‘Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel for ever, he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.’ From 1 Kings 10:1-10, NRSV At the time of the event recorded in today’s reading, Solomon’s kingdom was enjoying a period…
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Have regard to your servant’s prayer and his plea, O Lord my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; that your eyes may be open night and day towards this house, the place of which you said, “My name shall be there”, that you may heed the prayer that your…
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Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. From 1 Kings 8:1-7,9-13, NRSV In today’s reading we hear about the dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem. King David had not…
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‘Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a labourer?Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like labourers who look for their wages,so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. From Job 7:1-4, 6-7, NRSV…
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And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be…
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See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?…
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When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying: ‘I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, be courageous, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the…
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The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’ From 2 Samuel 18:9-10,14,24-25,30-19:3, NRSV. King David’s son Absalom had…
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A messenger came to David, saying, ‘The hearts of the Israelites have gone after Absalom.’ Then David said to all his officials who were with him at Jerusalem, ‘Get up! Let us flee, or there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Hurry, or he will soon overtake us, and bring disaster down upon…
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I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.…
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