Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Prayer of David.

¹ ¶ Hear righteousness, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that does not go out of feigned lips.

² Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold uprightness.

³ Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast refined me and hast found no iniquity; that which I thought did not pass through my mouth.

⁴ Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have observed the ways of the violent.

⁵ Sustain my steps in thy ways that my footsteps not slip.

⁶ I have called upon thee, because thou dost hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech.

⁷ Show thy mercy to be marvellous, O Saviour of those who put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against thy right hand.

⁸ ¶ Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me with the shadow of thy wings,

⁹ from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.

¹⁰ They are closed in with their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.

¹¹ They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes upon throwing us down to the earth

¹² like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³ Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, with thy sword;

¹⁴ from men, with thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, who have their portion in this life and whose belly thou dost fill with thy provision: they satisfy their sons and leave the rest to their family.

¹⁵ As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.

² And it came to pass one evening, that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

³ And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite?

⁴ And David sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her. Then she purified herself from her uncleanness, and she returned unto her house.

⁵ And the woman conceived and sent and told David and said, I am with child.

⁶ ¶ Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

⁷ And when Uriah had come unto him, David asked him how Joab was and how the people were and how the war prospered.

⁸ And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and royal food was sent unto him.

⁹ But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the slaves of his lord and did not go down to his house.

¹⁰ And when they had told David, saying, Uriah did not go down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Didst thou not come from thy journey? Why then didst thou not go down to thy house?

¹¹ And Uriah said unto David, The ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents, and my lord Joab and the slaves of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By thy life and by the life of thy soul, I will not do this thing.

¹² And David said to Uriah, Tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day and the next day.

¹³ And when David had called him, he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with the slaves of his lord but did not go down to his house.

¹⁴ ¶ And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

¹⁵ And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retire from him, that he may be smitten and die.

¹⁶ And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that the most valiant men were.

¹⁷ And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the people of the slaves of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite died also.

¹⁸ Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war

¹⁹ and charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast finished telling the matters of the war unto the king,

²⁰ and if the king begins to be angry and he should say unto thee, Why did you approach so near unto the city when ye fought? Did ye not know that which they can throw down from the wall?

²¹ Who smote Abimelech, the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall? Then thou shalt say, Thy slave Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also.

²² So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him for.

²³ And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us and came out unto us into the field, and we made them retreat unto the entering of the gate.

²⁴ And the archers shot from off the wall upon thy slaves, and some of the king’s slaves are dead, and thy slave Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also.

²⁵ Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devours one as well as another; strengthen the battle against the city until it is overthrown and encourage thou him.

²⁶ And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned for her husband.

3 ¶ And unto the angel of the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} in Sardis write; These things, saith he that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead.

² Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

³ Remember, therefore, of that which thou hast received and heard and hold to it and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

⁴ Yet thou hast a few persons in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

⁵ He that overcomes shall likewise be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

⁶ He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the congregations. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}