Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Faith in the Lord’s Righteousness

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹⁵ And he built the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards; from the floor of the temple to the ceiling he paneled the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the temple with planks of cypress. ¹⁶ Then he built the twenty-cubit room at the rear of the temple, from floor to ceiling, with cedar boards; he built it inside as the inner sanctuary, as the ^(A)Most Holy Place. ¹⁷ And in front of it the temple sanctuary was forty cubits long. ¹⁸ The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with ornamental buds and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone to be seen.

¹⁹ And he prepared the ^[a]inner sanctuary inside the temple, to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. ²⁰ The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar of cedar. ²¹ So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. ²² The whole temple he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the temple; also he overlaid with gold ^(B)the entire altar that was by the inner sanctuary.

²³ Inside the inner sanctuary ^(C)he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴ One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits: ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. ²⁵ And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and shape. ²⁶ The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub. ²⁷ Then he set the cherubim inside the inner ^[b]room; and ^(D)they stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. ²⁸ Also he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved ^(E)figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. ³⁰ And the floor of the temple he overlaid with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

³¹ For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were ^[c]one-fifth of the wall. ³² The two doors were of olive wood; and he carved on them figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. ³³ So for the door of the ^[d]sanctuary he also made doorposts of olive wood, ^[e]one-fourth of the wall. ³⁴ And the two doors were of cypress wood; ^(F)two panels comprised one folding door, and two panels comprised the other folding door. ³⁵ Then he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and overlaid them with gold applied evenly on the carved work.

³⁶ And he built the ^(G)inner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.

^37 (H)In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of ^[f]Ziv. ³⁸ And in the eleventh year, in the month of ^[g]Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was ^(I)seven years in building it.

^16 (A)You did not choose Me, but I chose you and ^(B)appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father ^(C)in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another.

The World’s Hatred

^18 (D)“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ^19 (E)If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet ^(F)because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ^(G)‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. ^(H)If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ But ^(I)all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. ^22 (J)If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, ^(K)but now they have no excuse for their sin. ^23 (L)He who hates Me hates My Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them ^(M)the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have ^(N)seen and also hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵ But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ^(O)‘They hated Me without a cause.’