Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
This is a special song that Ethan the Ezrahite wrote.
God's special love[a]
89 I will always sing about the Lord's faithful love.
I will tell my children and my grandchildren
that you are always faithful.
2 Yes! Your faithful love will always continue to be strong.
You will always be faithful,
as the skies will always be there.
3 The Lord has said,
‘I have made a covenant with the king that I chose.
I have made this strong promise to my servant David:
4 “Someone from your family will always be king.
They will rule for ever.” ’
Selah.
God's covenant with David
19 A long time ago, Lord,
you spoke to your servants.
In a vision, you said to them,
‘I have helped a brave soldier to be strong.
I have chosen as king
a young man from among the people.
20 I have found David, my servant.
I have poured my special oil on him,
to make him king.
21 I will help him with my power,
so that he is strong.
22 No enemy will win against him.
No cruel people will have power to hurt him.
23 I will destroy his enemies in front of him
I will kill those who hate him.
24 I will always be faithful
and show him my faithful love.
By my name he will win against his enemies.
25 I will cause his kingdom to reach
beyond the sea and the rivers.
26 The king will say to me, “You are my Father.
You are my God.
You protect me and you rescue me.”
David brings the Covenant Box to Jerusalem
6 David chose 30,000 of the best soldiers in Israel. 2 He took them with him to Baalah, a town in Judah. He wanted to bring God's Covenant Box from there to Jerusalem. The Israelites called it by the name of the Lord Almighty. He sits as King between the two cherubs that are on the top of the Covenant Box. 3 They put the Covenant Box on a new cart. They took it out of Abinadab's house which was on the hill. Abinadab's sons, Uzzah and Ahio, were leading the new cart 4 which had the Covenant Box on it. Ahio walked in front of the Covenant Box. 5 David and all Israel's people were singing and dancing with all their strength to praise the Lord. They made music with harps, lyres, tambourines, shakers and cymbals.[a]
6 They reached the place of Nacon's threshing floor. There the oxen that were pulling the cart almost fell. So Uzzah reached out to hold God's Covenant Box to stop it falling. 7 The Lord was very angry with Uzzah because he did not respect God's rules.[b] He immediately knocked Uzzah down to the ground. Uzzah died there, beside the Covenant Box.
8 David was angry because the Lord had punished Uzzah. So he called that place ‘Perez Uzzah’. That is still its name today.[c]
9 So David now became afraid of the Lord. He said, ‘The Lord's Covenant Box is too holy to come with me!’ 10 He no longer wanted to take the Lord's Covenant Box to the City of David to be with him there. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom, who came from Gath. 11 The Lord's Covenant Box stayed in Obed-Edom's house for three months. During that time, the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all the people in his house.
In Jesus, God has shown us who he is
1 Many years ago, God spoke to our ancestors by his prophets.[a] He spoke many times and in many different ways. 2 But in these last days, he has spoken to us in his Son.[b] In the beginning, God worked through his Son to make the whole universe. He decided that everything should belong to his Son. 3 The Son shows us completely what God is like. He shines with God's great glory. His nature is the same as God's nature. The Son's powerful word causes everything to continue. He himself made it possible for us to be clean from our sins. After he had done that, he returned to heaven. He went and he sat at the right side of God, who rules with all authority.[c]
God's Son is greater than the angels
4 That shows us that God's Son is much greater than the angels. God has given him a name that shows he is more important than they are.
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