Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
17 Hear what is right, O LORD. Consider my cry. Hear my prayer of unfeigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from Your presence. And let Your eyes behold equity.
3 You have tested and visited my heart in the night. You have tried me and found nothing. For I have purposed that my mouth should not offend.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the words of Your lips I kept myself from the paths of the cruel man.
5 Keep my steps in Your paths, so that my feet do not slide.
6 I have called upon You. Surely You will hear me, O God. Incline Your ear to me and hear my words.
7 Show Your marvelous mercies, You Who are the Savior of those who trust in You from such as resist Your right hand.
8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye. Hide me under the shadow of Your wings
9 from the wicked who oppress me, from my enemies who surround me for my soul.
10 They are enclosed in their own fat. They have spoken proudly with their mouth.
11 They have surrounded us now in our steps. They have set their eyes to bring us down to the ground.
12 Like a lion that is greedy for prey (and as it were a lion’s whelp) lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, LORD! Disappoint him! Cast him down! Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword;
14 from men, by Your hand, O LORD; from men of the world who have their portion in this life; whose bellies You fill with Your hidden treasure. Their children have enough and leave the rest of their substance for their children.
15 But I will behold Your face in righteousness. And when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your image. To him who excels: A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. Who spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies (and from the hand of Saul) and said,
2 And when it was evening, David arose out of his bed and walked upon the roof of the king’s palace. And from the roof he saw a woman washing herself. And the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and inquired what woman it was, and said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, wife to Uriah the Hittite?”
4 Then David sent messengers and took her away. And she came to him. And he lay with her (now she had been purified from her uncleanness). And she returned to her house.
5 And the woman conceived. Therefore, she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”
6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 And when Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered.
8 Afterward, David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So, Uriah departed out of the king’s palace. And the king sent a present after him.
9 But, Uriah slept at the door of the king’s palace with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house.
10 Then they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house.” And David said to Uriah, “Do you not come from your journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
11 Then Uriah answered David, “The Ark and Israel and Judah dwell in tents. And my lord Joab and the servants of my lord remain in the open fields. Shall I then go into my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? By your life, and by the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.”
12 Then David said to Uriah, “Stay this day also. And tomorrow I will send you away.” So, Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.
13 Then David called him. And he ate and drank before him. And he made himself drunk. And in the evening, he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord but did not go down to his house.
14 And in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote this in the letter: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle, and retreat from him, so that he may be stricken and die.”
16 So when Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew that strong men were.
17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And people of the servants of David fell there. And Uriah the Hittite also died.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war.
19 And he charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the matters of the war to the king,
20 “and if the king’s anger arises, so that he says to you, ‘Why did you approach the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
21 ‘Who struck Abimelech, son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall and he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?’ Then you say, ‘Your servant, Uriah the Hittite, is also dead.’”
22 So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.
23 And the messenger said to David, “Certainly the men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field. But we pursued them to the entrance of the gate.
24 “But the shooters shot against your servants from the wall. And some of the king’s servants are dead. And your servant, Uriah the Hittite, is also dead.”
25 Then David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this thing trouble you. For the sword devours one as well as another. Make your attack against the city stronger, and destroy it,’ and encourage him.”
26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband.
3 And write to the angel of the Church which is at Sardis: “These things say He Who has the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars: ‘I know your works. For you have the reputation that you live, but you are dead.
2 ‘Be awake! And strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die! For I have not found your work perfect before God.
3 ‘Therefore, remember what you have received and heard. And hold fast and repent. If, therefore, you will not watch, I will come on you as a thief. And you shall not know what hour I will come upon you.
4 ‘Notwithstanding, you still have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with Me in white. For they are worthy.
5 ‘He who overcomes shall be clothed in white array. And I will not blot his name out from the Book of Life. But I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.
6 ‘Let him who has an ear, hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.’”
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