Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Sing a new song!^[a]

Solomon speaks to his people

¹⁴ While all the Israelite people stood there, the king turned round towards them. He prayed that God would bless them. ¹⁵ He said, ‘Praise the Lord, Israel's God, as he deserves. He has used his power to do what he promised to do for my father David. ¹⁶ He told David, “I brought my people, the Israelites, out from Egypt. From that time, I have not chosen a city in any of Israel's tribes to build a temple where my people would worship me. Now I have chosen David to rule Israel, my people, as king.” ¹⁷ My father David wanted very much to build a temple to give honour to the Lord, Israel's God. ¹⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, “It was good that you wanted to build a temple to give me honour. ¹⁹ But you will not build the temple. Instead, one of your own sons will build it to give honour to me.” ²⁰ Now the Lord has done what he promised to do. I now rule Israel as king on the throne of my father David, as the Lord promised. I have built this temple to give honour to the Lord, Israel's God. ²¹ I have made a place there for the Covenant Box. It contains the covenant that the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.’

Paul speaks about false teachers

11 Please be patient with me! I am speaking like a fool. I know that you are being patient with me already! ² God wants to keep you for himself. And that is what I want too. I have brought you to Christ, like a pure bride who marries one husband. I want you to be pure and to belong only to him. ³ Remember how the snake deceived Eve. Because he was clever, she believed his lies.^[a] I am afraid that the same thing might happen to you. False teachers may make you believe wrong things. Then you will no longer love Christ in a pure and honest way. ⁴ You are ready to listen to any false teachers who come to you. They might tell you about a different Jesus from the Jesus that we told you about. They might want you to receive a different spirit from the Spirit that you received from us. They might tell you a different kind of good news from the message that you heard from us. You seem to accept all this!

⁵ Those teachers call themselves very special apostles. But I think that I am as special as they are! ⁶ Perhaps I do not speak as well as they speak. But I do know what I am speaking about. We have always made this very clear to you in everything that we do.