Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

84 O LORD of Hosts, how lovely are Your Tabernacles!

² My soul longs, indeed, and fainted for the courts of the LORD! My heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God!

³ Indeed, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for her; where she may lay her young by Your altars, O LORD of Hosts, my King and my God.

⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in Your House. They will ever praise You. Selah.

⁵ Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are Your ways.

⁶ They, going through the valley of Baca, make wells therein. The rain also covers the pools.

⁷ They go from strength to strength, until every one appears before God in Zion.

⁸ O, LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer! Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.

⁹ Behold, O God Our Shield, and look upon the face of Your Anointed.

¹⁰ For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the tabernacles of wickedness.

¹¹ For the LORD God is the Sun and Shield. The LORD will give grace and glory; and He will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly.

¹² O, LORD of Hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You. To him who excels: A Psalm committed to the sons of Korah

5 And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to Solomon (for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father) because Hiram had always loved David.

² And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,

³ “You know that David, my father, could not build a House to the Name of the LORD his God because of the wars which were around him on every side, until the LORD had put them under the soles of his feet.

⁴ “But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor evil to resist.

⁵ “And behold, I intend to build a House to the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set upon your throne for you, he shall build a House to My Name.’

⁶ “Now, therefore, command that they cut me cedar trees out of Lebanon. And my servants shall be with your servants, and I will give you the wages for your servants, according to all that you shall appoint. For you know that there are none among us who can cut timber like the Sidonians!”

⁷ And when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed be the LORD this day, Who has given David a wise son over this mighty people!”

⁸ And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have considered the things for which you sent to me, and will accomplish all your desire concerning the cedar trees and fir trees.

⁹ “My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. And I will transport them by sea in rafts to the place that you shall tell me and will have them discharged there. And you shall receive them. And you shall do me the pleasure of ministering food for my family.”

¹⁰ So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees, his full desire.

¹¹ And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of beaten oil. Thus, Solomon gave much to Hiram year after year.

¹² And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon. And those two made a covenant.

⁵ Moreover He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves.

⁶ ‘For a friend of mine has come out of the way to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’

⁷ “And the one inside answers, and says, ‘Do not trouble me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give them to you!’

⁸ “I say to you that though he would not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet he would undoubtedly rise and give him as many as he needed because of his persistence.

⁹ “And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.

¹⁰ “For everyone who asks, receives. And the one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, it shall be opened.

¹¹ “If a son shall ask for bread from any of you who is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead?

¹² “Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?

¹³ “If you, then, who are evil, can give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to those who desire Him?