Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
41 Blessed are those who care about weak people.
When they are in trouble, the Lord saves them.
2 The Lord guards them and keeps them alive.
They are counted among those who are blessed in the land.
The Lord won’t hand them over to the wishes of their enemies.
3 The Lord will take care of them when they are lying sick in bed.
He will make them well again.
4 I said, “Lord, have mercy on me.
Heal me, because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies are saying bad things about me.
They say, “When will he die and his name be forgotten?”
6 When one of them comes to see me,
he says things that aren’t true.
At the same time, he thinks up lies to tell against me.
Then he goes out and spreads those lies around.
7 All my enemies whisper to each other about me.
They want something terrible to happen to me.
8 They say, “He is sick and will die very soon.
He will never get up from his bed again.”
9 Even my close friend, someone I trusted, has failed me.
I even shared my bread with him.
10 But Lord, may you have mercy on me.
Make me well, so I can pay them back.
11 Then I will know that you are pleased with me,
because my enemies haven’t won the battle over me.
12 You will take good care of me because I’ve been honest.
You will let me be with you forever.
13 Give praise to the Lord, the God of Israel,
for ever and ever.
Amen and Amen.
12 The Lord appeared to him at night. The Lord said,
“I have heard your prayer. I have chosen this place for myself. It is a temple where sacrifices will be offered.
13 “Suppose I close up the sky and there isn’t any rain. Suppose I command locusts to eat up the crops. And I send a plague among my people. 14 But they make themselves humble in my sight. They pray and look to me. And they turn from their evil ways. Then I will listen to them from heaven. I will forgive their sin. And I will heal their land. After all, they are my people. 15 Now my eyes will see them. My ears will pay attention to the prayers they offer in this place. 16 I have chosen this temple. I have set it apart for myself. My Name will be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
17 “But you must walk faithfully with me, just as your father David did. Do everything I command you to do. Obey my rules and laws. 18 Then I will set up your royal throne. I made a covenant with your father David to do that. I said to him, ‘You will always have a son from your family line to rule over Israel.’
19 “But suppose all of you turn away from me. You refuse to obey the rules and commands I have given you. And you go off to serve other gods and worship them. 20 Then I will remove Israel from my land. It is the land I gave them. I will turn my back on this temple. I will do it even though I have set it apart for my Name to be there. I will make all the nations hate it. They will laugh and joke about it. 21 This temple will become a pile of stones. All those who pass by it will be shocked. They will say, ‘Why has the Lord done a thing like this to this land and temple?’ 22 People will answer, ‘Because they have deserted the Lord. He is the God of their people who lived long ago. He brought them out of Egypt. But they have been holding on to other gods. They’ve been worshiping them. They’ve been serving them. That’s why the Lord has brought all this horrible trouble on them.’ ”
2 Dear friend, I know that your spiritual life is going well. I pray that you also may enjoy good health. And I pray that everything else may go well with you. 3 Some believers came to me and told me that you are faithful to the truth. They told me that you continue to live by it. This news gave me great joy. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are living by the truth.
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters. You are faithful even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please help them by sending them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 They started on their journey to serve Jesus Christ. They didn’t receive any help from those who aren’t believers. 8 So we should welcome people like them. We should work together with them for the truth.
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