Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.
When Things Go Wrong
41 Blessed is the one who is considerate of the destitute;[a]
the Lord will deliver him when the times are evil.
2 The Lord will protect him and keep him alive;
he will be blessed in the land;
and he will not be handed over to the desires of his enemies.
3 The Lord will uphold him even on his sickbed;
you will transform his bed of illness into health.
4 As for me, I said,
“Lord, be gracious to me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
5 As for my enemies, with malice they said,
“When will he die and memory of[b] his name perish?”
6 The one who comes to visit me speaks lies;
in his heart he thinks slanderous things about me
and goes around spreading them.
7 As for all who hate me,
they whisper together against me;
they desire to do me harm.
8 They say, “Wickedness is entrenched in him.
Once he is brought low,
he will not rise again.”
9 As for my best friend,
the one in whom I trusted,
the one who ate my bread,
even he has insulted[c] me!
10 But you, Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up
so that I may pay them back!
11 In this way I will know that you are pleased with me,
and that my enemies will not shout in triumph over me.
12 As for me, you will maintain my just cause,
and you will cause me to stand in your presence forever.
13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
from eternity to eternity.
Amen and amen!
God Appears to Solomon(A)
12 Later, the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night and told him:
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for a sacrificial temple to me. 13 Whenever I close the skies so there is no rain, or whenever I command locusts to lay waste to the land, or whenever I send epidemics among my people, 14 when my people humble themselves—the ones who are called by my name—and pray, seek me,[a] and turn away from their evil practices, I myself will listen from heaven, I will pardon their sins, and I will restore their land.
15 “Now therefore my eyes will remain open and my ears will remain listening to the prayers that are offered in this place. 16 Furthermore, I have chosen and have set apart for myself[b] this Temple, intending my name to reside there forever. My eyes and my heart will reside there every day. 17 Now as for you, if you commune with me like your father did, doing everything that I have commanded you, including obeying my statutes and my legal decisions, 18 then I will make your royal throne secure, just as I agreed to do for your father David when I said, ‘You are to not lack a man to rule over Israel.’[c]
19 “But if you[d] turn away and abandon my statutes and my commands that I have given you, and if you[e] walk away to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will tear them up by the roots from the ground that I had given them! And as for this Temple that I have set apart for my name, I will throw it out of my sight and make it the butt of jokes[f] and a means of ridicule among people worldwide!
21 “Furthermore, even though this Temple seems so exalted, everyone who passes by it will be so astounded that they will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and to this Temple?’ 22 They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors, who brought them from the land of Egypt, adopted other gods, worshipped them, and served them, therefore the Lord[g] has brought all of this disaster on them.’”
Encouragement for Gaius
2 Dear friend, I pray that you are doing well in every way and that you are healthy, just as your soul is healthy. 3 I was overjoyed when some brothers arrived and testified about your truthfulness and how you live according to the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are living according to the truth.
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in whatever you do for the brothers, especially when they are strangers. 6 They have testified before the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 After all, they went on their trip for the sake of the Name,[a] accepting no support from gentiles. 8 Therefore, we ought to support such people so that we can become genuine helpers with them.
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