Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 84[a]
Longing for God’s Dwelling
1 For the director.[b] “Upon the gittith.” A psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts.[c]
3 My soul yearns and is filled with longing
for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
4 Just as the sparrow searches for a home
and the swallow builds a nest for herself
where she may place her young,
so do I seek your altars,[d]
O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
5 Blessed[e] are those who dwell in your house;
they offer continuous praise to you. Selah
6 Blessed are those who find strength in you,
who set their hearts upon your ways.[f]
7 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they turn it into a region of springs,
and the early rain covers it with pools.[g]
8 [h]They move forward with increasing strength
as they behold the God of gods in Zion.
9 O Lord of hosts, hear my prayer;
listen to my pleas, O God of Jacob. Selah
10 O God, look upon our shield[i]
behold the face of your anointed one.
11 It is better to spend one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper[j] in God’s house
than dwell inside the tents of the wicked.
12 The Lord God serves as our sun[k] and our shield;
the Lord showers us with grace and glory.
He does not withhold any good thing
from those who walk in integrity.
13 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the man who puts his trust in you.
20 The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the shore of the sea. They ate, and they drank, and they were happy. 21 Solomon ruled over all of the kingdoms in the land that extended from the river over to the land of the Philistines and down to the border with Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon for his entire lifetime.
22 Each day’s provision for Solomon included thirty cors[a] of fine flour, sixty cors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and one hundred sheep, in addition to deer, gazelles, roebuck, and fatted fowl.
24 He ruled over all of this side of the river, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all of the kings on this side of the river. He had peace on every side.
25 Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beer-sheba, every man under his own vine and under his own fig tree, during the entire time of Solomon. 26 Solomon also had forty thousand stalls for his chariot horses, and twelve thousand horsemen.
27 Those officials provided food for King Solomon and for all of those who came to King Solomon’s table. Each one was assigned his month, and they saw to it that nothing was missing. 28 Each of them also brought his quota of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses to the assigned place.
Chapter 5
The Christian Life Is One Long Vigil.[a] 1 In regard to specific dates and times,[b] brethren, it is not necessary to write you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the Day of the Lord[c] will come like a thief in the night. 3 When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” instant destruction[d] will overwhelm them, in the manner that labor pains suddenly come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no means of escape.
4 However, brethren, you do not live in darkness, and therefore that Day will not catch you unawares like a thief. 5 For all of you are children of the light[e] and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So we must not fall asleep as the others do, but we must stay alert and sober.
7 Those who sleep do so at night, and those who get drunk do so at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, arming ourselves with faith and love as our breastplate and the hope of salvation as our helmet.[f] 9 [g]For God has not destined us to suffer wrath, but to achieve salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore, encourage one another and strengthen one another, as indeed you are doing.
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