Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

41 God blesses those who are kind to the poor. He helps them out of their troubles. ² He protects them and keeps them alive; he publicly honors them and destroys the power of their enemies. ³ He nurses them when they are sick and soothes their pains and worries.^[a]

⁴ “O Lord,” I prayed, “be kind and heal me, for I have confessed my sins.” ⁵ But my enemies say, “May he soon die and be forgotten!” ⁶ They act so friendly when they come to visit me while I am sick; but all the time they hate me and are glad that I am lying there upon my bed of pain. And when they leave, they laugh and mock. ⁷ They whisper together about what they will do when I am dead. ⁸ “It’s fatal, whatever it is,” they say. “He’ll never get out of that bed!”

⁹ Even my best friend has turned against me—a man I completely trusted; how often we ate together. ¹⁰ Lord, don’t you desert me! Be gracious, Lord, and make me well again so I can pay them back! ¹¹ I know you are pleased with me because you haven’t let my enemies triumph over me. ¹² You have preserved me because I was honest; you have admitted me forever to your presence.

¹³ Bless the Lord, the God of Israel, who exists from everlasting ages past—and on into everlasting eternity ahead. Amen and amen!

¹² One night the Lord appeared to Solomon and told him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place where I want you to sacrifice to me. ¹³ If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust swarms to eat up all of your crops, or if I send an epidemic among you, ¹⁴ then if my people will humble themselves and pray, and search for me, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear them from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. ¹⁵ I will listen, wide awake, to every prayer made in this place. ¹⁶ For I have chosen this Temple and sanctified it to be my home forever; my eyes and my heart shall always be here.

¹⁷ “As for yourself, if you follow me as your father David did, ¹⁸ then I will see to it that you and your descendants will always be the kings of Israel; ¹⁹ but if you don’t follow me, if you refuse the laws I have given you and worship idols, ²⁰ then I will destroy my people from this land of mine that I have given them, and this Temple shall be destroyed even though I have sanctified it for myself. Instead, I will make it a public horror and disgrace. ²¹ Instead of its being famous, all who pass by will be incredulous.

“‘Why has the Lord done such a terrible thing to this land and to this Temple?’ they will ask.

²² “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord God of their fathers, the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead. That is why he has done all this to them.’”

² Dear friend, I am praying that all is well with you and that your body is as healthy as I know your soul is. ³ Some of the brothers traveling by have made me very happy by telling me that your life stays clean and true and that you are living by the standards of the Gospel. ⁴ I could have no greater joy than to hear such things about my children.

⁵ Dear friend, you are doing a good work for God in taking care of the traveling teachers and missionaries who are passing through. ⁶ They have told the church here of your friendship and your loving deeds. I am glad when you send them on their way with a generous gift. ⁷ For they are traveling for the Lord and take neither food, clothing, shelter, nor money from those who are not Christians, even though they have preached to them. ⁸ So we ourselves should take care of them in order that we may become partners with them in the Lord’s work.