Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

6 Once again David gathered the elite soldiers of Israel, some 30,000, ² and they went down to Baale-judah to bring back the covenant chest of the True God, called by the Name: the Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, who sits enthroned above the winged creatures who protect the chest.

^3-4 They carried the covenant chest of the True God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab on the hill where it had rested, and Abinadab’s sons Uzzah and Ahio directed the new cart, with Ahio walking in front of the chest. ⁵ David and all the Israelites were joyous before the Eternal; and they were accompanied by wooden lyres and harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.

¹² When news was taken to King David that the Eternal had blessed Obed-edom and all his household because of the covenant chest of God, the king went down and brought the chest from Obed-edom’s house up to the city of David, again accompanying it with rejoicing and ceremony. ¹³ When the people carrying the chest of the Eternal had gone six steps, David sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf; ¹⁴ and he danced before the Eternal One with all his might, clad in a priestly vest.

^15-16 So David and the house of Israel carried the covenant chest of the Eternal One up to the city of David with shouts and the sounding of the trumpet. When Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Eternal without thought for how he looked, she hated him.

¹⁷ They carried the covenant chest of the Eternal One to its place inside the tent David had pitched to house it, and the king offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings to the Eternal. ¹⁸ When he had finished with the sacrifices and peace offerings, he spoke a priestly blessing over the people in the name of the Eternal One, the Commander of heavenly armies; and ¹⁹ he gave all of the Israelites—every man and woman—a loaf of bread, a date roll,^[a] and a raisin cake. Then they all returned to their homes.

Psalm 24

A song of David.

³ Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, who grants us every spiritual blessing in these heavenly realms where we live in the Anointed—not because of anything we have done, but because of what He has done for us. ⁴ God chose us to be in a relationship with Him even before He laid out plans for this world; He wanted us to live holy lives characterized by love, free from sin, and blameless before Him. ⁵ He destined us to be adopted as His children through the covenant Jesus the Anointed inaugurated in His sacrificial life. This was His pleasure and His will for us. ⁶ Ultimately God is the one worthy of praise for showing us His grace; He is merciful and marvelous, freely giving us these gifts in His Beloved. ⁷ Visualize this: His blood freely flowing down the cross, setting us free! We are forgiven for our sinful ways by the richness of His grace, ⁸ which He has poured all over us. With all wisdom and insight, ⁹ He has enlightened us to the great mystery at the center of His will. With immense pleasure, He laid out His intentions through Jesus, ¹⁰ a plan that will climax when the time is right as He returns to create order and unity—both in heaven and on earth—when all things are brought together under the Anointed’s royal rule. In Him ¹¹ we stand to inherit even more. As His heirs, we are predestined to play a key role in His unfolding purpose that is energizing everything to conform to His will. ¹² As a result, we—the first to place our hope in the Anointed One—will live in a way to bring Him glory and praise. ¹³ Because you, too, have heard the word of truth—the good news of your salvation—and because you believed in the One who is truth, your lives are marked with His seal. This is none other than the Holy Spirit who was promised ¹⁴ as the guarantee toward the inheritance we are to receive when He frees and rescues all who belong to Him. To God be all praise and glory!

¹⁴ Jesus had become so well known that King Herod received reports of all that Jesus was doing. Some were saying^[a] that John the Baptist^[b] had been raised from the dead and that these mighty works were the fruits of his resurrection.

And still others said He was another of the prophets.

For the blood of John was on his hands. ^17-18 Herod had imprisoned John in the days before Jesus began His teaching. John had preached to Herod that he should not have married his own brother’s wife, Herodias, for so it is written in the Hebrew Scriptures: “It is not lawful for one to marry his brother’s wife.”^[c]

¹⁹ Herodias held a grudge against John and would have had him killed, but she couldn’t. ²⁰ Herod feared John as a holy and righteous man and did what he could to protect him. John taught hard truths,^[d] and yet Herod found he usually liked hearing them.

So Herod had put John in prison instead of executing him; ^21-22 and there John sat until Herod’s birthday, when the governor held a great state dinner. That night, Herod’s stepdaughter danced beautifully for the state officials; and the king proclaimed a solemn vow in the presence of his honored guests, military officers, and some of the leading men of Galilee.

²⁴ She went out and consulted with her mother, Herodias, who had only one great desire and told her daughter what she must say.

²⁶ Herod was horrified, but he had sworn an oath and could not break his word in front of his invited guests. ²⁷ So immediately he sent an executioner to the prison to behead John and bring them the head. ²⁸ It was brought to the girl upon a platter, and she took it to her mother.

²⁹ When John’s disciples were told of this, they came for his body and gave it a proper burial.