Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Morning Prayer

David sang this when he ran away from his son Absalom.

Solomon’s Prayer

²² Then Solomon stood facing the Lord’s altar. All of the people of Israel were standing behind him. He spread out his hands and looked toward the sky. ²³ He said:

“Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like you. There is no god like you in heaven above or on the earth below. You make agreements with your people because you love them. And you keep your agreements with those who truly follow you. ²⁴ You have kept the promise you made to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth. And with your great power you have made it come true today. ²⁵ Now Lord, God of Israel, keep the other promises you made to your servant David, my father. You said, ‘Your sons must be careful to obey me as you have obeyed me. If they do this, there will always be someone from your family ruling Israel.’ ²⁶ Again, Lord, God of Israel, I ask you. Please continue to keep that promise you made to my father.

²⁷ “But, God, can you really live here on the earth? Even the sky and the highest place in heaven cannot contain you. Certainly this house which I have built cannot contain you either. ²⁸ But please listen to my prayer and my request. I am your servant, and you are the Lord my God. Hear this prayer I am praying to you today. ²⁹ In the past you said, ‘I will be worshiped there.’ So please watch over this Temple night and day. Hear the prayer I pray to you here. ³⁰ Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people Israel. Please hear us when we pray facing this place. Hear us from your home in heaven. And when you hear us, forgive us.

⁹ “You must be careful. People will arrest you and take you to court. They will beat you in their synagogues. You will be forced to stand before kings and governors, to tell them about me. This will happen to you because you follow me. ¹⁰ But before these things happen, the Good News must be told to all people. ¹¹ When you are arrested and judged, don’t worry about what you should say. Say the things God gives you to say at that time. It will not really be you speaking. It will be the Holy Spirit.

¹² “Brothers will turn against their own brothers and give them over to be killed. Fathers will turn against their own children and give them over to be killed. Children will fight against their own parents and cause their parents to be killed. ¹³ All people will hate you because you follow me. But the person who continues to be strong until the end will be saved.

¹⁴ “You will see ‘the horrible thing that destroys.’^[a] You will see this thing standing in the place where it should not be.” (You who read this should understand what it means.) “At that time, the people in Judea should run away to the mountains. ¹⁵ If a person is on the roof^[b] of his house, he must not go down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁶ If a person is in the field, he must not go back to get his coat. ¹⁷ At that time, it will be hard for women who are pregnant or have nursing babies. ¹⁸ Pray that these things will not happen in winter. ¹⁹ This is because those days will be full of trouble. There will be more trouble than there has ever been since the beginning, when God made the world. And nothing as bad will ever happen again. ²⁰ God has decided to make that terrible time short. If that time were not made short, then no one would go on living. But God will make that time short to help his special people whom he has chosen. ²¹ At that time, someone might say to you, ‘Look, there is the Christ!’ Or another person might say, ‘There he is!’ But don’t believe them. ²² False Christs and false prophets will come and perform great wonders and miracles. They will do these things to the people God has chosen. They will do these things to try to fool them, if that is possible. ²³ So be careful. For I have warned you about all this before it happens.