Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Prayer for Help

57 Show me loving-kindness, O God, show me loving-kindness. For my soul goes to You to be safe. And I will be safe in the shadow of Your wings until the trouble has passed. ² I will cry to God Most High, to God Who finishes all things for me. ³ He will send from heaven and save me. He will put to shame him who is breaking me under his feet. God will send His loving-kindness and His truth.

⁴ My soul is among lions. I must lie among the sons of men who breathe fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and whose tongues are a sharp sword. ⁵ Be lifted up above the heavens, O God. Let Your shining-greatness be above all the earth. ⁶ They have set a net for my steps. My soul is brought down. They dug a deep hole in front of me. But they themselves have fallen into it.

⁷ My heart will not be moved, O God. My heart cannot be moved. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! ⁸ Awake, my shining-greatness. Awake, harps. I will awake early in the morning. ⁹ O Lord, I will give thanks to You among the people. I will sing praises to You among the nations. ¹⁰ For Your loving-kindness is great to the heavens, and Your truth to the clouds. ¹¹ Be lifted up above the heavens, O God. Let Your shining-greatness be above all the earth.

19 Then Joab was told, “See, the king is crying. He is filled with sorrow for Absalom.” ² So the happiness of winning the battle that day was changed to sorrow for all the people. For they heard that day, “The king is filled with sorrow for his son.” ³ So the people were quiet as they went in secret into the city that day. They acted like people who are ashamed when they run away from a battle. ⁴ The king covered his face and cried out with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” ⁵ Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “Today you have covered the faces of all your servants with shame. Today they have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, your wives and the women who act as your wives. ⁶ But you love those who hate you, and hate those who love you. You have shown today that rulers and servants are nothing to you. For today I see that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, you would be pleased. ⁷ So now get up and go out and speak in kindness to your servants. I swear by the Lord that if you do not, for sure not a man will stay with you this night. And this will be worse for you than all the bad things that have happened to you since you were young.” ⁸ So the king got up and sat in the gate. When they told all the people, “See, the king is sitting in the gate,” then all the people came to the king.

David Returns to Jerusalem

Now every man of Israel had run to his tent. ⁹ And all the people in all the family groups of Israel were arguing. They said, “The king saved us from those who hate us. He saved us from the Philistines. But now he has run from Absalom and away from the land. ¹⁰ We chose Absalom to rule over us and he has died in battle. So now why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

¹¹ Then King David sent word to Zadok and Abiathar the religious leaders, saying, “Speak to the leaders of Judah. Say to them, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? I have heard from all Israel for me to return to my house. ¹² You are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh. Why should you be the last to bring back the king?’ ¹³ And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you will not be the captain of my army at all times instead of Joab.’” ¹⁴ He changed the hearts of all the men of Judah as if they were one man. So they sent word to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.” ¹⁵ So the king returned and came as far as the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and bring him over the Jordan.

¹⁶ Then Gera’s son Shimei, the Benjamite from Bahurim, came down in a hurry with the men of Judah to meet King David. ¹⁷ There were 1,000 men of Benjamin with him. And Ziba the servant of the family of Saul came with his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed to the king at the Jordan. ¹⁸ They crossed the river to bring over those of the king’s house, and to do what pleased him. Gera’s son Shimei fell down in front of the king as he was about to cross the Jordan.

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. ³⁶ I said to you that you have seen Me and yet you do not put your trust in Me. ³⁷ All whom My Father has given to Me will come to Me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to Me. ³⁸ I came down from heaven. I did not come to do what I wanted to do. I came to do what My Father wanted Me to do. He is the One Who sent Me.

³⁹ “The Father sent Me. He did not want Me to lose any of all those He gave Me. He wants Me to raise them to life on the last day. ⁴⁰ He wants everyone who sees the Son to put his trust in Him and have life that lasts forever. I will raise that one up on the last day.”