Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Confidence in the Lord[a]
11 I trust in the Lord for safety.
How foolish of you to say to me,
“Fly away like a bird to the mountains,[b]
2 because the wicked have drawn their bows and aimed their arrows
to shoot from the shadows at good people.
3 There is nothing a good person can do
when everything falls apart.”
4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
he has his throne in heaven.
He watches people everywhere
and knows what they are doing.
5 He examines the good and the wicked alike;
the lawless he hates with all his heart.
6 He sends down flaming coals[c] and burning sulfur on the wicked;
he punishes them with scorching winds.
7 The Lord is righteous and loves good deeds;
those who do them will live in his presence.
Solomon Builds the Temple
6 Four hundred and eighty years after the people of Israel left Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the second month, the month of Ziv, Solomon began work on the Temple. 2 Inside it was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 3 The entrance room was 15 feet deep and 30 feet wide, as wide as the sanctuary itself. 4 The walls of the Temple had openings in them, narrower on the outside than on the inside. 5 Against the outside walls, on the sides and the back of the Temple, a three-storied annex was built, each story 7½ feet high. 6 Each room in the lowest story was 7½ feet wide, in the middle story 9 feet wide, and in the top story 10½ feet wide. The Temple wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without having their beams built into it.
7 The stones with which the Temple was built had been prepared at the quarry, so that there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools as the Temple was being built.
8 The entrance to the lowest[a] story of the annex was on the south side of the Temple, with stairs leading up to the second and third stories. 9 So King Solomon finished building the Temple. He put in a ceiling made of beams and boards of cedar. 10 The three-storied annex, each story[b] 7½ feet high, was built against the outside walls of the Temple, and was joined to them by cedar beams.
11 The Lord said to Solomon, 12 “If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David. 13 I will live among my people Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never abandon them.”
14 So Solomon finished building the Temple.
Final Greetings
21 (A)Tychicus, our dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord's work, will give you all the news about me, so that you may know how I am getting along. 22 That is why I am sending him to you—to tell you how all of us are getting along and to encourage you.
23 May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give to all Christians peace and love with faith. 24 May God's grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.