Temple and God's Presence in the Bible

5The house which I build is great; for great is our God above all gods.

6But who is able to build him a house, seeing heaven and the heaven of heavens can`t contain him? who am I then, that I should build him a house, save only to burn incense before him?

11It happened, when the priests were come out of the holy place, (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, and did not keep their courses;

12also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them one hundred twenty priests sounding with trumpets;)

13it happened, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Yahweh; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Yahweh, [saying], For he is good; for his lovingkindness endures forever; that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of Yahweh,

14so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of God.

18But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can`t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!

32Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for your great name`s sake, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house:

33then hear from heaven, even from 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, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

33then hear from heaven, even from 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, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

1Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Yahweh filled the house.

2The priests could not enter into the house of Yahweh, because the glory of Yahweh filled Yahweh`s house.

3All the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the glory of Yahweh was on the house; and they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshipped, and gave thanks to Yahweh, [saying], For he is good; for his lovingkindness endures for ever.

20then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

21This house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall say, Why has Yahweh done thus to this land, and to this house?

22They shall answer, Because they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore has he brought all this evil on them.

8Blessed be Yahweh your God, who delighted in you, to set you on his throne, to be king for Yahweh your God: because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore made he you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.

18The glory of Yahweh went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.

19The cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them: and they stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh`s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

3Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.

4The glory of Yahweh mounted up from the cherub, [and stood] over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh`s glory.

22Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

23The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

3He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and the sky, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner [court] that looks toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.

4Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain.

3The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer`s inkhorn by his side.

6kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don`t come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house.

7He said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go you forth. They went forth, and struck in the city.

12Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Yahweh, their God, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as Yahweh, their God, had sent him; and the people feared Yahweh.

13Then Haggai, Yahweh`s messenger, spoke in Yahweh`s message to the people, saying, "I am with you," says Yahweh.

14Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of Hosts, their God,

2"This is what Yahweh of Hosts says: These people say, `The time hasn`t yet come, the time for Yahweh`s house to be built.`"

3Then the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, saying,

4"Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?

7This is what Yahweh of Hosts says: "Consider your ways.

8Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified," says Yahweh.

9"You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says Yahweh of Hosts, "Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.

15Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of Yahweh.

16Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty.

17I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn`t turn to me,` says Yahweh.

18`Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Yahweh`s temple was laid, consider it.

19Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig-tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven`t brought forth. From this day will I bless you.`"

3`Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn`t it in your eyes as nothing?

4Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,` says Yahweh. `Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,` says Yahweh, `and work, for I am with you,` says Yahweh of Hosts.

5This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. Don`t be afraid.`

7and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Hosts.

8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,` says Yahweh of Hosts.

9`The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,` says Yahweh of Hosts; `and in this place will I give peace,` says Yahweh of Hosts."

14Therefore don`t you pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble.

15What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has worked lewdness [with] many, and the holy flesh is passed from you? when you do evil, then you rejoice.

16Yahweh called your name, A green olive-tree, beautiful with goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and the branches of it are broken.

17For Yahweh of Hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.

7I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

27I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! you will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?

12But go you now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

13Now, because you have done all these works, says Yahweh, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn`t hear; and I called you, but you didn`t answer:

14therefore will I do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

15I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

2Stand in the gate of Yahweh`s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh.

3Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

4Don`t you trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, are these.

21Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat you flesh.

22For I didn`t speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

23but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk you in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.

24But they didn`t listen nor turn their ear, but walked in [their own] counsels [and] in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

25Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

26yet they didn`t listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers.

27You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you.

28You shall tell them, This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Yahweh their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

29Cut off your hair, [Jerusalem], and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

30For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, says Yahweh: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

31They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn`t command, neither came it into my mind.

32Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, until there be no place [to bury].

33The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.

34Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.

8Behold, you trust in lying words, that can`t profit.

9Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,

10and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that you may do all these abominations?

11Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh.