Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
(A special psalm by David.)
The Joy of Forgiveness
1 (A) Our Lord, you bless everyone
whose sins you forgive
and wipe away.
2 You bless them by saying,
“You told me your sins,
without trying to hide them,
and now I forgive you.”
3 Before I confessed my sins,
my bones felt limp,
and I groaned all day long.
4 Night and day your hand
weighed heavily on me,
and my strength was gone
as in the summer heat.
5 So I confessed my sins
and told them all to you.
I said, “I'll tell the Lord
each one of my sins.”
Then you forgave me
and took away my guilt.
6 We worship you, Lord,
and we should always pray
whenever we find out
that we have sinned.[a]
Then we won't be swept away
by a raging flood.
7 You are my hiding place!
You protect me from trouble,
and you put songs in my heart
because you have saved me.
8 You said to me,
“I will point out the road
that you should follow.
I will be your teacher
and watch over you.
9 Don't be stupid
like horses and mules
that must be led with ropes
to make them obey.”
10 All kinds of troubles
will strike the wicked,
but your kindness shields those
who trust you, Lord.
11 And so your good people
should celebrate and shout.
Absalom Rebels against David
15 Some time later, Absalom got himself a chariot with horses to pull it, and he had 50 men run in front. 2 He would get up early each morning and wait by the side of the road that led to the city gate.[a] Anyone who had a complaint to bring to King David would have to go that way, and Absalom would ask each of them, “Where are you from?”
If they said, “I'm from a tribe in the north,” 3 Absalom would say, “You deserve to win your case. It's too bad the king doesn't have anyone to hear complaints like yours. 4 I wish someone would make me the judge around here! I would be fair to everyone.”
5 Whenever anyone came to Absalom and started bowing down, he would reach out and hug and kiss them. 6 That's how he treated everyone from Israel who brought a complaint to the king. Soon everyone in Israel liked Absalom better than they liked David.
7 Four years[b] later, Absalom said to David, “Please, let me go to Hebron. I have to keep a promise that I made to the Lord, 8 when I was living with the Arameans in Geshur. I promised that if the Lord would bring me back to live in Jerusalem, I would worship him in Hebron.”[c]
9 David gave his permission, and Absalom went to Hebron. 10-12 He took 200 men from Jerusalem with him, but they had no idea what he was going to do. Absalom offered sacrifices in Hebron and sent someone to Gilo to tell David's advisor Ahithophel to come.
More and more people were joining Absalom and supporting his plot. Meanwhile, Absalom had secretly sent some messengers to the northern tribes of Israel. The messengers told everyone, “When you hear the sound of the trumpets, you must shout, ‘Absalom now rules as king in Hebron!’ ”
God Has Not Rejected His People
11 (A) Am I saying that God has turned his back on his people? Certainly not! I am one of the people of Israel, and I myself am a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not turn his back on his chosen people. Don't you remember reading in the Scriptures how Elijah complained to God about the people of Israel? 3 (B) He said, “Lord, they killed your prophets and destroyed your altars. I am the only one left, and now they want to kill me.”
4 (C) But the Lord told Elijah, “I still have 7,000 followers who have not worshiped Baal.” 5 It is the same way now. God treated the people of Israel with undeserved grace, and so a few of them are still his followers. 6 This happened because of God's undeserved kindness and not because of anything they have done. It could not have happened except for God's gift of undeserved grace.
7 This means that only a chosen few of the people of Israel found what all of them were searching for. And the rest of them were stubborn, 8 (D) just as the Scriptures say,
“God made them so stupid
that their eyes are blind,
and their ears
are still deaf.”
9 (E) Then David said,
“Turn their meals
into bait for a trap,
so that they will stumble
and be given
what they deserve.
10 Blindfold their eyes!
Don't let them see.
Bend their backs
beneath a burden
that will never be lifted.”
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