Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

A Psalm.

David Avenges the Gibeonites

21 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David ^(A)sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ² So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but ^(B)of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. ³ And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless ^(C)the heritage of the Lord?” ⁴ The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” ⁵ They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, ⁶ let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at ^(D)Gibeah of Saul, ^(E)the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷ But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of ^(F)the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸ The king took the two sons of ^(G)Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab^[a] the daughter of Saul, whom ^(H)she bore to ^(I)Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; ⁹ and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, ^(J)at the beginning of barley harvest.

^10 (K)Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. ¹¹ When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, ¹² David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, ^(L)who had stolen them from the public square of ^(M)Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. ¹³ And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. ¹⁴ And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in ^(N)Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that ^(O)God responded to the plea for the land.

Thanksgiving

^3 (A)We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers,^[a] as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. ⁴ Therefore ^(B)we ourselves boast about you ^(C)in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith ^(D)in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

The Judgement at Christ's Coming

⁵ This is ^(E)evidence of the righteous judgement of God, that you may be ^(F)considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— ⁶ since indeed God considers it ^(G)just ^(H)to repay with affliction those who afflict you, ⁷ and to grant ^(I)relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when ^(J)the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven ^(K)with his mighty angels ^8 (L)in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those ^(M)who do not know God and on those who ^(N)do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will suffer the punishment of ^(O)eternal destruction, ^(P)away from^[b] the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, ^10 (Q)when he comes on ^(R)that day ^(S)to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at among all who have believed, because our ^(T)testimony to you ^(U)was believed. ¹¹ To this end we ^(V)always pray for you, that our God may ^(W)make you worthy of his calling and may fulfil every resolve for good and every ^(X)work of faith by his power, ¹² so that the name of our Lord Jesus ^(Y)may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.