Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 98[a]
Praise of the Lord, King and Judge
1 A psalm.
Sing to the Lord a new song,[b]
for he has accomplished marvelous deeds.
His right hand and his holy arm
have made him victorious.
2 The Lord has made known his salvation;
he has manifested his righteousness for all the nations to see.[c]
3 He has remembered his kindness[d] and his fidelity
to the house of Israel.
The farthest ends of the earth have witnessed
the salvation of our God.
4 Sing joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
raise your voices in songs of praise.
5 Sing praise to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and melodious singing.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully to the King, the Lord.[e]
7 [f]Let the sea resound and everything in it,
the world[g] and all its inhabitants.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands
and the mountains shout for joy.
9 Let them sing before the Lord, who is coming,
coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice
and the nations with fairness.[h]
Appendices[a]
Chapter 21
Gibeonite Vengeance.[b] 1 During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years. Therefore, David consulted the Lord, who said: “Saul and his family have incurred bloodguilt because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 Thereupon the king summoned the Gibeonites and conferred with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites; rather they were a remnant of the Amorites. Although the Israelites had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to exterminate them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)
3 David said to the Gibeonites: “What can I do for you? How shall I atone for our treatment of you so that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites replied: “We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul and his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone to death.” “Then what do you want me to do for you?” asked David.
5 They said to the king: “We cannot forget that man who destroyed us and planned to annihilate us so that we would never be able to have a place in the territory of Israel. 6 Please hand over to us seven of his male descendants, so that we may dismember them before the Lord at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord.” The king replied: “I will hand them over to you.”
7 However, the king spared Meribbaal, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord that bound together David and Saul’s son Jonathan. 8 But the king took Armoni and Meribbaal, the two sons that Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had borne to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab whom she had borne to Adriel, the son of Barzillai of Meholah. 9 He surrendered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, who dismembered them on the mountain before the Lord. All seven of them perished together. They were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.
10 Then Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it out on a rock for herself, from the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell from the heavens upon the bodies. She kept the birds of the sky away from the bodies by day and the wild beasts by night.
11 When David was informed about what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12 he went forth and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the people of Jabesh-gilead, who had absconded with them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them up after they had killed Saul on Gilboa.
13 After David had removed from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, he also gathered up the bones of those who had been slain and dismembered. 14 The bones of Saul and his son Jonathan were buried at Zela, in the territory of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. After all of the king’s commands had been carried out, God answered prayers that were offered up on behalf of the country.
Perseverance in Faith[a]
A Word of Praise. Brethren, we must always give thanks to God for you, and it is only right that we do so. For your faith grows ever more, and the love that all of you have for one another continues to increase. 4 Therefore, we boast incessantly of you to the Churches of God for your steadfastness and faith despite all the persecutions and tribulations that you have had to endure.Judgment and the Coming of the Lord. 5 All this is proof of God’s just judgment, and it shows that you are worthy of the kingdom of God, for the sake of which you are suffering. 6 It is only just that God will repay with suffering those who make you suffer 7 and grant relief to you who are suffering, and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.
8 He will come in blazing fire to inflict punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, excluded from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10 on that Day when he comes to be glorified by his holy ones and to be adored by all believers, among whom you will be present since you believed the testimony we offered to you.
11 Prayer for the Community. Therefore, we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and by his power bring to fulfillment every good resolve and every work of faith. 12 In this way, the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.[b]
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