Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer for Vindication and Protection
A prayer of David.[a]
17 O Yahweh, hear a just cause.
Hear my cry; heed my prayer
I make without deceitful lips.
2 Let my vindication come forth from you;
let your eyes see fairness.
3 You have tried my heart;
you have examined me by night;
you have tested me; you found nothing.
I have decided that my mouth will not transgress.
4 As for the works of humankind,
by the word of your lips,
I have kept from the ways of the violent.
5 I have held my steps in your path
My feet will not slip.
6 As for me, I have called on you
because you will answer me, O God.
Incline your ear to me.
Hear my words.[b]
7 Show wondrously your acts of loyal love,
O Savior of those who take refuge
at your right hand[c]
from those who rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye.[d]
Hide me in the shadow of your wings
9 from the presence[e] of the wicked who destroy me,
those enemies against my life,
they that surround me.
10 They have shut off their calloused[f] heart;
with their mouth they speak arrogantly.
11 Now they surround us at our every step.
They intend[g]
to pin[h] me to the ground.
12 He is like[i] a lion; he longs to tear apart,
and like a strong lion crouching in hiding places.
13 Rise up, O Yahweh, confront him.[j]
Make him bow down.
Rescue with your sword my life from the wicked,
14 from men by your hand, O Yahweh, from men of this world.
Their share is in this life,[k] and you fill their stomach with your treasure.
They are satisfied with children.
They bequeath their excess to their children.
15 By contrast, I in righteousness shall see your face.
Upon awakening I will be satisfied seeing your form.
27 When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his household, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.
Nathan Reproves David
12 So Yahweh sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said, “Two men were in a certain city; one was rich and the other was poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing except for one small ewe lamb which he had bought. He had nurtured her, and she grew up with him and with his children together. She used to eat from his morsel and drink from his cup, and she used to lie in his lap and became like a daughter for him. 4 And a visitor came to the rich man, but he was reluctant[a] to take from his flocks or from his herds to prepare a meal for the traveler when he came to him. So he took the ewe lamb of the poor man and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then the anger of David was kindled[b] against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives,[c] the man who has done this deserves to die![d] 6 He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this thing, and because he had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to him, “You are the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: ‘I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you the household of your master and the women of your master into your lap. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah; if that had been too little, I would have added to you much more.[e] 9 Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes?[f] Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites![g] 10 So then, a sword will not turn away from your house forever, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife!’ 11 Thus says Yahweh, ‘Look, I am going to raise up evil against you from within your house, and I will take your women before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbor, and he shall sleep with your wives in broad daylight.[h] 12 Though you did this in secret, I will do this thing before all of Israel in broad daylight!’”[i]
David Repents, But the Child Dies
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh!”[j] Nathan said to David, “Yahweh has also forgiven your sin; you shall not die. 14 But because you have utterly scorned[k] Yahweh in this matter, the son born for you will certainly die.”[l] 15 Then Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the child that the wife of Uriah bore for David, and he became ill.
The Letter to the Church in Philadelphia
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
“This is what the holy one, the true one, the one who has the key of David, the one who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one can open, says: 8 ‘I know your works (behold, I have put before you an opened door that no one is able to shut[a]) that you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and did not deny my name. 9 Behold, I am causing those of the synagogue of Satan, the ones who call themselves Jews and are not, but are lying—behold, I will make them come[b] and kneel down before your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept the word of my patient endurance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole inhabited world, to put to the test those who live on the earth. 11 I am coming quickly! Hold fast to what you have, so that no one may take away your crown. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go outside again, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God, and my new name. 13 The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
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