Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
130 O Lord, from the depths of despair I cry for your help: 2 “Hear me! Answer! Help me!”
3-4 Lord, if you keep in mind our sins, then who can ever get an answer to his prayers? But you forgive! What an awesome thing this is! 5 That is why I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised. 6 I long for him more than sentinels long for the dawn.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord; for he is loving and kind and comes to us with armloads of salvation. 8 He himself shall ransom Israel from her slavery to sin.
37-39 Absalom fled to King Talmai of Geshur[a] (the son of Ammihud) and stayed there three years. Meanwhile David, now reconciled to Amnon’s death, longed day after day for fellowship with his son Absalom.
14 When General Joab realized how much the king was longing to see Absalom, 2-3 he sent for a woman of Tekoa who had a reputation for great wisdom and told her to ask for an appointment with the king. He told her what to say to him.
“Pretend you are in mourning,” Joab instructed her. “Wear mourning clothes, and dishevel your hair as though you have been in deep sorrow for a long time.”
4 When the woman approached the king, she fell face downward on the floor in front of him, and cried out, “O king! Help me!”
5-6 “What’s the trouble?” he asked.
“I am a widow,” she replied, “and my two sons had a fight out in the field, and since no one was there to part them, one of them was killed. 7 Now the rest of the family is demanding that I surrender my other son to them to be executed for murdering his brother. But if I do that, I will have no one left, and my husband’s name will be destroyed from the face of the earth.”
8 “Leave it with me,” the king told her. “I’ll see to it that no one touches him.”
9 “Oh, thank you, my lord,” she replied. “And I’ll take the responsibility if you are criticized for helping me like this.”
10 “Don’t worry about that!” the king replied. “If anyone objects, bring him to me; I can assure you he will never complain again!”
11 Then she said, “Please swear to me by God that you won’t let anyone harm my son. I want no more bloodshed.”
“I vow by God,” he replied, “that not a hair of your son’s head shall be disturbed!”
12 “Please let me ask one more thing of you!” she said.
“Go ahead,” he replied. “Speak!”
13 “Why don’t you do as much for all the people of God as you have promised to do for me?” she asked. “You have convicted yourself in making this decision, because you have refused to bring home your own banished son. 14 All of us must die eventually; our lives are like water that is poured out on the ground—it can’t be gathered up again. But God will bless you with a longer life if you will find a way to bring your son back from his exile.[b] 15-16 But I have come to plead with you for my son because my life and my son’s life have been threatened, and I said to myself, ‘Perhaps the king will listen to me and rescue us from those who would end our existence in Israel. 17 Yes, the king will give us peace again.’ I know that you are like an angel of God and can discern good from evil. May God be with you.”
18 “I want to know one thing,” the king replied.
“Yes, my lord?” she asked.
19 “Did Joab send you here?”
And the woman replied, “How can I deny it? Yes, Joab sent me and told me what to say. 20 He did it in order to place the matter before you in a different light. But you are as wise as an angel of God, and you know everything that happens!”
21 So the king sent for Joab and told him, “All right, go and bring back Absalom.”
22 Joab fell to the ground before the king and blessed him and said, “At last I know that you like me! For you have granted me this request!”
23 Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.
24 “He may go to his own quarters,” the king ordered, “but he must never come here. I refuse to see him.”
15 1-2 Even if we believe that it makes no difference to the Lord whether we do these things, still we cannot just go ahead and do them to please ourselves; for we must bear the “burden” of being considerate of the doubts and fears of others—of those who feel these things are wrong. Let’s please the other fellow, not ourselves, and do what is for his good and thus build him up in the Lord. 3 Christ didn’t please himself. As the Psalmist said, “He came for the very purpose of suffering under the insults of those who were against the Lord.” 4 These things that were written in the Scriptures so long ago are to teach us patience and to encourage us so that we will look forward expectantly to the time when God will conquer sin and death.
5 May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other—each with the attitude of Christ toward the other. 6 And then all of us can praise the Lord together with one voice, giving glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.