Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

89 Forever and ever I will sing about the tender kindness of the Lord! Young and old shall hear about your blessings. ² Your love and kindness are forever; your truth is as enduring as the heavens.

^3-4 The Lord God says,^[a] “I have made a solemn agreement with my chosen servant David. I have taken an oath to establish his descendants as kings forever on his throne, from now until eternity!”

¹⁹ In a vision you spoke to your prophet^[a] and said, “I have chosen a splendid young man from the common people to be the king— ²⁰ he is my servant David! I have anointed him with my holy oil. ²¹ I will steady him and make him strong. ²² His enemies shall not outwit him, nor shall the wicked overpower him. ²³ I will beat down his adversaries before him and destroy those who hate him. ²⁴ I will protect and bless him constantly and surround him with my love; he will be great because of me. ²⁵ He will hold sway from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. ²⁶ And he will cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and my Rock of Salvation.’

6 ^1-2 Then David mobilized thirty thousand special troops and led them to Baal-judah to bring home the Ark of the Lord of heaven who is enthroned above the Guardian Angels. ³ The Ark was placed upon a new cart and taken from the hillside home of Abinadab. It was driven by Abinadab’s sons, Uzzah and Ahio. ⁴ Ahio was walking in front ⁵ and was followed by David and the other leaders of Israel, who were joyously waving branches of juniper trees and playing every sort of musical instrument before the Lord—lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.

⁶ But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled and Uzzah put out his hand to steady the Ark. ⁷ Then the anger of the Lord flared out against Uzzah and he killed him for doing this, so he died there beside the Ark. ⁸ David was angry at what the Lord had done, and named the spot “The Place of Wrath upon Uzzah” (which it is still called to this day).

⁹ David was now afraid of the Lord and asked, “How can I ever bring the Ark home?” ¹⁰ So he decided against taking it into the City of David, but carried it instead to the home of Obed-edom, who had come from Gath. ¹¹ It remained there for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

1 Long ago God spoke in many different ways to our fathers through the prophets, in visions, dreams, and even face to face,^[a] telling them little by little about his plans.

² But now in these days he has spoken to us through his Son to whom he has given everything and through whom he made the world and everything there is.

³ God’s Son shines out with God’s glory, and all that God’s Son is and does marks him as God. He regulates the universe by the mighty power of his command. He is the one who died to cleanse us and clear our record of all sin, and then sat down in highest honor beside the great God of heaven.

⁴ Thus he became far greater than the angels, as proved by the fact that his name “Son of God,” which was passed on to him from his Father, is far greater than the names and titles of the angels.