Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 101
A song of David.
1 I will sing of God’s unsparing love and justice;
to You, O Eternal One, I will sing praises.
2 I will seek to live a life of integrity;
when will You come to me?
I will walk in my house
with an honest and true heart.
3 I will refuse to look
on any sordid thing;
I detest the worthless deeds of those who stray;
evil will not get a hold on me.
4 I will rid my heart of all perversion;
I will not flirt with any evil.
5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
I will silence;
I will not tolerate
a condescending smirk, an arrogant heart.
6 I will look for those who are loyal in the land
so that they may live with me and know my pleasure.
Whoever walks with integrity
will enter my service.
7 The one who makes a habit of deceit
will not be welcome in my house;
The one who lies
will not remain in my presence for long.
8 Every morning I will purge
all the wicked from the land
So as to rid the city of the Eternal
of those who practice evil.
7 It took Solomon 13 years to complete his own house. 2 He constructed the house of the forest of Lebanon, and it was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It was built on top of cedar beams supported by 4 rows of cedar columns. 3 The space above the side rooms (which were on top of the 45 columns, 15 columns in each row) was paneled with cedar. 4 There were 3 rows of window frames directly opposite each other—3 on each side. 5 The doorways and doorposts were square, and the openings were directly opposite each other: 3 on each side.
6 Solomon then constructed the hall of pillars. It was 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. There was a porch with pillars and a canopy as an entryway before them. 7 Then he made the hall for the throne. This is where he would give judgment; thus it was called the hall of judgment. The entire room was paneled from floor to floor[a] with cedar.
8 His own residence, the interior court behind the hall of judgment, was made the same way. For his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, Solomon constructed another house like the hall of judgment. 9 They were all decorated inside and out, top to bottom, with costly stones, rare rocks perfectly cut with saws. 10 The foundation of the house was made out of rare, expensive stones. There were some gigantic stones, 12 and 15 feet long. 11 The elevation of the house was also made of large, costly stones; and they were trimmed to perfection, along with the cedar. 12 The courtyard had 3 rows of trimmed stones; and it also had 1 row of cedar beams, just like the porch and the central hall of the Eternal’s temple.
9 The patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, so they sold him as a slave into Egypt. Even so, God was with him; 10 and time after time, God rescued Joseph from whatever trials befell him. God gave Joseph the favor and wisdom to overcome each adversity and eventually to win the confidence and respect of his captors, including Pharaoh, the king of Egypt himself. So Pharaoh entrusted his whole nation and his whole household to Joseph’s stewardship. 11 Some time later, a terrible famine spread through the entire region—from Canaan down to Egypt—and everyone suffered greatly. Our ancestors, living here in the region of Canaan, could find nothing to eat. 12 Jacob heard that Egypt had stores of grain; so he sent our forefathers, his sons, to procure food there. 13 Later, when they returned to Egypt a second time, Joseph revealed his true identity to them. He also told Pharaoh his family story.
14-16 Joseph then invited his father Jacob and all his clan to come and live with him in Egypt. So Jacob came, along with 75 extended family members. After their deaths, their remains were brought back to this land so they could be buried in the same tomb where Abraham had buried Sarah (he had purchased the tomb for a certain amount of silver from the family of Hamor in the town of Shechem).
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.