Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 34

Blessed Is the Person Who Takes Refuge in God

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By David. When he pretended to be insane in the presence of Abimelek, who drove him away, and David left.^[a]

David’s Thanks for Deliverance

An Invitation to Join David in Praise

The Story of David’s Deliverance

The Application of This Truth to All Believers

¹⁵ Then Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, “This is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel. But this is what I have advised. ¹⁶ Now send a message quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords in the wilderness. Also, be sure to cross over the river, or the king and all the people who are with him will be swallowed up.’”

¹⁷ Jonathan and Ahima’az were to wait at En Rogel because they could not risk being seen going into the city. A female servant was to go out and inform them. Then they could go and tell King David. ¹⁸ However, a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them quickly went to the house of a man at Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. ¹⁹ His wife took a cover, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain on it. Nobody knew that she did it.

²⁰ Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahima’az and Jonathan?”

The woman said to them, “They have passed by toward the river.”^[a] Absalom’s servants pursued them but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ When they left, Ahima’az and Jonathan climbed out of the well. They went and reported to King David, and they said to him, “Get up and cross over the river quickly because this is what Ahithophel advised against you.” ²² So David and all the people who were with him set out and crossed the Jordan, beginning at the first light of day and continuing until everyone had crossed over the Jordan.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey, set out, went to his house in his hometown, and set his household in order. Then he hanged himself. He died, and he was buried in the tomb of his father.

²⁴ David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed over the Jordan with all the men of Israel. ²⁵ Absalom had put Amasa in command of the army instead of Joab. (Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, an Ishmaelite^[b] who had gone to Abigal,^[c] the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab.)

²⁶ Israel and Absalom set up camp in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim ²⁸ brought beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils,^{[d] 29} honey, cheese curds, sheep, and cheese from cow’s milk for David and for the people with him to eat, because they said, “The people are hungry, tired, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

Bear One Another’s Burdens

6 Brothers, if a person is caught in some trespass, you who are spiritual should restore such a person in a spirit of humility, carefully watching yourself so that you are not also tempted. ² Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way fulfill^[a] the law of Christ. ³ For if someone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ⁴ Let each person test his own work, and then he will take pride in regard to himself and not his neighbor. ⁵ For each man will bear his own burden.

⁶ Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with his teacher.

⁷ Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. To be sure, whatever a man sows, he will also reap. ⁸ Indeed, the one who sows for his own sinful flesh will reap destruction from the sinful flesh. But the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. ⁹ Let us not become weary of doing good, because at the appointed time we will reap, if we do not give up.^{[b] 10} So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the household of faith.