Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the Director: On the Gittith.
A Psalm by the descendants of Korah.
Longing for God
84 How lovely are your dwelling places,
Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
2 I desire and long
for the Temple[a] courts of the Lord.
My heart and body[b] sing for joy
to the living God.[c]
3 Even the sparrow found a house for herself
and the swallow a nest
to lay[d] her young at your altar,
Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
my king and God.
4 How happy are those who live in your Temple,
for they can praise you continuously.
5 How happy are those whose strength is in you,
whose heart is on your path.
6 They will pass through the Baca Valley
where he will prepare a spring for them;
even the early rain will cover it with blessings.
7 They will walk from strength to strength;
each will appear before God in Zion.
8 Lord God of the Heavenly Armies, hear my prayer!
Listen, God of Jacob!
9 God, look at our shield,
and show favor to your anointed,
10 for a day in your Temple[e] courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather stand
at the entrance of God’s house
than live in the tent of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord grants grace and favor;
the Lord will not withhold any good thing
from those who walk blamelessly.
12 Lord of Heavenly Armies,
how happy are those who trust in you.
Temple Construction Begins(A)
6 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. 2 The Temple for the Lord that Solomon was building was 60 cubits[a] long and 20 cubits[b] wide. 3 A portico extended in front of the Temple for 20 cubits[c] outward, corresponding to the width of the Temple. Along the front of the Temple its depth was ten cubits.[d] 4 Solomon[e] also constructed windows in the Temple with specially designed[f] frames.
21 Solomon overlaid the inside of the Temple with pure gold, fastened gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 He finished the Temple by overlaying it entirely with gold, including overlaying with gold the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary.
The Messiah is Our Foundation
10 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. 11 After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that is Jesus the Messiah.[a] 12 Whether a person builds on this foundation with gold, silver, expensive stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 the workmanship of each person will become evident, for the day of judgment[b] will show what it is, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s action. 14 If what a person has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.[c] 15 If his work is burned up, he will suffer loss. However, he himself will be saved, but it will be like going through fire.
16 You know that you are God’s sanctuary and that God’s Spirit lives in you, don’t you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s sanctuary, God will destroy him, for God’s sanctuary is holy. And you are that sanctuary!
True Wisdom
18 Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in the ways of[d] this world, he must become a fool to become really wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is nonsense in God’s sight. For it is written,
“He catches the wise with their own trickery,”[e]
20 and again,
21 So let no one boast about human beings, since everything belongs to you, 22 whether Paul, Apollos, Cephas,[h] the world, life, death, the present, or the future—everything belongs to you, 23 but you belong to the Messiah,[i] and the Messiah[j] belongs to God.
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