35 Bible Verses about Architecture

They serve in a sanctuary that is a copy, a shadow of the heavenly one. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tent: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain."

Let them make a sanctuary for me so I may live among them. This is how you are to make it: according to all that I'm showing you, according to the pattern for the tent and the pattern for all its furnishings."

"You are to make the tent with ten curtains of fine woven linen and with blue, purple, and scarlet material. You are to make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them. The length of each curtain is to be 28 cubits, the width of each curtain four cubits, and all the curtains are to have the same measurements. "Five of the curtains are to be joined together, and the other five curtains are to be joined together. read more.
You are to make loops of blue material along the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and likewise you are to make loops along the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. You are to make 50 loops in the one curtain, and you are to make 50 loops along the edge of the curtain that is in the second set, with the loops opposite each other. Then you are to make 50 gold clasps, and join the curtains to each other with the clasps so that the tent will be one piece. "You are to make curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tent. You are to make eleven curtains. The length of each curtain is to be 30 cubits, and the width of each curtain two cubits; the measurements of each of the eleven curtains is to be the same. You are to join five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and you are to double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent. You are to make 50 loops along the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and 50 loops along the edge of the curtain of the other set. You are to make 50 bronze clasps, put the clasps into the loops, and join the tent together so that it will be one piece. As for the excess that remains of the curtains of the tent the half curtain that remains is to hang over the back of the tent. The half cubit that remain on either end of the length of the curtains of the tent is to hang over each side of the tent to cover it. "You are to make a cover for the tent of ram skins dyed red and a covering of dolphin skins above that. "You are to make upright boards of acacia wood for the tent. Each board is to be ten cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. Each board is to have two pegs joined to one another, and you are to do this for all the boards of the tent. You are to make the boards for the tent: 20 boards for the south side. And you are to make 40 silver sockets under the 20 boards: two sockets under the one board for its two pegs and two sockets under the next board for its two pegs. "For the second side of the tent to the north you are to make 20 boards and 40 silver sockets for them, two sockets under one board and two sockets under the next board. On the west you are to make six boards for the rear of the tent, and you are to make two boards for the rear corners of the tent. They shall be interlocked together at the bottom and connected on top by one ring. Do this for the two of them, and they are to be the two corners. There is to be eight boards with their sixteen silver sockets, two sockets under one board and two sockets under the next board. "You are to make bars of acacia wood, five for the boards on one side of the tent, five bars for the boards on the second side of the tent, and five bars for the boards on the back side of the tent to the west. The center bar in the middle of the boards is to pass through from end to end. You are to overlay the boards with gold, and you are to make gold rings for them as holders for the bars, and you are to overlay the bars with gold. You are to erect the tent according to the plan for it that was shown you on the mountain. "You are to make a curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet material, and fine woven linen. You are to make it with cherubim skillfully worked into it. You are to hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, which have hooks of gold, and are set on four sockets of silver. You are to hang the curtain from the clasps and bring the Ark of the Testimony there inside the curtain. The curtain is to separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. "You are to put the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place. You are to put the table outside the curtain. You are to put the table on the north side with the lamp stand opposite the table on the south side of the tent. For the doorway of the tent you are to make a screen of blue, purple, and scarlet material, and with fine woven linen, the work of an embroiderer. You are to make five pillars of acacia for the screens and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you are to cast five bronze sockets for them."

At this point in his address, David transferred to his son Solomon the construction plans for the Hall of Justice, its buildings, its treasure vaults, its upper rooms, its inner chambers, the housing for the Mercy Seat, and the plans for everything else that he had in mind for the courtyards of the Temple of the LORD. Included were plans for all of the surrounding vaults and treasuries of the Temple of God intended for storage of dedicated gifts,

During the month of Ziv, which was the second month of the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, 480 years after the Israelis left the land of Egypt, Solomon began to build the LORD's Temple. The Temple for the LORD that Solomon was building was 60 cubits long and 20 cubits wide. A portico extended in front of the Temple for 20 cubits outward, corresponding to the width of the Temple. Along the front of the Temple its depth was ten cubits. read more.
Solomon also constructed windows in the Temple with specially designed frames. Against the wall of the Temple he built a series of rooms that encompassed the exterior of the Temple walls around the inner sanctuary. He built these side chambers all around the building. The lower structures were five cubits wide, the middle structures were six cubits wide and the third structures were seven cubits wide. Offsets were placed all around the Temple so that beams would not protrude through the walls of the Temple. The Temple was constructed of stone precut at the quarry so that no hammer, axe, or any other iron implement would be heard in the Temple while it was being built. A passageway to the side chamber was constructed on the south side of the Temple by which people could ascend winding stairs to the middle story, then from there to the third story. After Solomon built the Temple and finished it, he covered the Temple with beams and planks made of cedar. He constructed this structure to adjoin the entire Temple, five cubits high, and fastened it to the Temple with cedar timbers.

"All of these things the LORD made clear to me in writing at his direction the construction plans for all of the building."

So Solomon began construction of the LORD's Temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where the LORD had appeared to his father David, that is, where David had prepared Ornan the Jebusite's threshing floor. He began construction on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign. These are the foundations that Solomon set in place for God's Temple. The length in terms of the former standard measurements: 60 cubits; its width: 20 cubits. read more.
A portico extended in front of the Temple for its entire width of 20 cubits, and was 120 cubits high. Inside he had it overlaid with pure gold. The main room of the Temple was trimmed with a wainscoting composed of cypress wood, overlaid with fine gold ornamented with palm trees and chains. The Temple was adorned with precious stones, including gold from the Orient. The Temple was overlaid with gold, including the beams, thresholds, walls, and doors. Cherubim were engraved on the walls. With respect to the Most Holy Place in the Temple, its length across the width of the Temple was 20 cubits, and its width extended 20 cubits. Solomon overlaid it with 600 talents of pure gold. The gold nails weighed 50 shekels. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold. He crafted two cherubim from wood, overlaid them with gold, and placed them in the Most Holy Place in the Temple. The wingspan of the cherubim was 20 cubits; the wing of one, five cubits long, touched the wall of the Temple, and its other wing, five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub. The wing of the other cherub, five cubits long, touched the opposite wall of the Temple and its other wing, five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub. The wings of these cherubim extended for 20 cubits as they stood on their feet and faced the front of the Temple. He constructed the veil from blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen, embroidering cherubim on it. He also made two pillars 35 cubits high for the front of the Temple, topped by a capital that was five cubits high. He crafted chains for the inner sanctuary and placed them on top of the pillars, attaching 100 pomegranates to each of the chains. He set up the pillars at the front of the Temple, one on the south side of the entrance and the other on the north side of the entrance. He named the south pillar Jachin and the north pillar Boaz.

Solomon also constructed a bronze altar 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and ten cubits high. He crafted a circular sea of cast metal 10 cubits from rim to rim and five cubits tall. A line 30 cubits long surrounded it. Underneath, figurines resembling oxen encircled the circular sea beneath it, ten oxen every cubit, and encircling the sea completely. The oxen were in two rows, cast all at the same time. read more.
The sea stood on top of twelve oxen, three of which faced to the north, three of which faced to the west, three of which faced to the south, and three of which faced toward the east. The sea was placed on top of the oxen, with all of their hindquarters turned inwards. It was a handbreadth thick, with its brim fashioned like the brim of a cup. Similar in shape to a lily blossom, it could hold 3,000 baths. Solomon also made ten wash basins, placing five on the right side and five on the left. The basins were intended for use to rinse burnt offerings, and the sea was intended for use by the priests to wash in. Solomon made ten gold lamp stands as he had been directed and set them in the Temple, five on the south side and five on the north side. He also made ten tables and placed them in the Temple, five on the right side and five on the left side. He also constructed 100 gold basins. He made the court of the priests, the great court, and doors for the court, overlaying their doors with bronze. He set the sea at the southeast corner of the Temple. Hiram-abi crafted the pots, shovels, and basins, thus completing the work that he did for King Solomon on the Temple of God; that is, the two pillars, the bowls, the two capitals on top of the pillars, the two lattice works that covered the two bowls for the capitals that were on top of the pillars; the 400 pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the latticework of the two pillars (each latticework having two rows of ornaments at the bowl-shaped top of each pillar); the ten stands with their ten basins; the large bronze basin called the Sea with the twelve oxen underneath, along with its pots, shovels, forks, and all of its other implements that Hiram-abi made from polished bronze for King Solomon and the LORD's Temple. The king had them forged in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah in the Jordan plain. Solomon made so many utensils in such great quantities that the weight of the bronze was never fully recorded. Solomon also made these items for God's Temple: the golden altar, the tables for the Bread of the Presence, the lamp stands and their lamps made of pure gold to burn in front of the inner sanctuary, as required, the pure gold ornaments in the shape of flowers, the lamps, and the tongs (all made of the purest gold), the gold trimming instruments, basins, pans, censers, and the gold door sockets for the inner sanctuary (that is, the Most Holy Place), and for the doors to the main hall of the Temple.

just the way Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelis in the Book of the Law of Moses: ""an altar of uncut stones that hasn't been worked with iron tools"" and they offered burnt offerings to the LORD on it, along with peace offerings.

If you make an altar of stone for me, you must not build it of cut stones, because if you strike it with your chisel, you will profane it.

King Ahaz traveled to Damascus and met with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, where he observed the altar at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent a set of construction patterns of this altar to Uriah the priest. Uriah the priest built an altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus and finishing the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.

"When you build a new house, install a parapet along your roof so that if someone falls from the roof, you won't bring guilt of bloodshed on your house."

At the beginning of year 25 of our captivity, on the tenth day of the fourteenth year after the destruction of Jerusalem on that very day the LORD grabbed me in his hand and took me there. God brought me in a series of visions to the land of Israel and placed me on top of a very high mountain, where to the south there was something that looked like the outline of a city. That's where he took me. All of a sudden, there was a man whose appearance resembled glowing bronze! He had a measuring reed and line in his hand as he stood in the city gate. read more.
This is what the man told me: "Son of Man, watch carefully, listen closely, and remember everything I'm going to be showing you, because you've been brought here to be shown what you're about to see. Be sure that you tell the house of Israel everything that you observe." All of a sudden, we were at the exterior wall that completely surrounded the Temple. The man whom I had observed held a measuring reed that was six cubits long as measured in cubits that were a cubit and a handbreadth long. As he measured the thickness of the wall, he measured out one reed. Its height was also one reed. Then he went over to the gate that faced toward the east, ascended its steps, and measured its thresholds. One threshold measured one reed and the other one measured one reed. Each guardhouse measured one reed long and one reed wide, and the distance between each guardhouse was five cubits. The threshold of the gate near the vestibule facing away from the Temple entrance measured one reed. Next, he measured the vestibule of the gate facing away from the Temple entrance at one reed. He measured the vestibule of the gate inside at eight cubits and the doorjambs at two cubits. (The vestibule at the gate faced away from the Temple.) Gate guardhouses stood facing east, numbering three on each side, each of them of equal size to the door jamb; that is, having the same measurement on each side. He measured the width of the gateway at ten cubits, and the length of the gate at thirteen cubits. The retaining wall in front of the guardhouses measured one cubit wide. It stood one cubit from the wall to the guardhouses, which were six cubits square. He measured the gate from the roof of the guardhouses to the roof of another at 25 cubits from doorway to opposite doorway. Then he measured the open air porch at 60 cubits from the doorjamb of the courtyard that encompassed the gate. The distance from the front entrance gate to the vestibule of the inner gate measured 50 cubits. Latticed windows faced the guardhouses, their side pillars within the gate all around, and also for the porches. Windows were placed all around inside, and the side pillars were engraved with palm trees. Next, he brought me into the outer court, where chambers and a paved area had been constructed all around the courtyard, with 30 chambers facing the pavement. The pavement to the side of the gates corresponded to the length of the gates. He also measured the width from the front lower gate to the front of the exterior inner court at 100 cubits to the east and to the north. Next, he measured the length and width of the outer north-facing gate to the courtyard. It was equipped with three guardhouses on each side. Its side pillars and porches had measurements identical to the first gate: 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide. Its windows, porches, and palm tree ornaments had measurements identical to the east-facing gate. Reached by seven ascending steps, its porch lay to the front of the steps. From a gate that stood opposite the northern gate he measured 100 cubits, as well as from the eastern gate. Then he led me toward the south, where there was a gate with side pillar and porch measurements identical to the others. The gate and its porches contained windows all around, identical to the other windows. The length of the porch was 50 cubits and its width was 25 cubits. Seven steps led up to it, with a porch in front of them. Palm tree ornaments were engraved on its side pillars, one on each side. The inner court contained a south-facing gate measuring 100 cubits from gate to gate toward the south. Next, he brought me to the inner courtyard by way of the south-facing gate. He measured the south-facing gate as having measurements identical to the others. The measurements of its guardhouses, its side pillars, and its porches were identical to the others. The gate and its porches contained windows all around. The length of the porch was 50 cubits and its width was 25 cubits. Porches lay all around, measuring 25 cubits long and five cubits wide, leading to the outer courtyard. Palm tree ornaments were engraved on its side pillars. The stairway leading to it contained eight steps. Then he brought me into the inner east-facing courtyard, where he measured the gate, identical to the others. The measurement of its guardhouses, side pillars, and porches was identical to the others. The gate and its porches contained windows all around. The length of the porch was 50 cubits and its width was 25 cubits, Next, he brought me to the north-facing gate, where he measured the gate, identical to the others. leading to the outer courtyard. Palm tree ornaments were engraved on its side pillars. The stairway leading to it contained eight steps. There was a chamber with a doorway by the side pillars next to the gate where they prepare the burnt offerings. In the porch leading in front of the gate there were two tables on either side for slaughtering burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings, and on the outer side, approaching the northern gateway, there were two tables, as well as two tables on the opposite side of the porch in front of the gate. In that way, there were four tables on each side in front of the gate, for a total of eight tables for use in slaughtering the offerings. There were four tables carved from stone for the burnt offering, each one and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one cubit high, on which the instruments are laid for slaughtering burnt offerings and sacrifices. Double hooks, a single handbreadth in length, were installed all around in this portion of the temple area. From outside leading into the inner gate there were chambers for the choir. One was beside the north gate facing the south, and another was at the south gate facing the north. The angel told me, "This south-facing chamber is for the priests who maintain the Temple, and the north-facing chamber is for the priests who maintain the altar. These are Zadok's descendants, who, as descendants of Levi approach the LORD to minister directly to him." He measured the court in the form of a square at 100 cubits long and 100 cubits wide. The altar stood in front of the Temple. Next, he brought me to the Temple porch and measured the side pillars at five cubits on each side. The width of the gate measured three cubits on each side. The porch was 20 cubits long and eleven cubits wide. The stairway by which it was ascended was equipped with columns attached to its side pillars, one on each side.

Next he brought me to the Temple and measured its door jambs at six cubits wide on each side of the structure. The entrance was ten cubits wide and its door jambs were five cubits wide on each side. He measured the length of the nave at 40 cubits and its width at 20 cubits. Then he went inside and measured the door jambs at two cubits wide and the doorway at six cubits high. The doorway was seven cubits wide. read more.
He measured its length at 20 cubits, its width at 20 cubits in front of the structure, and then he told me, "This is the most holy area." Next, he measured the Temple walls at six cubits high and the width of the side chambers at four cubits around all four sides of the Temple. The side chambers consisted of three stories, each above the other, with 30 chambers in each story. The side chambers extended out from the wall that faced the inside of the chambers where the chambers were fastened together, but the chamber walls were not fastened directly into the Temple walls themselves. The side chambers surrounding the Temple were wider at each successive story, because the surrounding structure ascended by proportional increments as it rose, ascending to the highest story by going up successively from the lowest. I observed a raised platform that surrounded the Temple, and the foundations of the side chambers were a full six cubits deep. The outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits thick, and there was an empty space between the Temple's side chambers and its outer chambers 20 cubits in width, surrounding the Temple on each side. The side chamber doorway facing the free space contained a single north-facing doorway and a second south-facing doorway. The width of the free space was five cubits all around the perimeter. The building that faced the west side of the courtyard was 70 cubits wide, and the building's wall was five cubits thick all around. It was 90 cubits long. Then he measured the Temple. It was 100 cubits long, and the courtyard, its building, and its walls were 100 cubits long. The front of the Temple and its east-facing courtyard were each 100 cubits long. Next, he measured 100 cubits as the length of the structure toward the front of the courtyard that stood behind it, where it housed a gallery on each side of it. Then he measured the Temple and the inner porticos of the courtyard, the thresholds, the shielded windows, and the surrounding three-storied galleries that stood opposite. From the ground to the shielded windows, they were paneled with wood all around, including up to the doorway, up to the Temple (both within and without) and all around both sides of the inner wall, according to his measurement. There were carved cherubim and palm trees, alternating with a palm tree between a cherub, and each cherub had two faces, with a human face looking toward the palm tree on one side and a young lion's face looking toward the palm tree on the other side. These carvings extended all the way around the Temple, from the ground to above the doorway, as well as on the walls of the main sanctuary. The door posts of the main sanctuary were square. Each door post was identical in appearance to the others. The altar was made of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. He told me, "This table stands in the LORD's presence." The nave and the sanctuary each were equipped with double doors. Each door had two sections mounted on hinges, for a total of two sections for one door and two sections for the other. The doors of the nave had carvings engraved on them, consisting of cherubim and palm trees identical to those on the walls. The front of the exterior porch was equipped with a wooden threshold. Shielded windows and palm trees were visible on both sides; that is, on the sides of the porch, the side chambers of the Temple, and on its thresholds.

Then he brought me to the outer, north-facing courtyard into the chamber that stood opposite the structure that was facing north. It stood 100 cubits long and 50 cubits wide, with a door in the middle. Opposite the 20 cubits wide inner court, and opposite the paved area that comprised the outer court, there were three stories of galleries that faced each other. read more.
In front of the chambers there was an inner walkway ten cubits wide and 100 cubits wide, the openings to which were on the north. The upper chambers were narrower, since the galleries required more space than did the lower and middle portions of the building. The three part structure had no columns, unlike the courts, which is why the upper chambers were offset from the ground upward, more so than the lower and middle chambers. The outer wall by the side of the chambers toward the outer court and facing the chambers was 50 cubits long. While the chambers in the outer court were 50 cubits in length, the chambers facing the Temple were 100 cubits long. Below these chambers, as one might enter from the outer court, was the east side entrance. There were chambers built into the thick part of the wall of the court facing the east; that is, facing the separate area toward the front of the building, with a passageway in front of them, similar in appearance to the chambers that were on the north, proportional to their length and width, with all of their exits according to their arrangements and doorways. Corresponding to the chamber doorways facing the south was an opening at the beginning of the passage; that is, the passage in front of the corresponding part of the wall facing east as one might enter. Then he told me, "The north and south chamber, which are opposite the courtyard, are consecrated areas where the priests who approach the LORD will eat consecrated offerings and lay the consecrated grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings, because the area is holy. When the priest enters, they will not enter the outer court from the sanctuary without having removed their garments worn during their time of ministry, because they are holy. They will put on different clothes, and then they will approach the area reserved for the people." After he had finished measuring the inner temple, he brought me out through the east-facing gate and measured it all around. He measured the east side at 500 reeds, according to the length of the measuring stick, the north side at 500 reeds, according to the length of the measuring stick, the south side at 500 reeds, according to the length of the measuring stick, and the west side at 500 reeds, according to the length of the measuring stick. He measured a wall that encompassed all four sides, 500 hundred long and 500 wide, dividing between the sacred and common areas.

"And now, Son of Man, describe the Temple to the house of Israel. They will be ashamed because of their sin. They will measure its pattern. If they are ashamed of everything that they've done, you are to reveal to them the design of the Temple, its structure, its exits and entrances, its plans, its ordinances, and all of its regulations. Write it down where they can see it and remember all of its designs and regulations, so they will implement them. This is to be the regulation for the Temple: the entire area on top of the mountain is to be considered wholly consecrated. This is to be the law of the Temple."read more.
"Here are the measurements of the altar in cubits that were a cubit and a handbreadth long: its base is a cubit long and a cubit wide, and its border around the edge at one handbreadth is to be the height of the altar. From the base on the ground to its lower edge is to be two cubits, with its width to be one cubit. From the lesser ledge to the larger edge is to be four cubits. Its width is to be one cubit. The hearth is to be four cubits high, and four horns are to extend upwards from the hearth. The hearth is to be twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide; that is, it will be a four-sided square. It is to have a ledge fourteen cubits long by fourteen cubits wide around the four sides. Its border is to be half a cubit and its base is to be a cubit all around, with its steps facing east."

Then they said, "Come on! Let's build ourselves a city and a tower, with its summit in the heavens, and let's make a name for ourselves so we won't be scattered over the surface of the whole earth."

But Solomon took thirteen years to build his own palace, and finally finished it. He built his own palace out of timber supplied from the forest of Lebanon. It was 100 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, 20 cubits tall, and was constructed on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams interlocking the pillars. There were 45 pillars paneled with cedar above the side chambers, with rows of fifteen pillars, read more.
with three rows of framed windows facing each other in three ranks. All the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames, with the doorways facing each other in three tiers. There was also a hall of pillars 50 cubits long and 30 cubits wide, and a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of the pillars. He constructed the Judgment Hall for the throne room where he would be ruling, paneling it with cedar from floor to ceiling. Solomon's personal dwelling quarters, a separate court behind the hall, was of similar workmanship. Solomon also built a house similar to this for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had married. All of these were made with expensive stones, pre-cut according to specifications, hand-sawed inside and out from the foundation to the coping, including from inside to the great court. The foundation was made of expensive stone, including large stones ten cubits long and stones eight cubits long. Above these were expensive stones cut according to specifications, and cedar. So the great court was surrounded by three rows of cut stone, along with a row of cedar beams, just like the inner court of the LORD's Temple and the porch surrounding the Temple.

By wisdom a house is built; it is made secure through understanding. By knowledge its rooms are furnished with all sorts of expensive and beautiful goods.

"How terrible for him who builds his house without righteousness, and its upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing, and does not pay him his wage. How terrible for him who says, "I'll build a large house for myself with spacious upper rooms, who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it red.'

So make yourself an ark out of cedar, constructing compartments in it, and cover it inside and out with tar. Make the ark like this: 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Make a roof for the ark, and finish the walls to within one cubit from the top. Place the entrance in the side of the ark, and build a lower, a middle, and an upper deck.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

Jesus asked them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.'?

Haven't you ever read this Scripture: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

But Jesus looked at them and asked, "What does this text mean: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'?

Therefore he is precious to you who believe, but to those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,

"Therefore, everyone who listens to these messages of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation was on the rock. "Everyone who keeps on hearing these messages of mine and never puts them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. read more.
The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and battered that house, and it collapsed and its collapse was total."

They are like a person building a house, who dug a deep hole to lay the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the floodwaters pushed against that house but couldn't shake it, because it had been founded on the rock. But the person who hears what I say but doesn't act on it is like someone who built a house on the ground without any foundation. When the floodwaters pushed against it, that house quickly collapsed, and the resulting destruction of that house was extensive."

As an expert builder using the grace that God gave me, I laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it. After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that is Jesus the Messiah. Whether a person builds on this foundation with gold, silver, expensive stones, wood, hay, or straw, read more.
the workmanship of each person will become evident, for the day of judgment will show what it is, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's action.

That is why you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the Messiah Jesus himself being the cornerstone. In union with him the whole building is joined together and rises into a holy sanctuary for the Lord. read more.
You, too, are being built in him, along with the others, into a place for God's Spirit to dwell.

As you come to him, the living stone who was rejected by people but was chosen and precious in God's sight, you, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus, the Messiah. This is why it says in Scripture: "Look! I am laying a chosen, precious cornerstone in Zion. The one who believes in him will never be ashamed."read more.
Therefore he is precious to you who believe, but to those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,

"O afflicted one, passed back and forth, and not comforted, Look! I am about to set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. And I'll make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.

because he was waiting for the city with permanent foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came to me and said, "Come! I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb." He carried me away in the Spirit to a large, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. The glory of God was its radiance, and its light was like a valuable gem, like jasper, as clear as crystal. read more.
It had a large, high wall with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb were written on them. The angel who was talking to me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. The city was cubic in shape: its length was the same as its width. He measured the city with his rod, and it measured at 12,000 stadia:Its length, width, and height were the same. He also measured its wall. According to the human measurement that the angel was using, it was 144 cubits. Its wall was made of jasper. The city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass. The foundations of the city wall were decorated with all kinds of gems: The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each gate was made of a single pearl. The street of the city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass. I saw no temple in it, because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple.

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of my earth? Tell me, since you're so informed! Who set its measurement? Am I to assume you know? Who stretched a boundary line over it?