Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Jehovah a provider and deliverer.

A Psalm of David; ^[a]when he ^[b]changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

¹⁵ Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled. ¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night ^[a]at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him. ^17 [b]Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En-rogel; and a maid-servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David: for they might not be seen to come into the city. ¹⁸ But a lad saw them, and told Absalom: and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down thither. ¹⁹ And the woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and strewed bruised grain thereon; and nothing was known. ²⁰ And Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They are gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said unto David, Arise ye, and pass quickly over the water; for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you. ²² Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over the Jordan. ²³ And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home, unto his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

²⁴ Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵ And Absalom set Amasa over the host instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was ^[c]Ithra the Israelite, that went in to ^[d]Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. ²⁶ And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, ²⁸ brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched grain, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, ²⁹ and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

6 Brethren, even if a man be overtaken ^[a]in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ² Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. ³ For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. ⁴ But let each man prove his own work, and then shall he have his glorying in regard of himself alone, and not of ^[b]his neighbor. ⁵ For each man shall bear his own ^[c]burden.

⁶ But let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. ⁷ Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. ⁸ For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life. ⁹ And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. ¹⁰ So then, ^[d]as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.