Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

² “I’m headed down the road that everyone who lives on earth travels, so be strong and demonstrate that you’re a grown man ³ by keeping the charge that the Lord your God entrusted to you. Live life his way, keep his statutes, his commands, his ordinances, and his testimonies, just as they’re written down in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in everything you do and wherever you go,^{[a] 4} and so that the Lord may fulfill his promise that he spoke about me when he said, ‘If your sons pay attention to how they live by walking truthfully in my presence with all their heart and with all their soul, you will never lack a man on the throne of Israel.’

⁵ “Furthermore, you’re aware of what Zeruiah’s son Joab did to me and to those two commanders of the armies of Israel, Ner’s son Abner and Jether’s son Amasa, whom he killed, and how he shed the blood of wartime during times of peace, staining the very belt he wears around his waist and the sandals he wears on his feet. ⁶ So act consistently with your wisdom, and don’t let him die as a peaceful old man.^{[b] 7} Be gracious to the descendants of Barzillai the Gileadite, and provide for them in your household,^[c] because they helped me when I had to run from your brother Absalom.

⁸ “Pay attention now! You have with you Gera’s son Shimei the descendant of Benjamin from Bahurim. He cursed me violently that day when I had to leave for Mahanaim. When he visited me at the Jordan River,^[d] I made an oath to the Lord and told him, ‘I won’t execute you with a sword.’ ⁹ But don’t let him off unpunished, since you’re a wise man and you’ll know what you need to do to him. Find a way that he dies in his old age^[e] by shedding his blood.”