Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
Or take My covenant in your mouth,
17 (A)Seeing you hate instruction
And cast My words behind you?
18 When you saw a thief, you (B)consented[a] with him,
And have been a (C)partaker with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth to evil,
And (D)your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done, and I kept silent;
(E)You thought that I was altogether like you;
But I will rebuke you,
And (F)set them in order before your eyes.
15 Then Nathan departed to his house.
The Death of David’s Son
And the (A)Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill. 16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and (B)lay all night on the ground. 17 So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!”
19 When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?”
And they said, “He is dead.”
20 So David arose from the ground, washed and (C)anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and (D)worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”
22 And he said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; (E)for I said, ‘Who can tell whether [a]the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go (F)to him, but (G)he shall not return to me.”
Solomon Is Born
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So (H)she bore a son, and (I)he[b] called his name Solomon. Now the Lord loved him, 25 and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So [c]he called his name [d]Jedidiah, because of the Lord.
The New Man
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should (A)no longer walk as [a]the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the (B)blindness of their heart; 19 (C)who, being past feeling, (D)have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you (E)put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and (F)be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you (G)put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.