Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of Praise

101 I will sing of loving-kindness and of what is right and fair. I will sing praises to You, O Lord. ² I will be careful to live a life without blame. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a right and good heart. ³ I will set no sinful thing in front of my eyes. I hate the work of those who are not faithful. It will not get hold of me. ⁴ A sinful heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with sin. ⁵ I will stop whoever talks against his neighbor in secret. I will not listen to anyone who has a proud look and a proud heart.

⁶ My eyes will look with favor on the faithful in the land, so they may serve me. He who walks without blame will help me. ⁷ He whose ways are false will not live in my house. He who tells lies will not stand in front of me. ⁸ I will destroy all the sinful in the land every morning. I will cut off all those who do wrong from the city of the Lord.

The Special Box Brought into the House of God

8 Then King Solomon gathered together the leaders of Israel in front of him in Jerusalem. He gathered together all the heads of the families and the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the sons of Israel. They gathered to bring up the Lord’s special box of the agreement from Zion the city of David. ² All the men of Israel gathered to King Solomon at the special supper in the seventh month, Ethanim. ³ All the leaders of Israel came, and the religious leaders took up the Lord’s special box of the agreement. ⁴ They brought up the Lord’s special box of the agreement, the meeting tent, and all the holy objects which were in the tent. The religious leaders and the Levites brought them up. ⁵ King Solomon and all the people of Israel, who were gathered to him, were with him in front of the special box. They killed so many sheep and cattle on the altar that their number could not be known. ⁶ Then the religious leaders brought the Lord’s special box of the agreement to its place. They brought it into the most holy place of the house, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the special box. The cherubim made a covering above the special box and its special pieces of wood used for carrying. ⁸ The carrying pieces were so long that the ends of them could be seen from the holy place in front of the most holy place. But they could not be seen from outside. They are there to this day. ⁹ There was nothing in the special box except the two stone writings which Moses put there at Horeb. There the Lord had made an agreement with the people of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ When the religious leaders came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord. ¹¹ So the religious leaders were not able to stand there to do their work because of the cloud. For the shining-greatness of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.

¹² Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would live in the thick cloud. ¹³ I have built You an honored house, a place for You to live forever.”

Solomon’s Words to the People

¹⁴ Then the king turned around and prayed that good would come to all the people of Israel, while all the people of Israel stood. ¹⁵ He said, “Thanks be to the Lord, the God of Israel. He spoke with His mouth to my father David. And He has kept His promise with His hand, saying, ¹⁶ ’Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I did not choose a city of all the families of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there. But I chose David to be king over My people Israel.’ ¹⁷ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. ¹⁹ But you will not build the house. Your son who will be born to you will build the house for My name.’ ²⁰ Now the Lord has kept His promise which He made. For I have taken my father David’s place and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. And I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹ There I have made a place for the special box in which is the agreement of the Lord. He made it when He brought them from the land of Egypt.”

Jesus Shows That the Teaching of the Proud Religious Law-Keepers Is Wrong ^(A)

¹⁴ The followers had forgotten to take bread, only one loaf was in the boat. ¹⁵ He said to them, “Look out! Have nothing to do with the yeast of the proud religious law-keepers and of Herod.” ¹⁶ They talked about it among themselves. They said, “He said this because we forgot to bring bread.” ¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said to them, “Why are you talking among yourselves about forgetting to bring bread? Do you not understand? Is it not plain to you? Are your hearts still hard? ¹⁸ You have eyes, do you not see? You have ears, do you not hear? Do you not remember? ¹⁹ When I divided the five loaves of bread among the five thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” They said, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “When I divided the seven loaves of bread among the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” They said, “Seven.” ²¹ Then He asked, “Why do you not understand yet?”