Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

63 A psalm of David when he was hiding in the wilderness of Judea.

O God, my God! How I search for you! How I thirst for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. How I long to find you! ² How I wish I could go into your sanctuary to see your strength and glory, ³ for your love and kindness are better to me than life itself. How I praise you! ⁴ I will bless you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. ⁵ At last I shall be fully satisfied; I will praise you with great joy.

⁶ I lie awake at night thinking of you— ⁷ of how much you have helped me—and how I rejoice through the night beneath the protecting shadow of your wings. ⁸ I follow close behind you, protected by your strong right arm. ⁹ But those plotting to destroy me shall go down to the depths of hell. ¹⁰ They are doomed to die by the sword, to become the food of jackals. ¹¹ But I^[a] will rejoice in God. All who trust in him exult, while liars shall be silenced.

2 David then asked the Lord, “Shall I move back to Judah?”

And the Lord replied, “Yes.”

“Which city shall I go to?”

And the Lord replied, “Hebron.”

² So David and his wives—Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal from Carmel— ³ and his men and their families all moved to Hebron. ⁴ Then the leaders of Judah came to David and crowned him king of the Judean confederacy.

When David heard that the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul, ⁵ he sent them this message: “May the Lord bless you for being so loyal to your king and giving him a decent burial. ⁶ May the Lord be loyal to you in return and reward you with many demonstrations of his love! And I too will be kind to you because of what you have done. ⁷ And now I ask you to be my strong and loyal subjects, now that Saul is dead. Be like the tribe of Judah who have appointed me as their new king.”

²⁵ “I have spoken of these matters very guardedly, but the time will come when this will not be necessary and I will tell you plainly all about the Father. ²⁶ Then you will present your petitions over my signature!^[a] And I won’t need to ask the Father to grant you these requests, ²⁷ for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from the Father. ²⁸ Yes, I came from the Father into the world and will leave the world and return to the Father.”

²⁹ “At last you are speaking plainly,” his disciples said, “and not in riddles. ³⁰ Now we understand that you know everything and don’t need anyone to tell you anything.^[b] From this we believe that you came from God.”

³¹ “Do you finally believe this?” Jesus asked. ³² “But the time is coming—in fact, it is here—when you will be scattered, each one returning to his own home, leaving me alone. Yet I will not be alone, for the Father is with me. ³³ I have told you all this so that you will have peace of heart and mind. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world.”