Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer for Victory over Enemies.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
20 [a]May the Lord answer you (David) in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high [and defend you in battle]!
2
May He send you help from the sanctuary (His dwelling place)
And support and strengthen you from Zion!
3
May He remember all your meal offerings
And accept your burnt offering. Selah.
4
May He grant you your heart’s desire
And fulfill all your plans.
5
We will sing joyously over your victory,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.
6
Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
But we will remember and trust in the name of the Lord our God.
8
They have bowed down and fallen,
But we have risen and stood upright.
9
O Lord, save [the [b]king];
May the [c]King answer us in the day we call.
Offerings for the Sanctuary
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tell the children of Israel to take an offering for Me. From every man whose heart moves him [to give willingly] you shall take My offering. 3 This is the offering you are to receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, fine twisted linen, goats’ hair, 5 rams’ [a]skins dyed red, [b]porpoise skins, [c]acacia wood, 6 [olive] oil for lighting, [d]balsam for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 [e]onyx stones and setting stones for the [priest’s] ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 Have them build a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.(A) 9 You shall construct it in accordance with everything that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture.
Ark of the Covenant
10 “They shall make an ark of acacia wood two and a half [f]cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. 11 You shall overlay the ark with pure gold, overlay it inside and out, and you shall make a gold border (frame) around its top. 12 You shall cast four gold rings for it and attach them to the four feet, two rings on either side. 13 You shall make [carrying] poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, 14 and put the poles through the rings on the sides of the ark, by which to carry it. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it [so that the ark itself need not be touched]. 16 You shall put into the ark the Testimony (Ten Commandments) which I will give you.
17 “You shall make a [g]mercy seat (cover) of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. 18 You shall make two cherubim (winged angelic figures) of [solid] hammered gold at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub at each end, making the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends. 20 The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing each other. The faces of the cherubim are to be looking downward toward the mercy seat. 21 You shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony which I will give you. 22 There I will meet with you; from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, I will speak [intimately] with you regarding every commandment that I will give you for the Israelites.
Paul’s Reliance upon the Spirit
2 And when I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming to you the [a]testimony of God [concerning salvation through Christ], I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom [no lofty words of eloquence or of philosophy as a Greek orator might do]; 2 for I made the decision to [b]know nothing [that is, to forego philosophical or theological discussions regarding inconsequential things and opinions while] among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified [and the meaning of His redemptive, substitutionary death and His resurrection]. 3 I came to you in [a state of] weakness and fear and great trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom [using clever rhetoric], but [they were delivered] in demonstration of the [Holy] Spirit [operating through me] and of [His] power [stirring the minds of the listeners and persuading them], 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom and rhetoric of men, but on the power of God.
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those spiritually mature [believers who have teachable hearts and a greater understanding]; but [it is a higher] wisdom not [the wisdom] of this present age nor of the rulers and leaders of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom once hidden [from man, but now revealed to us by God, that wisdom] which God predestined before the ages to our glory [to lift us into the glory of His presence]. 8 None of the rulers of this age recognized and understood this wisdom; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written [in Scripture],
“Things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].”(A)
10 For God has unveiled them and revealed them to us through the [Holy] Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things [diligently], even [sounding and measuring] the [profound] depths of God [the divine counsels and things far beyond human understanding].
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