸But he denied it. "I don't know . . . I don't understand what you are talking about," he answered, and went out into the passageway. Just then a rooster crowed.
⁶⁹The servant woman saw him there and began to repeat to the bystanders, "He is one of them!" ⁷⁰But Peter denied it again.
A little while later the bystanders accused Peter again, "You can't deny that you are one of them, because you, too, are from Galilee."
⁷¹Then Peter said, "I swear that I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I am not! I do not know the man you are talking about!"
⁷²Just then a rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, "Before the rooster crows two times, you will say three times that you do not know me." And he broke down and cried.

God Appears to Solomon Again
(2 Chronicles 7.11-22)

1 Kings 9 After King Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and everything else he wanted to build, ²the LORD appeared to him again, as he had in Gibeon. ³The LORD said to him, "I have heard your prayer. I consecrate this Temple which you have built as the place where I shall be worshiped forever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time. ⁴If you will serve me in honesty and integrity, as your father David did, and if you obey my laws and do everything I have commanded you, ⁵I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants. ⁶But if you or your descendants stop following me, disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and worship other gods, ⁷then I will remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them. I will also abandon this Temple which I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule Israel and treat her with contempt. ⁸This Temple will become a pile of ruins, and everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. 'Why did the LORD do this to this land and this Temple?' they will ask. ⁹People will answer, 'It is because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the LORD has brought this disaster on them.'"

Solomon's Agreement with Hiram
(2 Chronicles 8.1, 2)

¹⁰It took Solomon twenty years to build the Temple and his palace. ¹¹King Hiram of Tyre had provided him with all the cedar and pine and with all the gold he wanted for this work. After it was finished, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee. ¹²Hiram went to see them, and he did not like them. ¹³So he said to Solomon, "So these, my brother, are the towns you have given me!" For this reason the area is still called Cabul. ¹⁴Hiram had sent Solomon almost five tons of gold.

Further Achievements of Solomon
(2 Chronicles 8.3-18)

¹⁵King Solomon used forced labor to build the Temple and the palace, to fill in land on the east side of the city, and to build the city wall. He also used it to rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ( ¹⁶The king of Egypt had attacked Gezer and captured it, killing its inhabitants and setting fire to the city. Then he gave it as a wedding present to his daughter when she married Solomon, ¹⁷and Solomon rebuilt it.) Using his forced labor, Solomon also rebuilt Lower Beth Horon, ¹⁸Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness of Judah, ¹⁹the cities where his supplies were kept, the cities for his horses and chariots, and everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and elsewhere in his kingdom. ^20-21For his forced labor Solomon used the descendants of the people of Canaan whom the Israelites had not killed when they took possession of their land. These included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, whose descendants continue to be slaves down to the present time. ²²Solomon did not make slaves of Israelites; they served as his soldiers, officers, commanders, chariot captains, and cavalry.
²³There were 550 officials in charge of the forced labor working on Solomon's various building projects.
²⁴Solomon filled in the land on the east side of the city, after his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, had moved from David's City to the palace Solomon built for her.
²⁵Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built to the LORD. He also burned incense to the LORD. And so he finished building the Temple.
²⁶King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Eziongeber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land of Edom. ²⁷King Hiram sent some experienced sailors from his fleet to serve with Solomon's men. ²⁸They sailed to the land of Ophir and brought back to Solomon about sixteen tons of gold.

God's Love for His Rebellious People

Hosea 11 The LORD says,
"When Israel was a child, I loved him
and called him out of Egypt as my son.
²But the more I called to him,
the more he turned away from me.
My people sacrificed to Baal;
they burned incense to idols.
³Yet I was the one who taught Israel to walk.
I took my people up in my arms,
but they did not acknowledge that I took care of them.
⁴I drew them to me with affection and love.
I picked them up and held them to my cheek;
I bent down to them and fed them.

⁵"They refuse to return to me, and so they must return to Egypt, and Assyria will rule them. ⁶War will sweep through their cities and break down the city gates. It will destroy my people because they do what they themselves think best. ⁷They insist on turning away from me. They will cry out because of the yoke that is on them, but no one will lift it from them.

⁸"How can I give you up, Israel?
How can I abandon you?
Could I ever destroy you as I did Admah,
or treat you as I did Zeboiim?
My heart will not let me do it!
My love for you is too strong.
⁹I will not punish you in my anger;
I will not destroy Israel again.
For I am God and not a mere human being.
I, the Holy One, am with you.
I will not come to you in anger.

¹⁰"My people will follow me when I roar like a lion at their enemies. They will hurry to me from the west. ¹¹They will come from Egypt, as swiftly as birds, and from Assyria, like doves. I will bring them to their homes again. I, the LORD, have spoken."