Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of Praise to the Lord for His Salvation and Judgment

A Psalm.

David Avenges the Gibeonites

21 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David ^(A)inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his ^[a]bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” ² So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but ^(B)of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them ^(C)in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.

³ Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless ^(D)the inheritance of the Lord?”

⁴ And the Gibeonites said to him, “We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.”

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

⁵ Then they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, ⁶ let seven men of his descendants be delivered ^(E)to us, and we will hang them before the Lord ^(F)in Gibeah of Saul, ^(G)whom the Lord chose.”

And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷ But the king spared ^(H)Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of ^(I)the Lord’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸ So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of ^(J)Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, and the five sons of ^[b]Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she ^[c]brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; ⁹ and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill ^(K)before the Lord. So they fell, all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰ Now ^(L)Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, ^(M)from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. And she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.

¹¹ And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. ¹² Then David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of ^(N)Jabesh Gilead who had stolen them from the street of ^[d]Beth Shan, where the ^(O)Philistines had hung them up, after the Philistines had struck down Saul in Gilboa. ¹³ So he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there; and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. ¹⁴ They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in ^(P)Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So they performed all that the king commanded. And after that ^(Q)God heeded the prayer for the land.

God’s Final Judgment and Glory

³ We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, ⁴ so that ^(A)we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God ^(B)for your patience and faith ^(C)in all your persecutions and ^[a]tribulations that you endure, ⁵ which is ^(D)manifest^[b] evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, ^(E)for which you also suffer; ^6 (F)since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with ^[c]tribulation those who trouble you, ⁷ and to give you who are troubled ^(G)rest with us when ^(H)the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, ⁸ in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. ^9 (I)These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and ^(J)from the glory of His power, ¹⁰ when He comes, in that Day, ^(K)to be ^(L)glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who ^[d]believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

¹¹ Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would ^(M)count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and ^(N)the work of faith with power, ^12 (O)that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.