Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 41
Assurance of God’s Help and a Plea for Healing
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1 Happy are those who consider the poor;[a]
the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble.(A)
2 The Lord protects them and keeps them alive;
they are called happy in the land.
You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.(B)
3 The Lord sustains them on their sickbed;
in their illness you heal all their infirmities.[b](C)
4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against you.”(D)
5 My enemies wonder in malice
when I will die and my name perish.(E)
6 And when they come to see me, they utter empty words
while their hearts gather mischief;
when they go out, they tell it abroad.(F)
7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me.(G)
8 They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me,
that I will not rise again from where I lie.(H)
9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.(I)
10 But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them.(J)
11 By this I know that you are pleased with me:
because my enemy has not triumphed over me.(K)
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity
and set me in your presence forever.(L)
13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.(M)
God’s Second Appearance to Solomon
12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.(A) 13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command the locust to devour the land or send pestilence among my people,(B) 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.(C) 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.(D) 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.(E) 17 As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,(F) 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I made a covenant[a] with your father David saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor to rule over Israel.’(G)
19 “But if you[b] turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you and go and serve other gods and worship them,(H) 20 then I will pluck you[c] up from the land that I have given you,[d] and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.(I) 21 And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’(J) 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them.’ ”
Gaius Commended for His Hospitality
2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. 3 For I was overjoyed when some brothers and sisters arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, how you walk in the truth.(A) 4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.(B)
5 Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you;(C) 6 they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God,(D) 7 for they began their journey for the sake of Christ,[a] accepting no support from nonbelievers.[b](E) 8 Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become coworkers with the truth.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.