Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.
84 How lovely are your dwellings,
Yahweh of Armies!
2 My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh.
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Yes, the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young,
near your altars, Yahweh of Armies, my King, and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house.
They are always praising you. Selah.
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.
6 Passing through the valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs.
Yes, the autumn rain covers it with blessings.
7 They go from strength to strength.
Every one of them appears before God in Zion.
8 Yahweh, God of Armies, hear my prayer.
Listen, God of Jacob. Selah.
9 Behold, God our shield,
look at the face of your anointed.
10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield.
Yahweh will give grace and glory.
He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
12 Yahweh of Armies,
blessed is the man who trusts in you.
6 Then Darius the king made a decree, and the house of the archives, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon, was searched. 2 A scroll was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, and in it this was written for a record:
3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning God’s house at Jerusalem, let the house be built, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be strongly laid, with its height sixty cubits[a] and its width sixty cubits; 4 with three courses of great stones and a course of new timber. Let the expenses be given out of the king’s house. 5 Also let the gold and silver vessels of God’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple which is at Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought again to the temple which is at Jerusalem, everything to its place. You shall put them in God’s house.
6 Now therefore, Tattenai, governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who are beyond the River, you must stay far from there. 7 Leave the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place. 8 Moreover I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses must be given with all diligence to these men, that they not be hindered. 9 That which they have need of, including young bulls, rams, and lambs, for burnt offerings to the God of heaven; also wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail, 10 that they may offer sacrifices of pleasant aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and of his sons. 11 I have also made a decree that whoever alters this message, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened on it; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. 12 May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who stretch out their hand to alter this, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree. Let it be done with all diligence.
13 Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and their companions did accordingly with all diligence, because Darius the king had sent a decree.
14 The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
16 The children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.
15 They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves. 16 He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple. 17 He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?(A) But you have made it a den of robbers!”(B)
18 The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.
19 When evening came, he went out of the city.
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