Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 57

For the worship leader. A prayer^[a] of David to the tune “Do Not Destroy,”^[b] when he hid from Saul in a cave.

¹³ and at last a messenger came to David.

¹⁴ David could see now that he had been outmaneuvered, so he called for his advisors in Jerusalem and instructed them.

¹⁶ So the king with his household, all the people loyal to David in Jerusalem, left. David left behind 10 royal concubines, members of his harem, and he gave them responsibility over the palace. ¹⁷ The king’s entourage stopped at the last house on the edge of the city. ¹⁸ Then all those who served him, the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and the 600 Gittites who had followed David since he had been exiled in the Philistine city of Gath, went ahead. ¹⁹ David turned to Ittai the Gittite, who had been with David since the days of Saul.

So Ittai the Gittite went with David, bringing all the men, women, and children who were with him. ²³ The whole country seemed to weep as David and his followers departed. The king crossed over the Kidron stream, and they all continued toward the desert wilderness.

²⁴ Abiathar, Zadok, and all the Levite priests traveled with them, carrying the covenant chest of God. The priests had set the chest down beside the road while everyone else departed Jerusalem.

²⁹ So Zadok and Abiathar returned the covenant chest of God to Jerusalem, and they remained there.

³⁰ But David and all of those who went into exile with him covered their heads; and weeping, they climbed the Mount of Olives out of the city, David climbing barefoot. ³¹ Someone told David that his wise counselor Ahithophel was conspiring with Absalom. So David prayed.

5 So imitate God. Follow Him like adored children, ² and live in love as the Anointed One loved you—so much that He gave Himself as a fragrant sacrifice, pleasing God.

³ Listen, don’t let any kind of immorality be breathed among you. Any demoralizing behaviors (perverse sexual acts, uncleanliness, greediness, and the like) are inappropriate topics of conversation for those set apart as God’s people. ⁴ Don’t swear or spurt nonsense. Don’t make harsh jokes or clown around. Make proper use of your words, and offer them thankfully in praise. ⁵ This is what we know for certain: no one who engages in loose sex, impure actions, and greed—which is just a form of idolatry—has any inheritance in the kingdom of God and His Anointed.

⁶ Don’t be fooled by people whose sentences are compounded with useless words, empty words—they just show they are empty souls. For, in His wrath, God will judge all the children of disobedience for these kinds of sins. ⁷ So don’t be persuaded into their ignorance; and don’t cast your lot with them ⁸ because, although you were once the personification of darkness, you are now light in the Lord. So act like children of the light. ⁹ For the fruit of the light is all that is good, right, and true. ¹⁰ Make it your aim to learn what pleases our Lord. ¹¹ Don’t get involved with the fruitless works of darkness; instead, expose them to the light of God. ¹² You see, it’s a disgrace to speak of their secrets (so don’t even talk about what they do when no one is looking). ^13-14 When the light shines, it exposes even the dark and shadowy things and turns them into pure reflections of light. This is why they sing,