Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

96 Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing it everywhere around the world! ² Sing out his praises! Bless his name. Each day tell someone that he saves.

³ Publish his glorious acts throughout the earth. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. ⁴ For the Lord is great beyond description and greatly to be praised. Worship only him among the gods! ⁵ For the gods of other nations are merely idols, but our God made the heavens! ⁶ Honor and majesty surround him; strength and beauty are in his Temple.

⁷ O nations of the world, confess that God alone is glorious and strong. ⁸ Give him the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come to worship him.^{[a] 9} Worship the Lord with the beauty of holy lives.^[b] Let the earth tremble before him.

^23-28 Within the inner sanctuary Solomon placed two statues of Guardian Angels^[a] made from olive wood, each fifteen feet high. They were placed so that their outspread wings reached from wall to wall, while their inner wings touched each other at the center of the room; each wing was 7-1/2 feet long, so each Angel measured fifteen feet from wing tip to wing tip. The two Angels were identical in all dimensions, and each was overlaid with gold.

²⁹ Figures of Guardian Angels, palm trees, and open flowers were carved on all the walls of both rooms of the Temple, ³⁰ and the floor of both rooms was overlaid with gold.

³¹ The doorway to the inner sanctuary was a five-sided opening, ³² and its two olive-wood doors were carved with Guardian Angels, palm trees, and open flowers, all overlaid with gold.

³³ Then he made square doorposts of olive wood for the entrance to the Temple. ³⁴ There were two folding doors of cypress wood, and each door was hinged to fold back upon itself. ³⁵ Angels, palm trees, and open flowers were carved on these doors and carefully overlaid with gold.

³⁶ The wall of the inner court had three layers of hewn stone and one layer of cedar beams.

³⁷ The foundation of the Temple was laid in the month of May in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, ³⁸ and the entire building was completed in every detail in November of the eleventh year of his reign. So it took seven years to build.

¹¹ It is because of this solemn fear of the Lord, which is ever present in our minds, that we work so hard to win others. God knows our hearts, that they are pure in this matter, and I hope that, deep within, you really know it too.

¹² Are we trying to pat ourselves on the back again? No, I am giving you some good ammunition! You can use this on those preachers of yours who brag about how well they look and preach but don’t have true and honest hearts. You can boast about us that we, at least, are well intentioned and honest.

^13-14 Are we insane to say such things about ourselves?^[a] If so, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Whatever we do, it is certainly not for our own profit but because Christ’s love controls us now. Since we believe that Christ died for all of us, we should also believe that we have died to the old life we used to live. ¹⁵ He died for all so that all who live—having received eternal life from him—might live no longer for themselves, to please themselves, but to spend their lives pleasing Christ who died and rose again for them. ¹⁶ So stop evaluating Christians by what the world thinks about them or by what they seem to be like on the outside. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, merely as a human being like myself. How differently I feel now! ¹⁷ When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!