Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The God of Power and Justice
A song.
98 Sing to the Lord a new song
because he has done miracles.
By his right hand and holy arm
he has won the victory.
2 The Lord has told about his power to save.
He has shown the other nations his victory for his people.
3 He has remembered his love
and his loyalty to the people of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
God’s power to save.
4 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Burst into songs and praise.
5 Make music to the Lord with harps,
with harps and the sound of singing.
6 Blow the trumpets and the sheep’s horns.
Shout for joy to the Lord the King.
7 Let the sea and everything in it shout.
Let the world and everyone on it sing.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands.
Let the mountains sing together for joy.
9 Let them sing before the Lord
because he is coming to judge the world.
He will judge the world fairly.
He will judge the nations with fairness.
The Gibeonites Punish Saul’s Family
21 During the time David was king, there was a time of hunger. It continued for three years. So David prayed to the Lord.
The Lord answered, “Saul and his family of murderers are the reason for this time of hunger. It has come because Saul killed the Gibeonites.” 2 (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites. They were a group of Amorites who were left alive. The Israelites had promised not to hurt the Gibeonites. But Saul was very eager to help the people of Israel and Judah. So he tried to kill all the Gibeonites.)
King David called the Gibeonites together and talked to them. 3 He asked them, “What can I do for you? What can I do to take away Israel’s sin so you can bless the Lord’s people?”
4 The Gibeonites said to David, “Saul and his family don’t have enough silver and gold to pay for what they did! And we don’t have the right to kill anyone in Israel.”
Then David asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
5 The Gibeonites said to him, “Saul made plans against us. He tried to destroy all our people who are left in the land of Israel. 6 Saul was the Lord’s chosen king. So bring seven of his sons to us. Then we will kill them and hang them on stakes. We will put them in front of the Lord at Gibeah, Saul’s hometown.”
The king said, “I will give them to you.” 7 But the king protected Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth. (Jonathan was Saul’s son.) David did this because of the promise he had made to Jonathan in the Lord’s name. So the king did not let them hurt Mephibosheth. 8 But the king did take Armoni and Mephibosheth,[a] sons of Rizpah and Saul. (Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah.) And the king took the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab. Adriel was the father of Merab’s five sons. (Adriel was the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.) 9 David gave these seven sons to the Gibeonites. Then the Gibeonites killed them and hung them on stakes on a hill before the Lord. All seven sons died together. They were put to death during the first days of the harvest season. (The barley harvest was just beginning.)
10 Aiah’s daughter Rizpah took the rough cloth that was worn to show sadness. Then she put it on a rock for herself. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on her sons’ bodies. During the day she did not let the birds of the sky touch her sons’ bodies. At night she did not let the wild animals touch them.
11 People told David what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s slave woman, was doing. 12 Then David took the bones of Saul and Jonathan from the men of Jabesh Gilead. (They had taken these bones secretly from the public square of Beth Shan. The Philistines had hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan there after they had killed Saul at Gilboa.) 13 David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from Gilead. Then the people gathered the bodies of Saul’s seven sons who were hanged on stakes. 14 The people buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in Benjamin. They buried them in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. The people did everything the king commanded.
Then God answered the prayers of the people in the land.
Paul Talks About God’s Judgment
3 We must always thank God for you. And we should do this because it is right. It is right because your faith is growing more and more. And the love that every one of you has for each other is also growing. 4 So we brag about you to the other churches of God. We tell them about the way you continue to be strong and have faith. You are being treated badly and are suffering many troubles, but you continue with strength and faith.
5 This is proof that God is right in his judgment. God wants you to be worthy of his kingdom. Your suffering is for that kingdom. 6 And God will do what is right. He will give trouble to those who trouble you. 7 And he will give peace to you people who are troubled and to us also. God will give us this help when the Lord Jesus is shown to us from heaven with his powerful angels. 8 He will come from heaven with burning fire to punish those who do not know God. He will punish those who do not obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 Those people will be punished with a destruction that continues forever. They will not be allowed to be with the Lord, and they will be kept away from his great power. 10 This will happen on the day when the Lord Jesus comes to receive glory with his holy people. And all the people who have believed will be amazed at Jesus. You will be in that group of believers because you believed what we told you.
11 That is why we always pray for you. We ask our God to help you live the good way that he called you to live. The goodness you have makes you want to do good, and the faith you have makes you work. We pray that with his power God will help you do these things more and more. 12 We pray all this so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ can have glory in you. And you can have glory in him. That glory comes from the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.