Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David Meets Bathsheba

11 In the spring, when kings go out to war, David sent Joab, his officers, and all the Israelites out to destroy the Ammonites. Joab’s army surrounded their capital city, Rabbah.

David stayed in Jerusalem. ² One evening he got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his house. From there he saw a woman bathing. She was very beautiful, ³ so David sent for his officers and asked them who she was. An officer answered, “That is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam. She is the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

⁴ David sent messengers to go and bring Bathsheba to him. She had just purified herself after her monthly time of bleeding. She went to David, he had sexual relations with her, and then she went back to her house. ⁵ Later, Bathsheba became pregnant. She sent word to him saying, “I am pregnant.”

David Tries to Hide His Sin

⁶ David sent a message to Joab. “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.”

So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah came, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were, and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go home and relax.^[a]”

So Uriah left the king’s palace. The king also sent a gift to Uriah. ⁹ But Uriah did not go home. He slept outside the door of the king’s palace, as the rest of the king’s servants did. ¹⁰ The servants told David, “Uriah did not go home.”

Then David said to Uriah, “You came from a long trip. Why did you not go home?”

¹¹ Uriah said to David, “The Holy Box and the soldiers of Israel and Judah are staying in tents. My lord Joab and my lord’s officers are camping out in the field. So it is not right for me to go home to eat and drink and sleep with my wife. As surely as you live, I will not do this.”

¹² David said to Uriah, “Stay here today. Tomorrow I will send you back to the battle.”

Uriah stayed in Jerusalem until the next morning. ¹³ Then David called Uriah to come and see him. Uriah ate and drank with David. David got him drunk, but Uriah still did not go home. That evening, Uriah again slept at the palace with the rest of the king’s servants.

David Plans Uriah’s Death

¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and made Uriah carry the letter. ¹⁵ In the letter David wrote: “Put Uriah on the front lines where the fighting is the hardest. Then leave him there alone, and let him be killed in battle.”

To the director: A song of David.

The Love of Christ

¹⁴ So I bow in prayer before the Father. ¹⁵ Every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name from him. ¹⁶ I ask the Father with his great glory to give you the power to be strong in your spirits. He will give you that strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷ I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. ¹⁸ And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is. ¹⁹ Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.

²⁰ With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of. ²¹ To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.

Jesus Feeds More Than 5000^(A)

6 Later, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (also known as Lake Tiberias). ² A great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he did in healing the sick. ³ Jesus went up on the side of the hill and sat there with his followers. ⁴ It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover festival.

⁵ Jesus looked up and saw a crowd of people coming toward him. He said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked Philip this question to test him. Jesus already knew what he planned to do.

⁷ Philip answered, “We would all have to work a month to buy enough bread for each person here to have only a little piece!”

⁸ Another follower there was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Andrew said, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish. But that is not enough for so many people.”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Tell everyone to sit down.” This was a place with a lot of grass, and about 5000 men sat down there. ¹¹ Jesus took the loaves of bread and gave thanks for them. Then he gave them to the people who were waiting to eat. He did the same with the fish. He gave them as much as they wanted.

¹² They all had plenty to eat. When they finished, Jesus said to his followers, “Gather the pieces of fish and bread that were not eaten. Don’t waste anything.” ¹³ So they gathered up the pieces that were left. The people had started eating with only five loaves of barley bread. But the followers filled twelve large baskets with the pieces of food that were left.

¹⁴ The people saw this miraculous sign that Jesus did and said, “He must be the Prophet^[a] who is coming into the world.”

¹⁵ Jesus knew that the people planned to come get him and make him their king. So he left and went into the hills alone.

Jesus Walks on Water^(B)

¹⁶ That evening Jesus’ followers went down to the lake. ¹⁷ It was dark now, and Jesus had not yet come back to them. They got into a boat and started going across the lake to Capernaum. ¹⁸ The wind was blowing very hard. The waves on the lake were becoming bigger. ¹⁹ They rowed the boat about three or four miles.^[b] Then they saw Jesus. He was walking on the water, coming to the boat. They were afraid. ²⁰ But he said to them, “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.” ²¹ When he said this, they were glad to take him into the boat. And then the boat reached the shore at the place they wanted to go.