Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord Is in His Holy Temple

To the choirmaster. Of David.

¹⁵ He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, ^(A)and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. ^16 (B)He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as ^(C)the Most Holy Place. ¹⁷ The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. ¹⁸ The cedar within the house was carved in the form of ^(D)gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. ¹⁹ The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. ²⁰ The inner sanctuary^[a] was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid^[b] an altar of cedar. ²¹ And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. ²² And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. ^(E)Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

^23 (F)In the inner sanctuary ^(G)he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴ Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. ²⁵ The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. ²⁶ The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. ²⁷ He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. ^(H)And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. ²⁸ And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. ³⁰ The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

³¹ For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.^{[c] 32} He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

³³ So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, ³⁴ and two doors of cypress wood. ^(I)The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. ³⁵ On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. ^36 (J)He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

^37 (K)In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. ³⁸ And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

¹⁶ You did not choose me, but ^(A)I chose you and appointed you that you should go and ^(B)bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that ^(C)whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, ^(D)so that you will love one another.

The Hatred of the World

^18 (E)“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ^19 (F)If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because ^(G)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: ^(H)‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, ^(I)they will also persecute you. ^(J)If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹ But ^(K)all these things they will do to you ^(L)on account of my name, ^(M)because they do not know him who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, ^(N)they would not have been guilty of sin,^[a] but now they have no excuse for their sin. ^23 (O)Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ^24 (P)If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, ^(Q)they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have ^(R)seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But ^(S)the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ^(T)‘They hated me without a cause.’