Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

ע (‘Ayin)

¹⁶ After this, there came to the king two women who were prostitutes. After presenting themselves to him, ¹⁷ one of the women said, “My lord, I and this woman live in the same house; and when she was in the house, I gave birth to a baby. ¹⁸ Three days after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were there together; there was no one else with us in the house except the two of us. ¹⁹ During the night this woman’s child died, because she rolled over on top of it. ²⁰ So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from next to me, while your servant was sleeping, and put it in her arms; and she laid her dead child in my arms. ²¹ When I awoke in the morning to feed my child from my breast, there it was, dead. But when I took a closer look later in the morning, why, it wasn’t my son at all — not the one I gave birth to!” ²² The other woman broke in, “No! The living one is my son, and the dead one is your son!” The first one said, “No! The dead one is your son and the living one is my son!” This is how they spoke in the presence of the king.

²³ Then the king said, “This woman says, ‘The living one is my son; your son is the dead one’; while the other says, ‘No, the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.’ ²⁴ Bring me a sword,” said the king. They brought a sword to the king. ²⁵ The king said, “Cut the living child in two; give half to the one and half to the other.” ²⁶ At this, the woman to whom the living child belonged addressed the king, because she felt so strongly toward her son: “Oh, my lord, give her the living child; you mustn’t kill it!” But the other one said, “It will be neither yours nor mine. Divide it up!” ²⁷ Then the king answered, “Give the living child to the first woman, don’t kill it, because she is its mother.” ²⁸ All Isra’el heard of the decision the king had made and held the king in awe, for they saw that God’s wisdom was in him, enabling him to render justice properly.

¹³ Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him demonstrate it by his good way of life, by actions done in the humility that grows out of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor in your hearts bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, don’t boast and attack the truth with lies! ¹⁵ This wisdom is not the kind that comes down from above; on the contrary, it is worldly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where there are jealousy and selfish ambition, there will be disharmony and every foul practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is, first of all, pure, then peaceful, kind, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And peacemakers who sow seed in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.