Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Faith in the Lord’s Righteousness

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹³ Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; ^(A)Adoniram was in charge of the labor force. ^15 (B)Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains, ¹⁶ besides three thousand ^[a]three hundred from the ^(C)chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work. ¹⁷ And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and ^(D)hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the ^[b]temple. ¹⁸ So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the ^[c]temple.

^21 (A)submitting to one another in the fear of ^[a]God.

Marriage—Christ and the Church^(B)

²² Wives, ^(C)submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For ^(D)the husband is head of the wife, as also ^(E)Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands ^(F)in everything.

^25 (G)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and ^(H)gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might ^[b]sanctify and cleanse her ^(I)with the washing of water ^(J)by the word, ^27 (K)that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, ^(L)not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. ³⁰ For ^(M)we are members of His body, ^[c]of His flesh and of His bones. ^31 (N)“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the ^(O)two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless ^(P)let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she ^(Q)respects her husband.

Children and Parents^(R)

6 Children, ^(S)obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ^2 (T)“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: ³ “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

⁴ And ^(U)you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but ^(V)bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Bondservants and Masters

^5 (W)Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, ^(X)with fear and trembling, ^(Y)in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; ^6 (Z)not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, ⁷ with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, ^8 (AA)knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

⁹ And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that ^[d]your own ^(AB)Master also is in heaven, and ^(AC)there is no partiality with Him.