Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Director: A Davidic Song.[a]
Confident Trust in God
11 I take refuge in the Lord.
So how can you say to me,
“Flee like a bird to the mountains.”?
2 Look, the wicked have bent their bow
and placed their arrow[b] on the string,[c]
to shoot from the darkness[d] at the upright in heart.
3 When the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?
4 The Lord is in his holy Temple;
the Lord’s throne is in the heavens.
His eyes see,
his glance[e] examines humanity.[f]
5 The Lord examines the righteous,
but the wicked and those who love violence, he hates.
6 He rains on the wicked burning coals and sulfur;
a scorching wind is their destiny.[g]
7 Indeed, the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteousness;
the upright will see him face-to-face.
15 Then he built the inside walls of the Temple, lining them from floor to ceiling with cedar boards, and overlaying the Temple floor with boards made of cypress wood. 16 He lined 20 cubits[a] of the rear part of the Temple from floor to ceiling with cedar boards specially constructed for the inside to serve as the Most Holy Place. 17 The rest of the main nave in the front was 40 cubits[b] long. 18 Cedar[c] carvings in the form of gourds and blooming flowers covered the entire interior of the Temple so that no stone could be seen.
19 Solomon[d] also prepared an inner sanctuary within the Temple where the Lord’s Ark of the Covenant was placed. 20 The inner sanctuary was 20 cubits[e] long, 20 cubits[f] wide, and 20 cubits[g] high, and overlaid with pure gold. The altar was also overlaid with cedar. 21 Solomon overlaid the inside of the Temple with pure gold, fastened gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 He finished the Temple by overlaying it entirely with gold, including overlaying with gold the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary.
Temple Furnishings(A)
23 Inside the inner sanctuary Solomon[h] placed two cherubim crafted from olive wood, each ten cubits[i] high. 24 Each wing of one cherub was five cubits[j] long, and each wing of the other cherub was five cubits[k] long, so that the distance from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing was ten cubits.[l] 25 Each cherub was ten cubits[m] high, and both were of the same size and shape, 26 the height of one cherub being ten cubits,[n] as was the height of the other.
27 Solomon[o] placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner sanctuary, with their wings spread in such a way that the wing of one was touching the one wall and the opposite wing of the other cherub was touching the opposite wall. Furthermore, their wings in the center of the wall were touching each other wing-to-wing. 28 Each cherub was overlaid with gold.
29 Solomon[p] also inlaid all the inner walls of the Temple—both the inner and outer sanctuaries—with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers. 30 He also overlaid the floor of the Temple with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
31 Solomon[q] also provided doors, lintels, and five-sided doorposts for the entrance to the inner sanctuary. 32 He installed two doors made of olive wood, inlaying them with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers, and overlaying them with gold. Then he added more gold to cover the cherubim and palm trees.
33 Solomon[r] also provided four-sided doorposts made of cypress wood for the entrance to the outer sanctuary, 34 along with two doors of cypress wood, one door of which had two leaves that turned on hinges, as did the other door, which also had two leaves that turned on hinges.
35 Solomon[s] also inlaid the doors with[t] cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers. He overlaid them with gold that was carefully[u] applied on the engraved work. 36 He constructed the inner court with three rows of precut stone and a row of cedar beams.
Temple Construction is Completed
37 The foundation for the Lord’s Temple was laid in the month of Ziv during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, 38 and the Temple was completely finished according to its plans and specifications in the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon’s[v] reign, that is, during the month of Bul. It took about seven years to build.
16 “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last,[a] so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 17 I am giving you these commandments so that you may love one another.”
The World’s Hatred
18 “If the world hates you, you should realize that it hated me before you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it,[b] the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 They will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.
22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The person who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I hadn’t done among them the actions that no one else did, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that[c] what has been written in their Law might be fulfilled: ‘They hated me for no reason.’[d]
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