Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for the King

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

Gifts for the Lord

25 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites to bring me gifts. Receive for me the gifts each person wants to give. ³ These are the gifts that you should receive from them: gold, silver, bronze; ⁴ blue, purple, and red thread; fine linen, goat hair, ⁵ sheepskins that are dyed red; fine leather; acacia wood; ⁶ olive oil to burn in the lamps; spices for sweet-smelling incense, and the special olive oil poured on a person’s head to make him a priest; ⁷ onyx stones, and other jewels to be put on the holy vest and the chest covering.

⁸ “The people must build a holy place for me so that I can live among them. ⁹ Build this Holy Tent and everything in it by the plan I will show you.

The Ark of the Agreement

¹⁰ “Use acacia wood and build an Ark forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. ¹¹ Cover the Ark inside and out with pure gold, and put a gold strip all around it. ¹² Make four gold rings for the Ark and attach them to its four feet, two rings on each side. ¹³ Then make poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold. ¹⁴ Put the poles through the rings on the sides of the Ark, and use these poles to carry it. ¹⁵ These poles must always stay in the rings of the Ark. Do not take them out. ¹⁶ Then put in the Ark the Agreement which I will make with you.

¹⁷ “Then make a lid of pure gold for the Ark; this is the mercy seat. Make it forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide. ¹⁸ Then hammer gold to make two creatures with wings, and put one on each end of the lid. ¹⁹ Attach one creature on one end of the lid and the other creature on the other end. Make them to be one piece with the lid at the ends. ²⁰ The creatures’ wings should be spread upward, covering the lid, and the creatures are to face each other across the lid. ²¹ Put this lid on top of the Ark, and put in the Ark the Agreement which I will make with you. ²² I will meet with you there, above the lid between the two winged creatures on the Ark of the Agreement. There I will give you all my commands for the Israelites.

The Message of Christ’s Death

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I did not come preaching God’s secret^[a] with fancy words or a show of human wisdom. ² I decided that while I was with you I would forget about everything except Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. ³ So when I came to you, I was weak and fearful and trembling. ⁴ My teaching and preaching were not with words of human wisdom that persuade people but with proof of the power that the Spirit gives. ⁵ This was so that your faith would be in God’s power and not in human wisdom.

God’s Wisdom

⁶ However, I speak a wisdom to those who are mature. But this wisdom is not from this world or from the rulers of this world, who are losing their power. ⁷ I speak God’s secret wisdom, which he has kept hidden. Before the world began, God planned this wisdom for our glory. ⁸ None of the rulers of this world understood it. If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ But as it is written in the Scriptures:

¹⁰ But God has shown us these things through the Spirit.

The Spirit searches out all things, even the deep secrets of God.