Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Psalm by David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

²² Solomon stood before Yahweh’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; ²³ and he said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart; ²⁴ who has kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today. ²⁵ Now therefore, may Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’

²⁶ “Now therefore, God of Israel, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father. ²⁷ But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built! ²⁸ Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and for his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today; ²⁹ that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

⁹ “But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them. ¹⁰ The Good News must first be preached to all the nations. ¹¹ When they lead you away and deliver you up, don’t be anxious beforehand or premeditate what you will say, but say whatever will be given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

¹² “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ¹³ You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁴ “But when you see the abomination of desolation,^(A) spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, ¹⁵ and let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house. ¹⁶ Let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak. ¹⁷ But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days! ¹⁸ Pray that your flight won’t be in the winter. ¹⁹ For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. ²⁰ Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days. ²¹ Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ don’t believe it. ²² For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones. ²³ But you watch.

“Behold, I have told you all things beforehand.