Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 17
A Prayer for Protection
A Davidic prayer.
1 Lord, hear a just cause;(A)
pay attention to my cry;
listen to my prayer—
from lips free of deceit.(B)
2 Let my vindication come from You,
for You see what is right.(C)
3 You have tested my heart;(D)
You have examined me at night.
You have tried me and found nothing evil;(E)
I have determined that my mouth will not sin.[a]
4 Concerning what people do:
by the word of Your lips[b]
I have avoided the ways of the violent.(F)
5 My steps are on Your paths;
my feet have not slipped.(G)
6 I call on You, God,
because You will answer me;(H)
listen closely to me; hear what I say.
7 Display the wonders of Your faithful love,(I)
Savior of all who seek refuge(J)
from those who rebel against Your right hand.[c]
8 Protect me as the pupil of Your eye;(K)
hide me in the shadow of Your wings(L)
9 from[d] the wicked who treat me violently,[e]
my deadly enemies who surround me.(M)
10 They have become hardened;[f](N)
their mouths speak arrogantly.(O)
11 They advance against me;[g] now they surround me.(P)
They are determined[h]
to throw me to the ground.(Q)
12 They are[i] like a lion eager to tear,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.(R)
13 Rise up, Lord!
Confront him; bring him down.(S)
With Your sword, save me from the wicked.(T)
14 With Your hand, Lord, save me from men,
from men of the world
whose portion is in this life:
You fill their bellies with what You have in store;
their sons are satisfied,
and they leave their surplus to their children.(U)
27 When the time of mourning ended, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. However, the Lord considered what David had done to be evil.(A)
Nathan’s Parable and David’s Repentance
12 So the Lord sent Nathan to David.(B) When he arrived, he said to him:
There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up, living with him and his children. It shared his meager food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.[a]
5 David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan: “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.”(C)
7 Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel,(D) and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms,[b] and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. 9 Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing what I consider[c] evil?(E) You struck down Uriah(F) the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife—you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword.(G) 10 Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house(H) because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife.’
11 “This is what the Lord says,(I) ‘I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another[d] before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them publicly.[e] 12 You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and in broad daylight.’”[f]
13 David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”(J)
Then Nathan replied to David, “The Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die.(K) 14 However, because you treated[g] the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die.”(L) 15 Then Nathan went home.
The Death of Bathsheba’s Son
The Lord struck the baby that Uriah’s(M) wife had borne to David, and he became ill.
The Letter to Philadelphia
7 “Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia:
“The Holy One, the True One, the One who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and closes and no one opens(A) says: 8 I know your works. Because you have limited strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name, look, I have placed before you an open door that no one is able to close. 9 Take note! I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—note this—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.(B) 10 Because you have kept My command to endure,[a] I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come over the whole world to test those who live on the earth. 11 I am coming quickly. Hold on to what you have,(C) so that no one takes your crown. 12 The victor: I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God—the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God—and My new name.(D)
13 “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
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