Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

11 In the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, David sent out Yo’av, his servants who were with him and all Isra’el. They ravaged the people of ‘Amon and laid siege to Rabbah. But David stayed in Yerushalayim. ² Once, after his afternoon nap, David got up from his bed and went strolling on the roof of the king’s palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful. ³ David made inquiries about the woman and was told that she was Bat-Sheva the daughter of Eli‘am, the wife of Uriyah the Hitti. ⁴ David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he went to bed with her (for she had been purified from her uncleanness). Then she returned to her house. ⁵ The woman conceived; and she sent a message to David, “I am pregnant.”

⁶ David sent this order to Yo’av: “Send me Uriyah the Hitti.” Yo’av sent Uriyah to David. ⁷ When Uriyah had come to him, David asked him how Yo’av was doing, how the people were feeling and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriyah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriyah left the king’s palace and was followed by a present of food from the king. ⁹ But Uriyah slept at the door of the king’s palace with all the servants of his lord and didn’t go down to his house. ¹⁰ When they told David, “Uriyah didn’t go down to his house,” David said to Uriyah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?” ¹¹ Uriyah answered David, “The ark, Isra’el and Y’hudah stay in tents; and my lord Yo’av and the servants of my lord are camping in the countryside. So should I go into my house to eat and drink and go to bed with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” ¹² David said to Uriyah, “Stay here today also; tomorrow I will let you leave.” So Uriyah stayed in Yerushalayim that day and the following day. ¹³ David summoned him, ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out and lay on his bed with his lord’s servants and did not go down to his house.

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Yo’av and sent it with Uriyah. ¹⁵ In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriyah on the front lines of the fiercest fighting; then pull back from him, so that he will be wounded and killed.”

¹⁴ For this reason, I fall on my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its character. ¹⁶ I pray that from the treasures of his glory he will empower you with inner strength by his Spirit, ¹⁷ so that the Messiah may live in your hearts through your trusting. Also I pray that you will be rooted and founded in love, ¹⁸ so that you, with all God’s people, will be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of the Messiah’s love, ¹⁹ yes, to know it, even though it is beyond all knowing, so that you will be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to him who by his power working in us is able to do far beyond anything we can ask or imagine, ²¹ to him be glory in the Messianic Community and in the Messiah Yeshua from generation to generation forever. Amen.

6 Some time later, Yeshua went over to the far side of Lake Kinneret (that is, Lake Tiberias), ² and a large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miracles he had performed on the sick. ³ Yeshua went up into the hills and sat down there with his talmidim. ⁴ Now the Judean festival of Pesach was coming up; ⁵ so when Yeshua looked up and saw that a large crowd was approaching, he said to Philip, “Where will we be able to buy bread, so that these people can eat?” ⁶ (Now Yeshua said this to test Philip, for Yeshua himself knew what he was about to do.) ⁷ Philip answered, “Half a year’s wages wouldn’t buy enough bread for them — each one would get only a bite!” ⁸ One of the talmidim, Andrew the brother of Shim‘on Kefa, said to him, ⁹ “There’s a young fellow here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰ Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.” There was a lot of grass there, so they sat down. The number of men was about five thousand. ¹¹ Then Yeshua took the loaves of bread, and, after making a b’rakhah, gave to all who were sitting there, and likewise with the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² After they had eaten their fill, he told his talmidim, “Gather the leftover pieces, so that nothing gets wasted.” ¹³ They gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ When the people saw the miracle he had performed, they said, “This has to be ‘the prophet’ who is supposed to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Yeshua knew that they were on the point of coming and seizing him, in order to make him king; so he went back to the hills again. This time he went by himself.

¹⁶ When evening came, his talmidim went down to the lake, ¹⁷ got into a boat and set out across the lake toward K’far-Nachum. By now it was dark, Yeshua had not yet joined them, ¹⁸ and the sea was getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹ They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Yeshua approaching the boat, walking on the lake! They were terrified; ²⁰ but he said to them, “Stop being afraid, it is I.” ²¹ Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and instantly the boat reached the land they were heading for.