Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David and Bathsheba

11 In the spring the kings would go out to war. So in the spring David sent out Joab, his servants and all the Israelites. They destroyed the Ammonites and attacked the city of Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem. ² One evening David got up from his bed. He walked around on the roof^[a] of his palace. While he was on the roof, he saw a woman bathing. She was very beautiful. ³ So David sent his servants to find out who she was. A servant answered, “That woman is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam. She is the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴ David sent messengers to bring Bathsheba to him. When she came to him, he had physical relations with her. (Now Bathsheba had purified herself from her monthly period.) Then she went back to her house. ⁵ But Bathsheba became pregnant. She sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

⁶ So David sent this message to Joab: “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ Uriah came to David. And David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go home and rest.”

So Uriah left the palace. The king also sent a gift to him. ⁹ But Uriah did not go home. He slept outside the door of the palace. He slept there as all the king’s officers did.

¹⁰ The officers told David, “Uriah did not go home.”

Then David said to Uriah, “You came from a long trip. Why didn’t you go home?”

¹¹ Uriah said to him, “The Ark of the Covenant and the soldiers of Israel and Judah are staying in tents. My master Joab and his officers are camping out in the fields. It isn’t right for me to go home to eat and drink and have intimate relations with my wife!”

¹² David said to Uriah, “Stay here today. Tomorrow I’ll send you back to the battle.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ Then David called Uriah to come to see him. Uriah ate and drank with David. David made Uriah drunk, but he still did not go home. That evening Uriah went to sleep with the king’s officers outside the king’s door.

¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. ¹⁵ In the letter David wrote, “Put Uriah on the front lines where the fighting is worst. Then leave him there alone. Let him be killed in battle.”

The Unbelieving Fool

For the director of music. Of David.

The Love of Christ

¹⁴ So I bow in prayer before the Father. ¹⁵ Every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name from him. ¹⁶ I ask the Father in his great glory to give you the power to be strong in spirit. He will give you that strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷ I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. ¹⁸ And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love. I pray that you can understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. ¹⁹ Christ’s love is greater than any person can ever know. But I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God.

²⁰ With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of. ²¹ To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.

More Than 5,000 People Fed

6 After this, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (or, Lake Tiberias). ² Many people followed him because they saw the miracles he did to heal the sick. ³ Jesus went up on a hill and there sat down with his followers. ⁴ It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover Feast.

⁵ Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him. He said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for all these people to eat?” ⁶ (Jesus asked Philip this question to test him. Jesus already knew what he planned to do.)

⁷ Philip answered, “Someone would have to work almost a year to buy enough bread for each person here to have only a little piece.”

⁸ Another follower there was Andrew. He was Simon Peter’s brother. Andrew said, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish. But that is not enough for so many people.”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Tell the people to sit down.” This was a very grassy place. There were about 5,000 men who sat down there. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves of bread. He thanked God for the bread and gave it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish. He gave them as much as they wanted.

¹² They all had enough to eat. When they had finished, Jesus said to his followers, “Gather the pieces of fish and bread that were not eaten. Don’t waste anything.” ¹³ So they gathered up the pieces that were left. They filled 12 large baskets with the pieces that were left of the five barley loaves.

¹⁴ The people saw this miracle that Jesus did. They said, “He must truly be the Prophet^[a] who is coming into the world.”

¹⁵ Jesus knew that the people planned to come and take him by force and make him their king. So he left and went into the hills alone.

Jesus Walks on the Water

¹⁶ That evening Jesus’ followers went down to Lake Galilee. ¹⁷ It was dark now and Jesus had not yet come to them. The followers got into a boat and started across the lake to Capernaum. ¹⁸ By now a strong wind was blowing, and the waves on the lake were getting bigger. ¹⁹ They rowed the boat about three or four miles. Then they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming toward the boat. The followers were afraid. ²⁰ But Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. It is I.” ²¹ Then they were glad to take him into the boat. At once the boat came to land at the place where they wanted to go.