Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she was filled with sorrow for him. ²⁷ When the time of sorrow was finished, David sent men and brought her to his house. She became his wife, and gave birth to his son. But what David had done was sinful in the eyes of the Lord.

Nathan’s Picture-Story about David

12 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “There were two men in one city. One was rich and the other was poor. ² The rich man had many flocks and cattle. ³ But the poor man had nothing except one little female lamb which he bought and fed. It grew up together with him and his children. It would eat his bread and drink from his cup and lie in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now a traveler came to the rich man. But the rich man was not willing to take from his own flock or his own cattle, to make food for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s female lamb and made it ready for the man who had come to him.” ⁵ David was very angry at the man, and said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, for sure the man who has done this should die. ⁶ And he must pay four times the worth of the lamb, because he did this thing without pity.”

⁷ Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose you to be the king of Israel. I saved you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave you Saul’s family and Saul’s wives into your care. I gave you the nations of Israel and Judah. And if this were too little, I would give you as much more. ⁹ Why have you hated the Word of the Lord by doing what is bad in His eyes? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken his wife to be your wife. You have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰ So now some from your family, even in the future, will die by the sword, because you have turned against Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ¹¹ This is what the Lord says: ‘See, I will bring trouble against you from your own family. I will take your wives in front of your eyes and give them to your neighbor. He will lie with your wives in the light of day. ¹² You did it in secret. But I will do this in front of all Israel, and under the sun.’” ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to him, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You will not die.

Prayer of the Sinner

51 O God, favor me because of Your loving-kindness. Take away my wrong-doing because of the greatness of Your loving-pity. ² Wash me inside and out from my wrong-doing and make me clean from my sin. ³ For I know my wrong-doing, and my sin is always in front of me. ⁴ I have sinned against You, and You only. I have done what is sinful in Your eyes. You are always right when You speak, and fair when You judge.

⁵ See, I was born in sin and was in sin from my very beginning. ⁶ See, You want truth deep within the heart. And You will make me know wisdom in the hidden part. ⁷ Take away my sin, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. ⁸ Make me hear joy and happiness. Let the bones that You have broken be full of joy. ⁹ Hide Your face from my sins. And take away all my wrong-doing.

¹⁰ Make a clean heart in me, O God. Give me a new spirit that will not be moved. ¹¹ Do not throw me away from where You are. And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Let the joy of Your saving power return to me. And give me a willing spirit to obey you.

Full-Grown Christians

4 I am being held in prison because of working for the Lord. I ask you from my heart to live and work the way the Lord expected you to live and work. ² Live and work without pride. Be gentle and kind. Do not be hard on others. Let love keep you from doing that. ³ Work hard to live together as one by the help of the Holy Spirit. Then there will be peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit. There is one hope in which you were called. ⁵ There is one Lord and one faith and one baptism. ⁶ There is one God. He is the Father of us all. He is over us all. He is the One working through us all. He is the One living in us all.

⁷ Loving-favor has been given to each one of us. We can see how great it is by the gift of Christ. ⁸ The Holy Writings say, “When Christ went up to heaven, He took those who were held with Him. He gave gifts to men.” ^{(A) 9} When they say, “He went up,” what does it mean but that He had first gone down to the deep parts of the earth? ¹⁰ Christ Who went down into the deep also went up far above the heavens. He did this to fill all the world with Himself.

¹¹ Christ gave gifts to men. He gave to some the gift to be missionaries, some to be preachers, others to be preachers who go from town to town. He gave others the gift to be church leaders and teachers. ¹² These gifts help His people work well for Him. And then the church which is the body of Christ will be made strong. ¹³ All of us are to be as one in the faith and in knowing the Son of God. We are to be full-grown Christians standing as high and complete as Christ is Himself. ¹⁴ Then we will not be as children any longer. Children are like boats thrown up and down on big waves. They are blown with the wind. False teaching is like the wind. False teachers try everything possible to make people believe a lie, ¹⁵ but we are to hold to the truth with love in our hearts. We are to grow up and be more like Christ. He is the leader of the church. ¹⁶ Christ has put each part of the church in its right place. Each part helps other parts. This is what is needed to keep the whole body together. In this way, the whole body grows strong in love.

²⁴ The people saw that Jesus and His followers were not there. They got into boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

²⁵ The people found Him on the other side of the lake. They said to Him, “Teacher, when did You come here?” ²⁶ Jesus said to them, “For sure, I tell you, you are not looking for Me because of the powerful works. You are looking for Me because you ate bread and were filled. ²⁷ Do not work for food that does not last. Work for food that lasts forever. The Son of Man will give you that kind of food. God the Father has shown He will do this.”

Jesus Teaches about Doing the Work of God

²⁸ Then the people said to Him, “What are the works God wants us to do?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “This is the work of God, that you put your trust in the One He has sent.” ³⁰ They said to Him, “Can You show us some powerful work? Then we can see it and believe You. What will You do? ³¹ Our early fathers ate bread that came from heaven in the desert. This happened as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ^(A)

Jesus Is the Bread of Life

³² Then Jesus said to the people, “For sure, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true Bread from heaven. ³³ The Bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ They said to Him, “Sir, give us this Bread all the time.”

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry. He who puts his trust in Me will never be thirsty.