Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.

We trust God to help us^[a]

The tabernacle

25 The Lord said to Moses: ² ‘Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. Every person who wants to give can make a gift to me. You must receive their gifts. ³ These are the gifts that you must receive from the people as an offering:

⁸ You must tell the Israelites to make a special place to be my home. Then I will live among them. ⁹ I will show you how to make this tabernacle and everything that you will put inside it. But you must make everything in the way that I tell you.

The Covenant Box

¹⁰ The Israelites must use acacia wood to make a big box. It must be 1 metre long, 75 centimetres wide and 75 centimetres high. ¹¹ Cover the wood with gold, both inside and outside. Build up the edges of the box with gold. ¹² Make four gold rings and fix them to the four feet of the box. Fix two rings on one side and two rings on the other side. ¹³ Then use acacia wood to make two poles. Cover them with gold too. ¹⁴ Push the poles through the rings on the sides of the box. You will use the poles to carry the box. ¹⁵ The poles must remain along the side of the box, in the rings. Never remove them. ¹⁶ Then put into the box the two flat stones with the words of the covenant on them. I will give those to you.

¹⁷ Use pure gold to make a lid for the box. Make the lid 1 metre long and 75 centimetres wide. ¹⁸ Use gold to make images of two cherubs. Use a hammer to make them the right shape. They will stand at the two ends of the lid. ¹⁹ One cherub will stand at one end of the lid, and one cherub will stand at the other end. The two cherubs and the lid must be one piece of gold. ²⁰ The cherubs must look towards each other and watch over the lid. Their wings must touch each other over the top of the lid. ²¹ Then put the lid on the top of the box. Put the flat stones with the words of the covenant into the box. I will give those to you.

²² I will meet with you there, between the two cherubs that are above the lid. They watch over the Covenant Box. In that place I will give you all my commands for the Israelites.

How Paul taught God's message

2 Christian friends, I came to tell you God's true message. I did not use clever words when I spoke to you. I did not try to make you think that I was very wise. ² While I was with you, I decided to teach you only about Jesus Christ. I taught you about his death on a cross. I wanted to forget everything else.

³ I lived among you as someone who felt weak. I was very afraid. ⁴ When I spoke to you and when I taught you God's message, I did not use clever words. I did not want you to believe me because you thought I was wise. Instead, it was the power of God's Holy Spirit that showed you that my message was true. ⁵ As a result, you now believe because of God's power. You do not believe because of human ideas.

⁶ But we do speak about wise thoughts to those of you who know Christ very well. But those wise thoughts do not belong to this world. They are not the ideas that the rulers of this world think are important. Those rulers will not be powerful for long. ⁷ No, the wise thoughts that we speak about belong to God. He has hidden them from people until now. But before God made the world, he decided to let us know these secrets. He wanted us to enjoy his glory. ⁸ None of the rulers of this world understood God's wise plan. If they had understood, they would not have killed Jesus on a cross. He is the Lord who rules heaven and earth. ⁹ This is written in the Bible:

¹⁰ But God has sent his Spirit to show these secrets to us. God's Spirit looks carefully into everything. He even knows God's secret thoughts.