Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²⁶ When Bathsheba heard that her husband had been killed, she mourned for him. ²⁷ When the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to the palace; she became his wife and bore him a son. But the Lord was not pleased with what David had done.

Nathan's Message and David's Repentance

12 ^(A)The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, “There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had many cattle and sheep, ³ while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him. ⁴ One day a visitor arrived at the rich man's home. The rich man didn't want to kill one of his own animals to fix a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal for his guest.”

⁵ David became very angry at the rich man and said, “I swear by the living Lord that the man who did this ought to die! ⁶ For having done such a cruel thing, he must pay back four times as much as he took.”

⁷ “You are that man,” Nathan said to David. “And this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul. ⁸ I gave you his kingdom and his wives; I made you king over Israel and Judah. If this had not been enough, I would have given you twice as much. ⁹ Why, then, have you disobeyed my commands? Why did you do this evil thing? You had Uriah killed in battle; you let the Ammonites kill him, and then you took his wife! ¹⁰ Now, in every generation some of your descendants will die a violent death because you have disobeyed me and have taken Uriah's wife. ^11 (B)I swear to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble on you. You will see it when I take your wives from you and give them to another man; and he will have intercourse with them in broad daylight. ¹² You sinned in secret, but I will make this happen in broad daylight for all Israel to see.’”

¹³ “I have sinned against the Lord,” David said.

Nathan replied, “The Lord forgives you; you will not die.

^(A)A Prayer for Forgiveness^[a]

The Unity of the Body

4 I urge you, then—I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you. ^2 (A)Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another. ³ Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you. ⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.

⁷ Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given. ^8 (B)As the scripture says,

⁹ Now, what does “he went up” mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth.^{[a] 10} So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence. ¹¹ It was he who “gave gifts to people”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. ¹² He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. ¹³ And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature. ¹⁴ Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent. ¹⁵ Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. ^16 (C)Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.

²⁴ When the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they got into those boats and went to Capernaum, looking for him.

Jesus the Bread of Life

²⁵ When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Teacher, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. ^27 (A)Do not work for food that spoils; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him.”

²⁸ So they asked him, “What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent.”

³⁰ They replied, “What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ^31 (B)Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³² “I am telling you the truth,” Jesus said. “What Moses gave you was not^[a] the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they asked him, “give us this bread always.”

³⁵ “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty.