Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
32 Blessed is he whose wickedness is forgiven; whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
3 When I held my tongue (my bones being consumed when I roared all day,
4 for Your hand is heavy upon me day and night) and my moisture turned into the drought of Summer (Selah),
5 I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I thought, “I will confess to the LORD my wickedness against myself.” And You forgave the punishment of my sin. Selah.
6 Therefore, everyone who is godly shall make his prayer to You in a time when You may be found. Surely, in the flood of great waters they shall not come near him.
7 You are my Secret Place. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with joyful deliverance. Selah.
8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you shall go. I will guide you with My eye.
9 “Be not like a horse, or like a mule, which do not understand; whose mouths you bind with bit and bridle, lest they come near you.”
10 Many sorrows shall come to the wicked. But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.
11 Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the LORD; and be joyful, all you who are upright in heart!
23 And after the time of two years, Absalom had sheepshearers in Baal Hazor (which is beside Ephraim). And Absalom called all the king’s sons.
24 And Absalom came to the king, and said, “Behold, now, your servant has sheepshearers. Please let the king and his servants go with your servant.”
25 But the king answered Absalom, “No my son. Please do not let us all go, lest we be burdensome to you.” Still, Absalom pressed hard upon him. However, he would not go, but thanked him.
26 Then Absalom said, “But, please, shall not my brother Amnon go with us?” And the king answered him, “Why should he go with you?”
27 But Absalom urged him, and he sent Amnon with him, and all the king’s children.
28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, “Mark, now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, “Strike Amnon! Kill him. Do not fear. For have I not commanded you? Be bold, therefore, and valiant.”
29 And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. And all the king’s sons arose. And every man got up upon his mule and fled.
30 And while they were on the way, tidings came to David, saying, “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons. And there is not one of them left.”
31 Then the king arose and tore his garments and lay on the ground. And all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.
32 And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, answered and said, “Do not let my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons. For only Amnon is dead. For so Absalom has decreed since Amnon forced his sister Tamar.
33 “Now, therefore, do not let my lord the king take the thing so grievously to think that all the king’s sons are dead. For only Amnon is dead.”
34 Then Absalom fled. And the young man who kept watch lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, there came many people by the way of the hill side behind him.
35 And Jonadab said to the king, “Behold, the king’s sons come. As your servant said, so it is.”
36 And as soon as he had stopped speaking, behold, the king’s sons came and lifted up their voices and wept. And the king, also, and all his servants wept very bitterly.
37 But Absalom fled away and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day.
38 So, Absalom fled and went to Geshur and was there for three years.
39 And King David desired to go forth to Absalom, because he was pacified concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
4 From where are wars and contentions among you? Do they not come from your sensual pleasures, which fight in your members?
2 You lust, and do not have. You envy and desire immoderately and cannot obtain. You fight and war and get nothing, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, so that you might spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the amity of the world is the enmity of God? Therefore, whoever will be a friend of the world, makes himself the enemy of God.
5 Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit that dwells in us longs enviously”?
6 But it offers more grace, and therefore says, “God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.
7 Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
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