Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²⁷ When the mourning was over, David sent and took her home to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

But Adonai saw what David had done as evil.

12 Adonai sent Natan to David. He came and said to him, “In a certain city there were two men, one rich, the other poor. ² The rich man had vast flocks and herds; ³ but the poor man had nothing, except for one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and reared. It had grown up with him and his children; it ate from his plate, drank from his cup, lay on his chest — it was like a daughter to him. ⁴ One day a traveler visited the rich man, and instead of picking an animal from his own flock or herd to cook for his visitor, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to him.”

⁵ David exploded with anger against the man and said to Natan, “As Adonai lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ For doing such a thing, he has to pay back four times the value of the lamb — and also because he had no pity.”

⁷ Natan said to David, “You are the man.

“Here is what Adonai, the God of Isra’el says: ‘I anointed you king over Isra’el. I rescued you from the power of Sha’ul. ⁸ I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives to embrace. I gave you the house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah. And if that had been too little, I would have added to you a lot more.

⁹ “‘So why have you shown such contempt for the word of Adonai and done what I see as evil? You murdered Uriyah the Hitti with the sword and taken his wife as your own wife; you put him to death with the sword of the people of ‘Amon. ¹⁰ Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house — because you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriyah the Hitti as your own wife.’ ¹¹ Here is what Adonai says: ‘I will generate evil against you out of your own household. I will take your wives before your very eyes and give them to your neighbor; he will go to bed with your wives, and everyone will know about it. ¹² For you did it secretly, but I will do this before all Isra’el in broad daylight.’”

¹³ David said to Natan, “I have sinned against Adonai.”

Natan said to David, “Adonai also has taken away your sin. You will not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this act you have so greatly blasphemed Adonai, the child born to you must die.” ¹⁵ Then Natan returned to his house.

Adonai struck the child that Uriyah’s wife had borne to David, and it became very ill.

⁷ “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Philadelphia, write: ‘Here is the message of HaKadosh, the True One, the one who has the key of David, who, if he opens something, no one else can shut it, and if he closes something, no one else can open it.^{[a] 8} “I know what you are doing. Look, I have put in front of you an open door, and no one can shut it. I know that you have but little power, yet you have obeyed my message and have not disowned me. ⁹ Here, I will give you some from the synagogue of the Adversary, those who call themselves Jews but aren’t — on the contrary, they are lying — see, I will cause them to come and prostrate themselves at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Because you did obey my message about persevering, I will keep you from the time of trial coming upon the whole world to put the people living on earth to the test. ¹¹ I am coming soon; hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. ¹² I will make him who wins the victory a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he will never leave it. Also I will write on him the name of my God and the name of my God’s city, the new Yerushalayim coming down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. ¹³ Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities.”’