Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the director: A song of David.
14 Only fools think there is no God.
People like that are evil and do terrible things.
They never do what is right.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
to see if there is anyone who is wise,
anyone who looks to him for help.
3 But everyone has gone the wrong way.
Everyone has turned bad.
No one does anything good.
No, not one person!
4 Those who are evil treat my people like bread to be eaten.
And they never ask for the Lord’s help.
Don’t they know what they are doing?
5 They will have plenty to fear,
because God is with those who do what is right.
6 You wicked people want to spoil the hopes of the poor,
but the Lord will protect them.
7 I wish the one who lives on Mount Zion
would bring victory to Israel!
When the Lord makes his people successful again,
the people of Jacob will be happy;
the people of Israel will be glad.
13 Then Joab and his men attacked the Arameans. The Arameans ran away from Joab and his men. 14 The Ammonites saw that the Arameans were running away, so they ran away from Abishai and went back to their city.
So Joab came back from the battle with the Ammonites and went back to Jerusalem.
The Arameans Decide to Fight Again
15 When the Arameans saw that the Israelites had defeated them, they came together into one big army. 16 Hadadezer[a] sent messengers to bring the Arameans who lived on the other side of the Euphrates River. These Arameans came to Helam. Their leader was Shobach, the captain of Hadadezer’s army.
17 When David heard about this, he gathered all the Israelites together. They crossed over the Jordan River and went to Helam.
There the Arameans prepared for battle and attacked, 18 but David defeated them, and they ran from the Israelites. David killed 700 chariot drivers and 40,000 horse soldiers as well as Shobach, the captain of the Aramean army.
19 The kings who served Hadadezer saw that the Israelites had defeated them, so they made peace with the Israelites and became their servants. The Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites again.
31 While the woman was in town, Jesus’ followers were begging him, “Teacher, eat something!”
32 But Jesus answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 So the followers asked themselves, “Did someone already bring him some food?”
34 Jesus said, “My food is to do what the one who sent me wants me to do. My food is to finish the work that he gave me to do. 35 When you plant, you always say, ‘Four more months to wait before we gather the grain.’ But I tell you, open your eyes, and look at the fields. They are ready for harvesting now. 36 Even now, the people who harvest the crop are being paid. They are gathering crops for eternal life. So now the people who plant can be happy together with those who harvest. 37 It is true when we say, ‘One person plants, but another person harvests the crop.’ 38 I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work for. Others did the work, and you get the profit from their work.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International