Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Statement About Trust in God

For the director of music. Of David.

¹³ King Solomon forced 30,000 men of Israel to help in this work. ¹⁴ He put a man named Adoniram over them. Solomon sent a group of 10,000 men each month to Lebanon. So each group worked in Lebanon one month. Then it went home for two months. ¹⁵ Solomon forced 80,000 men to work in the hill country, cutting stone. And he had 70,000 men to carry the stones. ¹⁶ There were also 3,300 men who directed the workers. ¹⁷ King Solomon commanded them to cut large blocks of fine stone. These were to be used for the foundation of the Temple. ¹⁸ Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders and the men from Byblos carved the stones. They prepared the stones and the logs for building the Temple.

Wives and Husbands

²¹ Be willing to obey each other. Do this because you respect Christ.

²² Wives, be under the authority of your husbands, as of the Lord. ²³ The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. The church is Christ’s body—Christ is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ The church is under the authority of Christ. So it is the same with you wives. You should be under the authority of your husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Christ died for the church ²⁶ to make it belong to God. Christ used the word to make the church clean by washing it with water. ²⁷ Christ died so that he could give the church to himself like a bride in all her beauty. He died so that the church could be pure and without fault, with no evil or sin or any other wrong thing in it. ²⁸ And husbands should love their wives in the same way. They should love their wives as they love their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ No person ever hates his own body, but feeds and takes care of it. And that is what Christ does for the church, ³⁰ because we are parts of his body. ³¹ The Scripture says, “So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife. And the two people will become one body.”^{[a] 32} That secret truth is very important—I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ But each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself. And a wife must respect her husband.

Children and Parents

6 Children, obey your parents the way the Lord wants. This is the right thing to do. ² The command says, “Honor your father and mother.”^[b] This is the first command that has a promise with it. ³ The promise is: “Then everything will be well with you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”^[c]

⁴ Fathers, do not make your children angry, but raise them with the training and teaching of the Lord.

Slaves and Masters

⁵ Slaves, obey your masters here on earth with fear and respect. And do that with a heart that is true, just as you obey Christ. ⁶ You must do more than obey your masters to please them only while they are watching you. You must obey them as you are obeying Christ. With all your heart you must do what God wants. ⁷ Do your work, and be happy to do it. Work as if you were serving the Lord, not as if you were serving only men. ⁸ Remember that the Lord will give a reward to everyone, slave or free, for doing good.

⁹ Masters, in the same way, be good to your slaves. Do not say things to scare them. You know that the One who is your Master and their Master is in heaven. And that Master treats everyone alike.