Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

It Is Foolish to Trust in Riches

48 The Lord is great and should be given much praise, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. ² Mount Zion in the far north is beautiful and high, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King. ³ God has made Himself known as a safe place in that city.

⁴ For, see, the kings gathered themselves and went up together. ⁵ They saw it, then they were surprised and afraid. And they ran away fast in fear. ⁶ They began shaking there. And they suffered pain like a woman giving birth. ⁷ You wreck the ships of Tarshish with the east wind. ⁸ As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of All, in the city of our God. God will make her last forever.

⁹ O God, we have thought about Your loving-kindness within Your holy house. ¹⁰ Like Your name, O God, Your praise is heard to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of what is right and good. ¹¹ Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the people of Judah be full of joy because You are right in how You judge. ¹² Walk in Zion, and go around her. See how many towers she has. ¹³ Give thought to her walls. Go through her beautiful houses where kings live. And tell about it to the children-to-come. ¹⁴ This is God, our God forever and ever. He will show us the way until death.

3 There was a long war between the family of Saul and the family of David. David became stronger and stronger. But the family of Saul became weaker and weaker.

David’s Sons

² Sons were born to David at Hebron. His first-born was Amnon, by David’s wife Ahinoam of Jezreel. ³ His second son was Chileab, by Abigail who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel. The third was Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur. ⁴ The fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith. The fifth was Shephatiah the son of Abital. ⁵ And the sixth was Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These sons were born to David at Hebron.

Abner Goes over with David

⁶ While there was war between the family of Saul and the family of David, Abner was making himself strong in the family of Saul. ⁷ Now Saul had a woman acting as his wife whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to the woman who acted as my father’s wife?” ⁸ Abner was very angry because of Ish-bosheth’s words, and said, “Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? Today I show kindness to the family of your father Saul, to his brothers and to his friends. I have not given you into David’s hands. Yet today you say I am guilty because of this woman. ⁹ May God do so to Abner, and more also, if I do not do for David what the Lord has promised him. ¹⁰ He has promised to build the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.” ¹¹ And Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner, because he was afraid of him.

¹² Then Abner sent men with news to David at Hebron, saying, “Whose land is this? Make your agreement with me, and I will help you bring all Israel over to you.”

⁷ You are seeing things only as men see them. If anyone feels sure he belongs to Christ, he should remember that we belong to Christ also. ⁸ I am not ashamed if I say this of myself. The Lord gave me the right and the power to help you become stronger, not to break you down. ⁹ I do not want you to think I am trying to make you afraid with my letters. ¹⁰ They say, “His letters are strong and they make us think. When he is here with us, he is weak and he is hard to listen to.” ¹¹ What we say in our letters we will do when we get there. They should understand this.