Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba

11 It came about in the spring,^[a] at the time kings^[b] go out, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel. They ravaged all of the Ammonites^[c] and besieged Rabbah, but David was remaining in Jerusalem. ² It happened late one afternoon^[d] that David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king’s house, and he saw a woman bathing on her^[e] roof. Now the woman was very beautiful.^{[f] 3} David sent and inquired about the woman, and someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴ Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. ⁵ The woman became pregnant, and she sent and told David, and she said, “I am pregnant.” ⁶ So David sent to Joab, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ Uriah came to him, and David asked how Joab and the army fared and how the war was going.^{[g] 8} David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” So Uriah went out from the king’s house, and a gift from the king went out after him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his master and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ They told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house.” David said to Uriah, “Are you not coming from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” ¹¹ Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are living in the booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping on the surface of the open field; and I, shall I go to my house to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I surely will not do this thing.” ¹² David said to Uriah, “Remain here today,^[h] and tomorrow I will send you away.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem on that day and the next. ¹³ David invited him, and he ate and drank in his presence so that he became drunk,^[i] and he went out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. ¹⁴ And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ He had written in the letter, “Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die.”

The Folly of the Godless and God’s Final Triumph

For the music director. Of David.^[a]

Prayer for Spiritual Strength

¹⁴ On account of this, I bend my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every^[a] family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶ that he may grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (you having been firmly rooted and established in love), ¹⁸ in order that you may be strong enough to grasp together with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, in order that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to the one who is able to do beyond all measure more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that is at work in us, ²¹ to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

The Feeding of Five Thousand

6 After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee (that is, Tiberias). ² And a large crowd was following him because they were observing the signs that he was doing on those who were sick. ³ So Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ (Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.) ⁵ Then Jesus, when he looked up^{[a] [b]} and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people can eat?” ⁶ (Now he said this to test him, because he knew what he was going to do.) ⁷ Philip replied to him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for them, in order that each one could receive a little.” ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, ⁹ “Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Make the people recline.” (Now there was a lot of grass in the place.) So the men reclined, approximately five thousand in number. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the bread, and after he^[c] had given thanks, he distributed it^[d] to those who were reclining—likewise also of the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² And when they were satisfied, he said to his disciples, “Gather the remaining fragments so that nothing is lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them,^[e] and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ Now when^[f] the people saw the sign that he performed, they began to say,^[g] “This one is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world!” ¹⁵ Then Jesus, because he^[h] knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him^[i] king, withdrew again up the mountain by himself alone.

Jesus Walks on the Water

¹⁶ Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea. ¹⁷ And getting into a boat, they began to go^[j] to the other side of the sea, to Capernaum. And it had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ And the sea began to be stirred up^[k] because^[l] a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹ Then when they^[m] had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia,^[n] they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I! Do not be afraid!” ²¹ So they were wanting to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat came to the land to which they were going.