So all the assembly which had returned from the exile constructed temporary shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. Everyone experienced very great joy. ¹ 

The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, ¹  and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common. ² 

The ¹  proposal pleased the entire group, so ²  they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, with ³  Philip, ⁴  Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a Gentile convert to Judaism ⁵  from Antioch. ⁶ 

The priest must put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the Lord in the Meeting Tent, and all the rest of the bull’s blood he must pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.

At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the Lord our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt ¹  in the south. ² 

Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the enclosure. It was seven and one-half feet ¹  long, seven and one-half feet ²  wide, and four and one-half feet ³  high. He stood on it and then got down on his knees in front of the entire assembly of Israel. He spread out his hands toward the sky,

Hezekiah said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves ¹  to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings ²  to the Lord’s temple.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and whoever desired to do so ³  brought burnt sacrifices.

Let our leaders take steps ¹  on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

May the sovereign God ¹  bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! ²  Then you will become ³  a large nation. ⁴ 

“You are to present the bull at the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to put ¹  their hands on the head ²  of the bull.

The priest who succeeds him ¹  from his sons, when he first comes ²  to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. ³ 

“This will be a regular ¹  burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet ²  with you to speak to you there.

“So I will set apart as holy ¹  the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me.

You are to receive the atonement money ¹  from the Israelites and give it for the service ²  of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial ³  for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement ⁴  for your lives.”

“You are also to make a large bronze ¹  basin with a bronze stand ²  for washing. You are to put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it, ³ 

When they enter ¹  the tent of meeting, they must wash with ²  water so that they do not die. ³  Also, when they approach ⁴  the altar to minister by burning incense ⁵  as an offering made by fire ⁶  to the Lord,

You are to beat some of it very fine and put some of it before the ark of the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; it is to be most holy to you.

He made the large basin of bronze and its pedestal of bronze from the mirrors of the women who served ¹  at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

¹ So all the work of the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was completed, and the Israelites did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses – they did it exactly so.

the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and its bases, and the curtain for the gateway of the courtyard, its ropes and its tent pegs, and all the furnishings ¹  for the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting;