Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

92 A song to sing on the Lord’s Day.^[a]

It is good to say thank you to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods.

² Every morning tell him, “Thank you for your kindness,” and every evening rejoice in all his faithfulness. ³ Sing his praises, accompanied by music from the harp and lute and lyre. ⁴ You have done so much for me, O Lord. No wonder I am glad! I sing for joy.

¹² But the godly shall flourish like palm trees and grow tall as the cedars of Lebanon. ¹³ For they are transplanted into the Lord’s own garden and are under his personal care. ¹⁴ Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green. ¹⁵ This honors the Lord and exhibits his faithful care. He is my shelter. There is nothing but goodness in him!

²⁶ Solomon built up a great stable of horses with a vast number of chariots and cavalry—1,400 chariots in all and 12,000 cavalrymen, who lived in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁷ Silver was as common as stones in Jerusalem in those days, and cedar was of no greater value than the common sycamore! ²⁸ Solomon’s horses were brought to him from Egypt and southern Turkey, where his agents purchased them at wholesale prices. ²⁹ An Egyptian chariot delivered to Jerusalem cost $400, and the horses were valued at $150 each. Many of these were then resold to the Hittite and Syrian kings.

11 King Solomon married many other girls besides the Egyptian princess. Many of them came from nations where idols were worshiped^[a]—Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from the Hittites— ² even though the Lord had clearly instructed his people not to marry into those nations, because the women they married would get them started worshiping their gods. Yet Solomon did it anyway. ³ He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines; and sure enough, they turned his heart away from the Lord, ⁴ especially in his old age. They encouraged him to worship their gods instead of trusting completely in the Lord as his father David had done. ⁵ Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the horrible god of the Ammonites. ⁶ Thus Solomon did what was clearly wrong and refused to follow the Lord as his father David did. ⁷ He even built a temple on the Mount of Olives, across the valley from Jerusalem, for Chemosh, the depraved god of Moab, and another for Molech, the unutterably vile god of the Ammonites. ⁸ Solomon built temples for these foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.

⁴ It was by faith that Abel obeyed God and brought an offering that pleased God more than Cain’s offering did. God accepted Abel and proved it by accepting his gift; and though Abel is long dead, we can still learn lessons from him about trusting God.

⁵ Enoch trusted God too, and that is why God took him away to heaven without dying; suddenly he was gone because God took him. Before this happened God had said^[a] how pleased he was with Enoch. ⁶ You can never please God without faith, without depending on him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for him.

⁷ Noah was another who trusted God. When he heard God’s warning about the future, Noah believed him even though there was then no sign of a flood, and wasting no time, he built the ark and saved his family. Noah’s belief in God was in direct contrast to the sin and disbelief of the rest of the world—which refused to obey—and because of his faith he became one of those whom God has accepted.