Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 32
A Psalm of David. A Contemplative Maskil.
1 Blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man
against whom the Lord does not count iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
Your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was changed
into the drought of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
and my iniquity I did not conceal.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord,”
and You forgave
the iniquity of my sin. Selah
6 For this cause everyone who is godly will pray to You
in a time when You may be found;
surely in the floods of great waters
they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place;
You will preserve me from trouble;
You will surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye on you.
9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule
that are without understanding,
that must be restrained with bit and bridle,
or they will not come near you.
10 Many sorrows come to the wicked,
but lovingkindness will surround
the man who trusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, you righteous one;
and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!
Absalom’s Conspiracy
15 After this Absalom acquired for himself a chariot, horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 Absalom would go early and stand beside the way into the gate. When any man who had a dispute concerning which he had come to the king for a judgment approached, Absalom would call to him and say, “Which city are you from?” And he would say, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” 3 Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claim is good and right, but there is no one to hear you on behalf of the king.” 4 Absalom would continue, “If I were appointed a judge in the land, then every man who had a claim could come and I would give him justice.”
5 When a man would approach to bow before him, he would reach out, embrace him, and kiss him. 6 Absalom acted this way toward every Israelite who came to the king for a judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
7 After forty years, Absalom said to the king, “Please allow me to go fulfill my vow that I made to the Lord in Hebron. 8 For your servant made a vow when I was dwelling in Geshur in Aram, saying: If indeed the Lord will bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.”
9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron.
10 But Absalom sent scouts throughout all of the tribes of Israel, saying, “When you hear the sound of the horn, say: Absalom has become king in Hebron.” 11 Now two hundred men went with Absalom from Jerusalem, invited and unsuspecting; they did not know anything. 12 Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, the advisor of David, from his city Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. Now the conspiracy was strong, for the number of people with Absalom was continually growing.
The Remnant of Israel
11 I say then, has God rejected His people? God forbid! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and destroyed Your altars. I alone am left, and they seek my life”?[a] 4 But what is the divine reply to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[b] 5 So then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. But if it is by works, then is it no longer by grace; otherwise work would no longer be work.
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it was seeking. But the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened. 8 As it is written:
“God has given them a spirit of slumber,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
to this very day.”[c]
9 And David says:
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they may not see,
and always bow down their backs.”[d]
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.