Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

100 Shout with joy before the Lord, O earth! ² Obey him gladly; come before him, singing with joy.

³ Try to realize what this means—the Lord is God! He made us—we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Go through his open gates with great thanksgiving; enter his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. ⁵ For the Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and his faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation.

5 Representatives of all the tribes of Israel now came to David at Hebron and gave him their pledge of loyalty.

“We are your blood brothers,” they said. ² “And even when Saul was our king you were our real leader. The Lord has said that you should be the shepherd and leader of his people.”

³ So David made a contract before the Lord with the leaders of Israel there at Hebron, and they crowned him king of Israel. ^4-5 (He had already been the king of Judah for seven years, since the age of thirty. He then ruled thirty-three years in Jerusalem as king of both Israel and Judah; so he reigned for forty years altogether.)

⁶ David now led his troops to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites who lived there.

“You’ll never come in here,” they told him. “Even the blind and lame could keep you out!” For they thought they were safe. ⁷ But David and his troops defeated them and captured the stronghold of Zion, now called the City of David.

⁸ When the insulting message from the defenders of the city reached David, he told his troops, “Go up through the water tunnel into the city and destroy those ‘lame’ and ‘blind’ Jebusites. How I hate them.” (That is the origin of the saying, “Even the blind and the lame could conquer you!”)

⁹ So David made the stronghold of Zion (also called the City of David) his headquarters. Then, beginning at the old Millo section of the city, he built northward toward the present city center. ¹⁰ So David became greater and greater, for the Lord God of heaven was with him.

¹¹ Then King Hiram of Tyre sent cedar lumber, carpenters, and masons to build a palace for David. ¹² David now realized why the Lord had made him the king and blessed his kingdom so greatly—it was because God wanted to pour out his kindness on Israel, his chosen people.

15 Dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus’ sermons; ² but this caused complaints from the Jewish religious leaders and the experts on Jewish law because he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them!

^3-4 So Jesus used this illustration: “If you had a hundred sheep and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? ⁵ And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. ⁶ When you arrived you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found.

⁷ “Well, in the same way heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who haven’t strayed away!