Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ The king gave orders to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake, act gently with the young man Absalom.” All the troops heard the king giving orders to the leaders concerning Absalom.

⁶ The troops went out into the countryside to confront Israel. The battle took place in the Forest of Ephraim. ⁷ The men of Israel were defeated there by the followers of David. There was a great slaughter there on that day—twenty thousand. ⁸ The battle was spread over the entire area. The forest devoured more people than the sword did on that day.

⁹ Absalom encountered the forces of David. As Absalom was riding on his mule, the mule went under the thick branches of a large terebinth tree, and Absalom’s head caught in the terebinth. He was caught between heaven and earth, and the mule he was riding kept going.

¹⁵ Ten young men, the ones carrying Joab’s armor and weapons, surrounded Absalom and struck and killed him.

³¹ The Cushite arrived and said, “There is good news for my lord the king, because the Lord has delivered you this day from the power of all who rose up against you.”

³² The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

The Cushite said, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you with evil intentions be like that young man.”

³³ The king was shocked. He went up to the room over the gatehouse. As he was going, he wept and said, “My son Absalom, my son, my son! O Absalom, I wish I had died instead of you. O Absalom, my son, my son.”

Psalm 130

Out of the Depths

Heading
A song of the ascents.

Out of the Depths

²⁵ Therefore, after you put away lying, let each of you speak truthfully with your neighbor, because we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “Be angry, yet do not sin.”^[a] Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. ²⁷ Do not give the Devil an opportunity. ²⁸ Let the one who has been stealing steal no longer. Instead, let him work hard doing what is good with his own hands, so that he has something to share with a person who is in need. ²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come from your mouths. Say only what is beneficial when there is a need to build up others, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear. ³⁰ Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of every kind of bitterness, rage, anger, quarreling, and slander, along with every kind of malice. ³² Instead, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven us.^[b]

5 Therefore, be imitators of God as his dearly loved children. ² And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

³⁵ “I am the Bread of Life,” Jesus told them. “The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.

⁴¹ So the Jews started grumbling about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? So how can he say,^[a] ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the Last Day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’^[b] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ I am not saying that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He is the one who has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me^[c] has eternal life.

⁴⁸ “I am the Bread of Life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”