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.

David Shows Sorrow for Abner

³¹ Then David said to Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and dress in clothes made from hair. Cry in sorrow in front of Abner.” And King David walked behind the box in which the dead man was carried. ³² They buried Abner in Hebron. And the king cried in a loud voice at Abner’s grave. All the people cried. ³³ The king sang a song of sorrow for Abner, saying, “Should Abner die as a fool dies? ³⁴ Your hands were not tied. Your feet were not put in chains. You have fallen as one falls in front of the sinful.” And all the people cried again over him. ³⁵ Then all the people came to try to talk David into eating bread while it was still day. But David promised, saying, “May God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun goes down.” ³⁶ All the people saw it, and it pleased them. Everything the king did pleased all the people. ³⁷ So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to kill Abner the son of Ner. ³⁸ Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a leader, and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?

Testing Some Followers ^(A)

¹⁸ Jesus saw many people and told them to go to the other side of the lake. ¹⁹ A teacher of the Law came to Jesus. He said, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” ²⁰ Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes. Birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

²¹ Another of His followers said to Him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” ²² Jesus said to him, “Follow Me. Let the people who are dead bury their own dead.”