Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Trust in the Lord

For the director of music. Of David.

¹⁵ The inside walls were ·covered [paneled] from floor to ceiling with cedar boards. The floor was made from ·pine [cypress; juniper] boards. ¹⁶ A room ·thirty feet [^Ltwenty cubits] long was built in the back part of the ·Temple [^Lhouse]. This room, called the ·Most Holy Place [^THoly of Holies], was an inner ·room [^Lsanctuary] ·separated from the rest of the Temple by [or paneled with] cedar boards which reached from floor to ·ceiling [rafters]. ¹⁷ The ·main room [main hall; nave], the one in front of ·the Most Holy Place [^Lit], was ·sixty feet [^Lforty cubits] long. ¹⁸ Everything inside the ·Temple [^Lhouse] was covered with cedar, which was carved with pictures of flowers and ·plants [open flowers]. A person could not see the stones of the wall, only the cedar.

¹⁹ Solomon prepared the inner ·room [sanctuary] ·at the back of [within] the ·Temple [^Lhouse] to keep the Ark of the ·Agreement [Treaty; Covenant; Ex. 25:10] with the Lord. ²⁰ This inner ·room [sanctuary] was ·thirty feet [^Ltwenty cubits] long, ·thirty feet [^Ltwenty cubits] wide, and ·thirty feet [^Ltwenty cubits] high. ²¹ He covered this ·room [sanctuary] with pure gold, and he also covered the altar of cedar. ²² So all the inside of the ·Temple [^Lhouse], as well as the altar of the ·Most Holy Place [^Linner sanctuary], was covered with gold.

²³ Solomon made two ·creatures [cherubim; ^Cparticularly powerful spiritual beings] from olive wood and placed them in the ·Most Holy Place [^Linner sanctuary]. ·Each creature [^LThe cherub] was ·fifteen feet [^Lten cubits] tall ²⁴ and had two wings. Each wing was ·seven and one-half feet [^Lfive cubits] long, so it was ·fifteen feet [^Lten cubits] from the end of one wing to the end of the other. ²⁵ ·The creatures [^LThe other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim] were the same size and shape; ²⁶ each was ·fifteen feet [^Lten cubits] tall. ²⁷ These ·creatures [^Lcherubim; 6:23] were put beside each other in the ·Most Holy Place [^Linner house] with their wings spread out. One creature’s wing touched one wall, and the other creature’s wing touched the other wall with their wings touching each other in the middle of the room. ²⁸ These two creatures were ·covered [overlaid] with gold.

²⁹ All the walls around the ·Temple [^Lhouse] were carved with ·pictures [engravings] of ·creatures with wings [cherubim; 6:23], as well as palm trees and open flowers. ·This was true for both the main room and the inner room [^L…both the inner and the outer (rooms)]. ³⁰ The floors of both rooms were ·covered [overlaid] with gold.

³¹ Doors made from olive wood were placed at the entrance to the ·Most Holy Place [^Linner sanctuary]. These doors had five-sided ·frames [doorposts]. ³² ·Creatures with wings [Cherubim; 6:23], as well as palm trees and open flowers, were also carved on the two olive wood doors that were ·covered [overlaid] with gold. The ·creatures [cherubim; 6:23] and the palm trees on the doors were ·covered [overlaid] with gold as well. ³³ At the entrance to the ·main room [main hall; nave] there ·was a square door frame [were four-sided doorposts] made of olive wood. ³⁴ Two doors were made from ·pine [cypress; juniper]. Each door had two parts so the doors ·folded [turned on pivots]. ³⁵ The doors were ·covered with pictures of creatures with wings [^Lcarved with cherubim; 6:23], as well as palm trees and open flowers. All of the carvings were covered with gold, which was evenly ·spread [hammered; applied] over them.

³⁶ The inner courtyard was enclosed by walls, which were made of three rows of ·cut [finished; dressed] stones ·and one [for each] row of cedar ·boards [beams].

³⁷ ·Work began on [^LThe foundation was laid of] the ·Temple [^Lhouse of the Lord] in Ziv, the second month, during the fourth ·year Solomon was king over Israel [^Lyear]. ³⁸ The ·Temple [^Lhouse] was finished during the eleventh ·year he was king [^Lyear], in the eighth month, the month of Bul. It was ·built exactly as it was planned [^Lfinished according to all its parts and according to all its plans]. Solomon had spent seven years building it.

¹⁶ You did not choose me; I chose you. And I ·gave you this work: [appointed you] to go and produce fruit, fruit that will ·last [remain; abide]. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name [see 14:13]. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

Jesus Warns His Followers

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me ·first [before you]. ¹⁹ If you ·belonged to [^Lwere of] the world, it would love you as it loves its own. But I have chosen you out of the world, ·so [because] you don’t belong to it. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember ·what [the word] I told you: A ·servant [slave; bond-servant] is not greater than his ·master [lord; see 13:16]. If people ·did wrong to [persecuted] me, they will ·do wrong to [persecute] you, too. And if they ·obeyed my teaching [^Lkept my word], they will ·obey [keep] yours, too. ²¹ [^LBut] They will do all this to you on account of ·me [^Lmy name; 14:13], because they do not know the One who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ I did works among them that no one else has ever done. If I had not done these works, they would not be guilty of sin. [^CJesus’ words and actions resulted in their guilt because they rejected him despite the evidence (the “signs”) that God was working through him; see Matt. 11:20–24; Luke 11:31–32.] But now they have seen what I have done, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this happened so that what is written in their law ·would be true [^Lmight be fulfilled]: ‘They hated me for no reason [^Cthe quote could be from Ps. 35:19 or Ps. 69:4].’