Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David Addresses Israel

28 David gathered together all of the leaders of Israel, the leaders of the tribes, division officers who reported to the king, the commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, the supervisors of the property and livestock that belonged to the king and to his sons, along with all of the officers of the palace, the elite forces, and all of the soldiers.

² King David rose to his feet and said, “My fellow citizens,^[a] may I have your attention. I intended to build a house of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, for a footstool of our God, so I began preparations for its construction. ³ But then God told me, ‘You will not build a temple to my name, because you are a man of war, and you have committed bloodshed.’^{[b] 4} Nevertheless, the Lord God of Israel chose me from my entire ancestral household to be king over Israel forever, since he had chosen Judah as Commander-in-Chief.^[c] In my ancestor Judah’s household, from my father’s household, and from among my father’s sons it pleased him to make me king over all of Israel.

⁵ “Now out of all of my sons (since the Lord has given me many of them), he has selected my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord, ruling^[d] over Israel. ⁶ He told me,

⁸ Therefore, in the presence^[e] of all of Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and while our God is listening, observe and search through all of the commandments of the Lord your God, so that you may continue to possess this good land, leaving it for an inheritance forever to benefit your descendants who come after you.”

David Addresses Solomon Directly

⁹ “Now as for you, my son Solomon, get to know the God of your father. Serve him with a sound heart and a devoted soul, because the Lord is searching every heart, every plan and thought. He will be found by you, assuming you are seeking him, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you forever. ¹⁰ So keep watching, because the Lord has chosen you to build the Temple of his sanctuary. So be strong, and get to work!”

The Messiah is Our Foundation

¹⁰ As an expert builder using the grace that God gave me, I laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it. ¹¹ After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that is Jesus the Messiah.^{[a] 12} Whether a person builds on this foundation with gold, silver, expensive stones, wood, hay, or straw, ¹³ the workmanship of each person will become evident, for the day of judgment^[b] will show what it is, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s action. ¹⁴ If what a person has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.^{[c] 15} If his work is burned up, he will suffer loss. However, he himself will be saved, but it will be like going through fire.

¹⁶ You know that you are God’s sanctuary and that God’s Spirit lives in you, don’t you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s sanctuary, God will destroy him, for God’s sanctuary is holy. And you are that sanctuary!