Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song: Lyrics[a] by the Sons of Korah.
Zion, City of God
48 Great is the Lord!
For he is to be praised greatly,
even in the city of our God,
his holy mountain.
2 Beautifully situated,
the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion towards the north,[b]
the city of the great King.
3 Within her citadels
God is known as a place of refuge.
4 Behold, when the kings assembled together,
when they traveled together,
5 they looked and were awestruck;
they became afraid and ran away.
6 Trembling seized them there,
pains like those of a woman in labor,
7 as when an east wind destroyed the ships of Tarshish.
8 Just as we have heard,
so have we seen;
in the city of the Lord of the heavenly armies—
even in the city of our God—
God will establish her forever.
9 God, we have meditated on your gracious love
in the midst of your Temple.
10 God, according to your name,
so is your praise to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion will be glad;
the towns[c] of Judah will rejoice because of your judgments.
12 March around Zion;
encircle her;
count her towers.
13 Take note of her ramparts;
investigate her citadels;
that you may speak about them to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God forever and ever.
He will guide us until death.
Abner Changes Loyalties
3 After this, a state of protracted war existed between Saul’s dynasty and David’s dynasty, and the dynasty of David continued to grow and become strong while the dynasty of Saul continued to grow weaker. 2 During this time, sons were born to David while he was living in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam from Jezreel, 3 his second was Chileab by Abigail, widow of Nabal from Carmel, his third was Absalom by Maacah, daughter of King Talmai from Geshur, 4 his fourth was Adonijah by Haggith, his fifth was Shephatiah by Abital, 5 and his sixth was Ithream by David’s wife Eglah. They were all[a] born to David in Hebron.
6 While war continued between the dynasties of Saul and David, Abner was growing in influence within the dynasty of Saul. 7 Meanwhile, Saul had a mistress[b] named Rizpah, who was the[c] daughter of Aiah. Ish-bosheth[d] asked Abner, “Why did you have sex with my father’s mistress?”
8 What Ish-bosheth[e] said made Abner furious, so he replied, “A dog’s head for Judah—is that what I am? Up until today I’ve kept on showing loyalty to your father Saul’s dynasty, to his relatives and friends, and I haven’t turned you over to David, but you’re charging me today with moral guilt regarding this woman! 9 Therefore may God do to me[f]—and more also!—just as the Lord has promised to David, since I’m doing this for him: 10 I will take away the kingdom from the dynasty of Saul by making the throne of David firm over Israel and Judah—from Dan to Beer-sheba!”
11 Ish-bosheth[g] couldn’t say another word in response to Abner, because he was terrified of him. 12 So Abner sent messengers to David at Hebron to ask him, “Who owns this land? Cut a deal[h] with me, and look!—I’ll lend my hand in bringing all of Israel over to you!”
7 Look at the plain facts! If anyone is confident that he belongs to the Messiah,[a] he should remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to the Messiah,[b] so do we. 8 So if I boast a little too much about our authority, which the Lord gave us to build you up and not to tear you down, I will not be ashamed of it.
9 I do not want you to think that I am trying to frighten you with my letters. 10 For someone is saying,[c] “His letters are impressive and forceful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible.” 11 Someone like this should take note of the following: What we say by letter when we are absent is what we will do when present!
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