1 Chronicles 22

Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

DAVID’S PREPARATIONS FOR THE TEMPLE
2 So David gave orders to gather the resident aliens that were in the land of Israel, and he appointed stonecutters to cut finished stones for building God’s house. 3 David supplied a great deal of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the fittings, together with an immeasurable quantity of bronze, 4 and innumerable cedar logs because the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought a large quantity of cedar logs to David. 5 David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly great and famous and glorious in all the lands. Therefore, I will make provision for it.” So David made lavish preparations for it before his death.

6 Then he summoned his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. 7 “My son,” David said to Solomon, “It was in my heart to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, 8 but the word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and waged great wars. You are not to build a house for my name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before me. 9 But a son will be born to you; he will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies, for his name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign. 10 He is the one who will build a house for my name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

11“Now, my son, may the Lord be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as he said about you. 12 Above all, may the Lord give you insight and understanding when he puts you in charge of Israel so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. 13 Then you will succeed if you carefully follow the statutes and ordinances the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or discouraged.

14“Notice I have taken great pains to provide for the house of the Lord ​— ​3,775 tons of gold, 37,750 tons of silver, and bronze and iron that can’t be weighed because there is so much of it. I have also provided timber and stone, but you will need to add more to them. 15 You also have many workers: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and people skilled in every kind of work 16 in gold, silver, bronze, and iron ​— ​beyond number. Now begin the work, and may the Lord be with you.”

17 Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon: 18“The Lord your God is with you, isn’t he? And hasn’t he given you rest on every side? For he has handed the land’s inhabitants over to me, and the land has been subdued before the Lord and his people. 19 Now determine in your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. Get started building the Lord God’s sanctuary so that you may bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant and the holy articles of God to the temple that is to be built for the name of the Lord.”

1 Peter 3

WIVES AND HUSBANDS
In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by the way their wives live
2 when they observe your pure, reverent lives. 3 Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes, 4 but rather what is inside the heart ​— ​the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also adorned themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands, 6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and do not fear any intimidation.

7 Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner, showing them honor as coheirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

DO NO EVIL
8 Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, 9 not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.

10 For the one who wants to love life

and to see good days,

let him keep his tongue from evil

and his lips from speaking deceit,

11 and let him turn away from evil

and do what is good.

Let him seek peace and pursue it,

12 because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous

and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against

those who do what is evil.

UNDESERVED SUFFERING
13 Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 16 Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison 20 who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few ​— ​that is, eight people ​— ​were saved through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

Micah 1

The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite ​— ​what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

COMING JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL
2 Listen, all you peoples;
pay attention, earth and everyone in it!
The Lord God will be a witness against you,
the Lord, from his holy temple.
3 Look, the Lord is leaving his place
and coming down to trample
the heights of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt beneath him,
and the valleys will split apart,
like wax near a fire,
like water cascading down a mountainside.
5 All this will happen because of Jacob’s rebellion
and the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob?
Isn’t it Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Isn’t it Jerusalem?
6 Therefore, I will make Samaria
a heap of ruins in the countryside,
a planting area for a vineyard.
I will roll her stones into the valley
and expose her foundations.
7 All her carved images will be smashed to pieces;
all her wages will be burned in the fire,
and I will destroy all her idols.
Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,
they will be used again for a prostitute.
MICAH’S LAMENT
8 Because of this I will lament and wail;
I will walk barefoot and naked.
I will howl like the jackals
and mourn like ostriches.
9 For her wound is incurable
and has reached even Judah;
it has approached my people’s city gate,
as far as Jerusalem.
10 Don’t announce it in Gath,
don’t weep at all.
Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.
11 Depart in shameful nakedness,
you residents of Shaphir;
the residents of Zaanan will not come out.
Beth-ezel is lamenting;
its support is taken from you.
12 Though the residents of Maroth
anxiously wait for something good,
disaster has come from the Lord
to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the horses to the chariot,
you residents of Lachish.
This was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion
because Israel’s acts of rebellion can be traced to you.
14 Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib are a deception
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror
against you who live in Mareshah.
The nobility of Israel will come to Adullam.
16 Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair
in sorrow for your precious children;
make yourselves as bald as an eagle,
for they have been taken from you into exile.

Psalm 102

AFFLICTION IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY
A prayer of a suffering person who is weak and pours out his lament before the Lord.

Lord, hear my prayer;
let my cry for help come before you.
2 Do not hide your face from me in my day of trouble.
Listen closely to me;
answer me quickly when I call.
3 For my days vanish like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.
4 My heart is suffering, withered like grass;
I even forget to eat my food.
5 Because of the sound of my groaning,
my flesh sticks to my bones.
6 I am like an eagle owl,
like a little owl among the ruins.
7 I stay awake;
I am like a solitary bird on a roof.
8 My enemies taunt me all day long;
they ridicule and use my name as a curse.
9 I eat ashes like bread
and mingle my drinks with tears
10 because of your indignation and wrath;
for you have picked me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like a lengthening shadow,
and I wither away like grass.
12 But you, Lord, are enthroned forever;
your fame endures to all generations.
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her —
the appointed time has come.
14 For your servants take delight in its stones
and favor its dust.
15 Then the nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
16 for the Lord will rebuild Zion;
he will appear in his glory.
17 He will pay attention to the prayer of the destitute
and will not despise their prayer.
18 This will be written for a later generation,
and a people who have not yet been created will praise the Lord:
19 He looked down from his holy heights —
the Lord gazed out from heaven to earth —
20 to hear a prisoner’s groaning,
to set free those condemned to die,
21 so that they might declare
the name of the Lord in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem
22 when peoples and kingdoms are assembled
to serve the Lord.
23 He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has shortened my days.
24 I say, “My God, do not take me
in the middle of my life!
Your years continue through all generations.
25 Long ago you established the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will endure;
all of them will wear out like clothing.
You will change them like a garment,
and they will pass away.
27 But you are the same,
and your years will never end.
28 Your servants’ children will dwell securely,
and their offspring will be established before you.”

— 1 Chronicles 22, 1 Peter 3, Micah 1, Psalm 102 (CSB)