Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Longing for the Temple Worship.
For the music director; [a]on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
84 How lovely are Your (A)dwelling places,
Lord of armies!
2 My (B)soul longed and even yearned for the courtyards of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the (C)living God.
3 The bird also has found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may put her young:
Your (D)altars, Lord of armies,
(E)My King and my God.
4 (F)Blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
They are (G)ever praising You. Selah
5 Blessed is the person whose (H)strength is in You,
In [b]whose heart are the (I)roads to Zion!
6 Passing through the Valley of [c]Baca they make it a [d]spring;
The (J)early rain also covers it with blessings.
7 They (K)go from strength to strength,
[e]Every one of them (L)appears before God in Zion.
8 (M)Lord God of armies, hear my prayer;
Listen, (N)God of Jacob! Selah
9 See our (O)shield, God,
And look at the face of (P)Your anointed.
10 For (Q)a day in Your courtyards is better than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God
Than live in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is (R)a sun and (S)shield;
The Lord gives grace and (T)glory;
(U)He withholds no good thing [f]from those who walk with integrity.
12 Lord of armies,
(V)Blessed is the person who trusts in You!
Darius Finds Cyrus’ Decree
6 Then King Darius issued a decree, and a (A)search was conducted in the [a]archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. 2 And in [b]Ecbatana, in the fortress which is (B)in the province of Media, a scroll was found; and the following was written in it: “Memorandum— 3 (C)In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let the [c]temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt, and let [d]its foundations be repaired, its height being [e]sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, 4 (D)with three layers of large stones and [f]one layer of timber. And the cost is to be paid from the [g]royal treasury. 5 Also (E)the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned and [h]brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.’
6 “Now as for you, (F)Tattenai, governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and [i]your colleagues, the officials of the provinces beyond the River, [j]stay away from there. 7 Leave that work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild that house of God on its site. 8 Furthermore, (G)I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of that house of God: the full cost is to be paid to those people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, and that without interruption. 9 And whatever is needed, bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and anointing oil, as the priests in Jerusalem order, it is to be given to them daily without fail, 10 so that they may offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and (H)pray for the lives of the king and his sons. 11 And I issued a decree that (I)any person who violates this decree, a timber shall be pulled out of his house and he shall be impaled on it; and (J)his house shall be turned into a refuse heap on account of this. 12 May the God who (K)has caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who [k]attempts to [l]change it, so as to destroy that house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree; it is to be carried out with all diligence!”
The Temple Completed and Dedicated
13 Then (L)Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues carried out the decree with all diligence, just as King Darius had [m]ordered. 14 And (M)the elders of the Jews [n]were successful in building through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And [o]they finished building following the command of the God of Israel and the decree (N)of Cyrus, (O)Darius, and (P)Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 Now this [p]temple was completed [q]on the third day of the (Q)month Adar; it was the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
16 And the sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the [r]exiles, (R)celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.
Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple
15 (A)Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling [a]doves; 16 and He would not allow anyone to carry [b]merchandise through the temple grounds. 17 And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written: ‘(B)My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? (C)But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and they (D)began seeking how to put Him to death; for they were afraid of Him, because all (E)the crowd was astonished at His teaching.
19 And (F)whenever evening came, [c]they would leave the city.
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