[Isaiah 5:1-7 ESV] {1} Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. {2} He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. {3} And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. {4} What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? {5} And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. {6} I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. {7} For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

[Jeremiah 2:20-21 ESV] {20} “For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve.’ Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore. {21} Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

[Genesis 12:1-3 ESV] {1} Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. {2} And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. {3} I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

[Genesis 13:12-16 ESV] {12} Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. {13} Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD. {14} The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, {15} for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. {16} I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.

[Genesis 15:1-6 ESV] {1} After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” {2} But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” {3} And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” {4} And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” {5} And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” {6} And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

[Genesis 15:18 ESV] {18} On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

[Genesis 17:15-21 ESV] {15} And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. {16} I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” {17} Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” {18} And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” {19} God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. {20} As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. {21} But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

[Genesis 35:9-12 ESV] {9} God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. {10} And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. {11} And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. {12} The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”

[Deuteronomy 12:10-11 ESV] {10} But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, {11} then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD.

[1 Chronicles 11:1-9 ESV] {1} Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. {2} In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD your God said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.’” {3} So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel. {4} And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. {5} The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will not come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. {6} David said, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites first shall be chief and commander.” And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief. {7} And David lived in the stronghold; therefore it was called the city of David. {8} And he built the city all around from the Millo in complete circuit, and Joab repaired the rest of the city. {9} And David became greater and greater, for the LORD of hosts was with him.

[Psalm 132:13-14 ESV] {13} For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: {14} “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

[2 Chronicles 6:1-11 ESV] {1} Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. {2} But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” {3} Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. {4} And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, {5} ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; {6} but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ {7} Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. {8} But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. {9} Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ {10} Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. {11} And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the people of Israel.”

[Genesis 10:15-16 ESV] {15} Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, {16} and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

[Genesis 15:18-21 ESV] {18} On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, {19} the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, {20} the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, {21} the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

[Exodus 3:8 ESV] {8} and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

[2 Chronicles 8:16-18 ESV] {16} Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed. {17} Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Eloth on the shore of the sea, in the land of Edom. {18} And Hiram sent to him by the hand of his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea, and they went to Ophir together with the servants of Solomon and brought from there 450 talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

[2 Chronicles 9:1-24 ESV] {1} Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. {2} And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her. {3} And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, {4} the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his cupbearers, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her. {5} And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, {6} but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; you surpass the report that I heard. {7} Happy are your wives! Happy are these your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! {8} Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as king for the LORD your God! Because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever, he has made you king over them, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” {9} Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. There were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. {10} Moreover, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones. {11} And the king made from the algum wood supports for the house of the LORD and for the king’s house, lyres also and harps for the singers. There never was seen the like of them before in the land of Judah. {12} And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what she had brought to the king. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants. {13} Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, {14} besides that which the explorers and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon. {15} King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels of beaten gold went into each shield. {16} And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; 300 shekels of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. {17} The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. {18} The throne had six steps and a footstool of gold, which were attached to the throne, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, {19} while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. Nothing like it was ever made for any kingdom. {20} All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. {21} For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. {22} Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. {23} And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. {24} Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and of gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

[1 Kings 11:1-13 ESV] {1} Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, {2} from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. {3} He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. {4} For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. {5} For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. {6} So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. {7} Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. {8} And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. {9} And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice {10} and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. {11} Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. {12} Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. {13} However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”

[2 Kings 16:1-20 ESV] {1} In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. {2} Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, {3} but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. {4} And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. {5} Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. {6} At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. {7} So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” {8} Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. {9} And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin. {10} When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. {11} And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. {12} And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it {13} and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. {14} And the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. {15} And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” {16} Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded. {17} And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. {18} And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria. {19} Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? {20} And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

[Genesis 13:13 ESV] {13} Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.

[Genesis 18:20-21 ESV] {20} Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, {21} I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

[Genesis 18:26 ESV] {26} And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

[Genesis 18:31-33 ESV] {31} He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” {32} Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” {33} And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

[Genesis 19:4-9 ESV] {4} But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. {5} And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” {6} Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, {7} and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. {8} Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” {9} But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.

[Genesis 19:15 ESV] {15} As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

[1 Kings 16:23-24 ESV] {23} In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for twelve years; six years he reigned in Tirzah. {24} He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

[1 Kings 16:29-33 ESV] {29} In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. {30} And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. {31} And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. {32} He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. {33} And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

[2 Kings 17:24-29 ESV] {24} And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. {25} And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. {26} So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” {27} Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” {28} So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD. {29} But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.

[Ephesians 5:25-32 ESV] {25} Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, {26} that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, {27} so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. {28} In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. {29} For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, {30} because we are members of his body. {31} “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” {32} This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

[Revelation 19:7-9 ESV] {7} Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; {8} it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”– for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. {9} And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

[2 Corinthians 11:2-3 ESV] {2} For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. {3} But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

[James 4:4 ESV] {4} You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.