Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
16 As for the wicked, God says,
“How dare you recite my statutes
or speak about my covenant with your lips!
17 You hate instruction
and toss my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you befriend him,
and you keep company with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth free reign for evil,
and your tongue devises deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you did, and I kept silent,
because you assumed that I was like you.
But now I am going to rebuke you,
and I will set forth my case before your very own eyes.”
22 Consider this, you who have forgotten God—
Otherwise, I will tear you in pieces
and there will be no deliverer:
23 Whoever offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me,
and I will reveal the salvation of God
to whomever continues in my way.”[a]
15 Then Nathan went home.
David’s Infant Son Dies
After this, the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife had born to David, and the child[a] became very ill. 16 David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He[b] fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground. 17 His closest advisors at the palace[c] got up, remained with him, and tried to help him get up from the ground, but he would not do so. He also wouldn’t eat with them.
18 A week later, the child died, and David’s staff was afraid to tell him that the child had died. They were telling themselves, “Look, when the child was still alive, we talked to him but he wouldn’t listen to what we said. Now what kind of trouble will he bring on himself if we tell him that the child has died?”
19 But as David observed his staff whispering together, he perceived that the child had died, so he asked his staff, “Is the child dead?”
They replied, “He has died.”
20 At this, David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the Lord’s tent[d] to worship. Then he went back to his palace where, at his request, they served him food and he ate.
21 His staff asked him, “What’s this about? When the child was alive, you fasted and cried. Now that the child has died, you get up and eat!”
22 He answered, “When the child was alive, I fasted and cried. I asked myself, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will show grace to me and the child will live.’ 23 But now that he has died, what’s the point of fasting? Can I bring him back again? I’ll be going to be with him, but he won’t be returning to me.”
The Birth of Solomon
24 Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba. He went in and had sex with her, and she bore a son whom he named Solomon. The Lord loved him, 25 and sent a message written by Nathan the prophet to call his name Jedidiah,[e] for the Lord’s sake.
The Old Life and the New
17 Therefore, I tell you and insist on[a] in the Lord not to live any longer like the gentiles live, thinking worthless thoughts.[b] 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 Since they have lost all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint. 20 However, that is not the way you came to know the Messiah.[c] 21 Surely you have listened to him and have been taught by him, since truth is in Jesus. 22 Regarding your former way of life, you were taught[d] to strip off your old nature, which is being ruined by its deceptive desires, 23 to be renewed in your mental attitude, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new nature, which was created according to God’s image[e] in righteousness and true holiness.
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