Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹²⁹ Your laws are wonderful; no wonder I obey them. ¹³⁰ As your plan unfolds, even the simple can understand it. ¹³¹ No wonder I wait expectantly for each of your commands.

¹³² Come and have mercy on me as is your way with those who love you. ¹³³ Guide me with your laws so that I will not be overcome by evil. ¹³⁴ Rescue me from the oppression of evil men; then I can obey you. ¹³⁵ Look down in love upon me and teach me all your laws. ¹³⁶ I weep because your laws are disobeyed.

2 As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon:

² “I am going where every man on earth must some day go. I am counting on you to be a strong and worthy successor. ³ Obey the laws of God and follow all his ways; keep each of his commands written in the law of Moses so that you will prosper in everything you do, wherever you turn. ⁴ If you do this, then the Lord will fulfill the promise he gave me, that if my children and their descendants watch their step and are faithful to God, one of them shall always be the king of Israel—my dynasty will never end.

³⁸ One day some of the Jewish leaders, including some Pharisees, came to Jesus asking him to show them a miracle.

^39-40 But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, faithless nation would ask for further proof; and none will be given except what happened to Jonah the prophet! For as Jonah was in the great fish for three days and three nights, so I, the Messiah,^[a] shall be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh shall arise against this nation at the judgment and condemn you. For when Jonah preached to them, they repented and turned to God from all their evil ways. And now one greater than Jonah is here—and you refuse to believe him.^{[b] 42} The queen of Sheba shall rise against this nation in the judgment and condemn it; for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and now one greater than Solomon is here—and you refuse to believe him.