Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 48
Zion Exalted
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 The Lord is great and highly praised
in the city of our God.(A)
His holy mountain, 2 rising splendidly,
is the joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion on the slopes of the north
is the city of the great King.(B)
3 God is known as a stronghold
in its citadels.(C)
4 Look! The kings assembled;
they advanced together.(D)
5 They looked and froze with fear;
they fled in terror.(E)
6 Trembling seized them there,
agony like that of a woman in labor,(F)
7 as You wrecked the ships of Tarshish
with the east wind.(G)
8 Just as we heard, so we have seen
in the city of Yahweh of Hosts,
in the city of our God;
God will establish it forever.(H)
Civil War
3 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David was long and drawn out, with David growing stronger and the house of Saul becoming weaker.
2 Sons were born to David in Hebron:
his firstborn was Amnon,
by Ahinoam(A) the Jezreelite;
3 his second was Chileab,
by Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite;
the third was Absalom,
son of Maacah the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;(B)
4 the fourth was Adonijah,(C)
son of Haggith;
the fifth was Shephatiah,
son of Abital;
5 the sixth was Ithream,
by David’s wife Eglah.
These were born to David in Hebron.(D)
6 During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner kept acquiring more power in the house of Saul.(E) 7 Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah(F) daughter of Aiah, and Ish-bosheth questioned Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”
8 Abner was very angry about Ish-bosheth’s accusation. “Am I a dog’s head[a](G) who belongs to Judah?” he asked. “All this time I’ve been loyal to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends and haven’t handed you over to David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman! 9 May God punish Abner and do so severely if I don’t do for David what the Lord swore to him: 10 to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah(H) from Dan to Beer-sheba.” 11 Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner because he was afraid of him.
12 Abner sent messengers as his representatives to say to David, “Whose land is it? Make your covenant with me, and you can be certain I am on your side to hand all Israel over to you.”
7 Look at what is obvious.[a] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ,(A) he should remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to Christ, so do we. 8 For if I boast some more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up(B) and not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed. 9 I don’t want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters. 10 For it is said, “His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking is despicable.” 11 Such a person should consider this: What we are in the words of our letters when absent, we will be in actions when present.
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