Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 57

Refuge in the Shadow of Your Wings
(Psalm 57:7-11 parallels Psalm 108:1-5)

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For the choir director. “Do Not Destroy.”^[a] By David. A miktam.
When he fled from Saul. In the cave.^[b]

The Opening Plea

The Problem

David’s Confidence

²³ When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey. She bowed and fell facedown on the ground in David’s presence. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “To me, my lord—charge the guilt to me! Please let your servant speak to you. Listen to the words of your servant. ²⁵ Please, my lord, do not pay attention to this worthless good-for-nothing Nabal, for he is exactly what his name suggests. Nabal^[a] is his name, and foolishness is never far from him. But I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men, whom you sent. ²⁶ Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has held you back from the guilt of bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil against my lord be like Nabal. ²⁷ Please distribute this gift that I, your servant,^[b] have brought to my lord for the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸ Please forgive your servant’s offense. For the Lord will certainly make an enduring house^[c] for my lord, because my lord is fighting the Lord’s battles. May no evil be found in you all your days. ²⁹ Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my lord be safely wrapped up in the bundle of the living, with the Lord your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away like a stone from the pocket of a sling. ³⁰ Then, when the Lord has done for my lord all the good things that he has spoken concerning you, and he has appointed you leader over Israel, ³¹ you will not be burdened by grief or a guilty conscience because you, my lord, have shed blood without cause or have avenged yourself. Then, when the Lord has dealt well with you, my lord, remember your servant.”

³² David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! ³³ Your good judgment is blessed, and you are blessed, because today you have kept me from the guilt of shedding blood and from avenging myself with my own hand. ³⁴ For truly, as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, certainly by the morning light there would not have been left for Nabal so much as one person who urinates against a wall.”^[d]

³⁵ So David received from her hand what she had brought for him. Then he said to her, “Go up to your house in peace. You see, I have listened to your voice and have shown you favor.”

Be Patient

⁷ Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the valuable harvest from the ground, patiently waiting for it, until it receives the early and late rain. ⁸ You be patient too. Strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord is near.

⁹ Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look! The Judge is standing at the doors! ¹⁰ Brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering with patient endurance. ¹¹ See, we consider those who endured to be blessed. You have heard of the patient endurance of Job and have seen what the Lord did in the end, because the Lord is especially compassionate and merciful.

Do Not Swear

¹² Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Just let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no,” so that you do not fall under judgment.