Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Those Who Trust in God Are Happy

34 I will honor the Lord at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. ² My soul will be proud to tell about the Lord. Let those who suffer hear it and be filled with joy. ³ Give great honor to the Lord with me. Let us praise His name together.

⁴ I looked for the Lord, and He answered me. And He took away all my fears. ⁵ They looked to Him and their faces shined with joy. Their faces will never be ashamed. ⁶ This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. And He saved him out of all his troubles. ⁷ The angel of the Lord stays close around those who fear Him, and He takes them out of trouble.

⁸ O taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who trusts in Him!

David’s Last Words to Solomon

2 When David’s time to die was near, he told his son Solomon, ² “I am going the way of all the earth. So be strong. Show yourself to be a man. ³ Do what the Lord your God tells you. Walk in His ways. Keep all His Laws and His Word, by what is written in the Law of Moses. Then you will do well in all that you do and in every place you go. ⁴ Then the Lord will keep His promise to me. He has said to me, ‘Your sons must be careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and soul. If they do, you will never be without a man on the throne of Israel.’ ⁵ Now you know what Zeruiah’s son Joab did to me. You know what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel. He killed Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether in the time of peace as if it were in the time of war. He put the blood of war on his belt and on the shoes of his feet. ⁶ So act with wisdom. Do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace. ⁷ But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite. Let them be among those who eat at your table. For they helped me when I ran from your brother Absalom. ⁸ See, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite, of Bahurim. It was he who spoke bad words against me on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to me at the Jordan, I promised him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹ So do not let him go without being punished. For you are a wise man. You will know what you should do to him. Bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood.”

Jesus Teaches about Prayer

⁷ “Ask, and what you are asking for will be given to you. Look, and what you are looking for you will find. Knock, and the door you are knocking on will be opened to you. ⁸ Everyone who asks receives what he asks for. Everyone who looks finds what he is looking for. Everyone who knocks has the door opened to him. ⁹ What man among you would give his son a stone if he should ask for bread? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, would he give him a snake? ¹¹ You are bad and you know how to give good things to your children. How much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?