Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Creation Rejoices in His Salvation

Psalm 98

Justice for the Gibeonites

21 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, so David sought the face of Adonai. Adonai replied, “It is because of Saul and his bloody house, for he put the Gibeonites to death.” ² So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of Bnei-Yisrael but a remnant of the Amorites; however, Bnei-Yisrael had sworn a covenant with them. Yet Saul had tried to eradicate them in his zeal for Bnei-Yisrael and Judah.) ³ David asked the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How may I make atonement so that you would bless the inheritance of Adonai?”

⁴ The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; nor is it our right to put any man to death in Israel.”

“Whatever you say, I will do for you,” he said.

⁵ Then they said to the king, “The man who consumed us and plotted against us to annihilate us from remaining in any of Israel’s territory, ⁶ let seven men of his sons be given over to us and we will hang them up before Adonai at Gibeah of Saul, Adonai’s chosen.”

“I will give them over,” the king said. ⁷ Now the king spared Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan son of Saul, because of Adonai’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul. ⁸ But the king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul—Armoni and Mephibosheth; also the five sons of Michal^[a] daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite, ⁹ and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites. So they hanged them on the hill before Adonai, so that all seven fell together. They were put to death during the days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰ Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it on the rock for herself, from the beginning of harvest until the rain poured on them from the sky. She did not let the birds of the sky rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. ¹¹ David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. ¹² So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the open square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa. ¹³ He had the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan brought up from there, and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. ¹⁴ So they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of his father Kish. They did all of what the king commanded. Afterward, God was moved by prayer for the land.

Troubles From an Eternal Perspective

³ We ought to always thank God for you, brothers and sisters, as is appropriate, because your faithfulness grows wonderfully, and the love of each one of you for one another continually increases. ⁴ Therefore, we ourselves boast of you among the communities of God—about your perseverance and faithfulness through all the persecutions and troubles that you endure. ⁵ This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.

(⁶ For after all, it is right in the sight of God to pay back trouble to those who trouble you, ⁷ and relief to you who suffer trouble along with us. At the revelation of the Lord Yeshua from heaven with His mighty angels ⁸ in flaming fire,^[a] He will command judgment on those who do not know God and do not heed the Good News of our Lord Yeshua. ^{[b] 9} They will pay the price of eternal ruin, away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power^[c]— ¹⁰ on that Day when He comes to be glorified among His kedoshim and marveled at by all who have believed,^[d] because our testimony to you was believed.)

¹¹ With this in mind, we pray for you constantly, that our God may consider you worthy of the calling and fulfill with power every good desire and work of faith, ¹² so the name of our Lord Yeshua may be glorified in you, and you in Him, in keeping with the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.