Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A psalm by David.

The Lord Comes to His Temple^(A)

8 Then Solomon assembled the respected leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the Israelite families. They came to King Solomon in Jerusalem to take the ark of the Lord’s promise from the City of David (that is, Zion). ² All the people of Israel gathered around King Solomon at the Festival ⌞of Booths⌟ in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

³ When all the leaders of Israel had arrived, the priests picked up the Lord’s ark. ⁴ They brought the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils in it ⌞to the temple⌟. The priests and the Levites carried them ⁵ while King Solomon with the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the ark. ⁶ The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s promise to its place in the inner room of the temple (the most holy place) under the wings of the angels.^[a]

⁷ When the angels’ outstretched wings were over the place where the ark ⌞rested⌟, the angels became a covering above the ark and its poles. ⁸ The poles were so long that their ends could be seen in the holy place by anyone standing in front of the inner room, but they couldn’t be seen outside. (They are still there today.) ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a promise to the Israelites after they left Egypt.

¹⁰ When the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the Lord’s temple. ¹¹ The priests couldn’t serve because of the cloud. The Lord’s glory filled his temple.

Solomon Addresses the People^(B)

¹² Then Solomon said, “The Lord said he would live in a dark cloud. ¹³ I certainly have built you a high temple, a home for you to live in permanently.”

¹⁴ Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel while they were standing. ¹⁵ “Thanks be to the Lord God of Israel. With his mouth he made a promise to my father David; with his hand he carried it out. He said, ¹⁶ ‘Ever since I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I didn’t choose any city in any of the tribes of Israel as a place to build a temple for my name. But now I’ve chosen David to rule my people Israel.’

¹⁷ “My father David had his heart set on building a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁸ However, the Lord said to my father David, ‘Since you had your heart set on building a temple for my name, your intentions were good. ¹⁹ But you must not build the temple. Instead, your own son will build the temple for my name.’ ²⁰ The Lord has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David’s place, and I sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised. I’ve built the temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ²¹ I’ve made a place there for the ark which contains the Lord’s promise that he made to our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”

¹⁴ The disciples had forgotten to take any bread along and had only one loaf with them in the boat.

¹⁵ Jesus warned them, “Be careful! Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!”

¹⁶ They had been discussing with one another that they didn’t have any bread.

¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were saying and asked them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you don’t have any bread? Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you catch on? Are your minds closed? ¹⁸ Are you blind and deaf? Don’t you remember? ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces?”

They told him, “Twelve.”

²⁰ “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many large baskets did you fill with leftover pieces?”

They answered him, “Seven.”

²¹ He asked them, “Don’t you catch on yet?”