Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Davidic Prayer.
A Cry for Justice
17 Lord, hear my just plea!
Pay attention to my cry!
Listen to my prayer,
since it does not come from lying lips.
2 Justice for me will come from your presence;
your eyes see what is right.
3 When you probe my heart,
and examine me at night;
when you refine me,
you will find nothing wrong,[a]
for I have determined that I will not transgress with my mouth.
4 As for the ways of mankind,
I have, according to the words of your lips,
avoided the ways of the violent.
5 Because my steps have held fast to your paths,
my footsteps have not faltered.
6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, God.
Listen closely to me
and hear my prayer.
7 Show forth your gracious love,
save those who take refuge in you
from those who rebel against your sovereign power.[b]
8 Protect me as the most precious part of the eye;[c]
hide me under the shadow of your wings
9 from the wicked[d] who have afflicted me,
from my enemies who have surrounded me.
10 They are imprisoned by their own prosperity,[e]
they have boasted proudly with their mouth.
11 Now they have encircled our paths[f]
and are determined[g] to cast us down to the ground.
12 Like a lion they desire to rip us to pieces,
like a young lion waiting in ambush.
13 Arise, Lord,
confront them,
bring them to their knees!
Deliver me from the wicked by your sword—
14 from men, Lord, by your hand—
from men who belong to this world,
whose reward is only[h] in this[i] life.
But as for your treasured ones,
may their stomachs be full,
may their children have an abundance,
and may they leave wealth to their offspring.
15 But as for me, justified, I will behold your face;
when I awake, your presence[j] will satisfy me.
2 Late one afternoon about dusk,[a] David got up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the royal palace. From there[b] he watched a woman taking a bath, and she[c] was very beautiful to look at.
3 David sent word[d] to inquire about her,[e] and someone told him, “This is Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba,[f] the wife of Uriah the Hittite, isn’t it?” 4 So David sent some messengers, took her from her home,[g] and she went to him, and he had sex with her. (She had been consecrating herself following her menstrual separation.)[h] Then she returned to her home.
5 The woman conceived, and she sent this message[i] to David: “I’m pregnant.”
6 So David summoned Joab, and told him,[j] “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah arrived, David inquired about how Joab was doing, how the army was[k] doing, and how the war was progressing.
8 Then David told Uriah, “Go on down to your house and relax a while.”[l] So Uriah left the king’s palace, and the king sent a gift along after him. 9 But Uriah spent the night sleeping in the alcove of the king’s palace in the company of all his master’s staff members. He refused to go down to his own home.
10 When David was told that Uriah hadn’t gone home the previous night,[m] he quizzed him,[n] “You just arrived from a long journey, so why didn’t you go down to your own house?”
11 Uriah replied, “The ark, along with Israel and Judah, are encamped in tents, while my commanding officer Joab and my master’s staff members are camping out in the open fields. Should I go home, eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? Not on your life![o] I won’t do something like this, will I?”
12 Then David invited Uriah, “Stay here today, and tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem all that day and the next. 13 Then at David’s invitation, he and Uriah dined and drank wine together, and David got him drunk. Later that evening, Uriah went out to lie on a couch in the company of his lord’s servants, and he did not go down to his house.
David Orders Uriah Killed
14 The next morning, David sent a message to Joab that Uriah took with him in his hand. 15 In the message, he wrote: “Assign Uriah to the most difficult fighting at the battle front, and then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and killed.” 16 So as Joab began to attack the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew valiant men would be stationed.[p] 17 When the men of the city came out to fight Joab, some of David’s army staff members fell, and Uriah the Hittite died, too.
18 Then Joab sent word to David about everything that had happened at the battle. 19 He instructed the courier, “When you have finished conveying all the news about the battle to the king, 20 if the king starts to get angry and asks you, ‘Why did you get so near the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who killed Jerubbesheth’s[q] son Abimelech? Didn’t a woman kill him by throwing an upper millstone on him from the wall at Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ then tell him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”
22 So the messenger left Joab, set out for Jerusalem,[r] and disclosed to David everything that Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger told David, “The men surprised us and attacked us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s staff members are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite has died as well.”
25 David responded to the messenger, “Here’s what you’re to tell Joab: ‘Don’t be troubled by this incident, because the battle sword consumes one or another from time to time. Consolidate your attack against the city and conquer it.’ Be sure to encourage him.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard about the death of her husband[s] Uriah, she went into mourning for the head of her household.[t]
The Letter to the Church in Sardis
3 “To the messenger[a] of the church in Sardis, write:
‘The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this:
‘I know what you’ve been doing. You are known for being alive, but you are dead. 2 Be alert, and strengthen the things that are left, which are about to die. I note that your actions are incomplete before my God. 3 So remember what you received and heard. Obey it, and repent. If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you won’t know the time when I will come to you. 4 But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me in white clothes because they are worthy. 5 The person who overcomes[b] in this way will wear white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the Book of Life. I will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and his angels.
6 ‘Let everyone[c] listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
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