Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David brings the Covenant Box to Jerusalem

6 David chose 30,000 of the best soldiers in Israel. ² He took them with him to Baalah, a town in Judah. He wanted to bring God's Covenant Box from there to Jerusalem. The Israelites called it by the name of the Lord Almighty. He sits as King between the two cherubs that are on the top of the Covenant Box. ³ They put the Covenant Box on a new cart. They took it out of Abinadab's house which was on the hill. Abinadab's sons, Uzzah and Ahio, were leading the new cart ⁴ which had the Covenant Box on it. Ahio walked in front of the Covenant Box. ⁵ David and all Israel's people were singing and dancing with all their strength to praise the Lord. They made music with harps, lyres, tambourines, shakers and cymbals.^[a]

¹² People told King David, ‘The Lord has blessed Obed-Edom's family and everything that belongs to him, because of the Covenant Box.’

So David went back to Obed-Edom's house. He was now happy to bring the Covenant Box from there to the City of David. ¹³ The men who were carrying it walked six steps and they stopped. Then David offered a bull and a fat calf as sacrifices to God. ¹⁴ David was wearing a linen ephod.^[a] He danced with all his strength to worship the Lord. ¹⁵ He and all the Israelites brought the Lord's Covenant Box to Jerusalem. They shouted and they made a loud noise with trumpets.

¹⁶ While they were bringing the Lord's Covenant Box into the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked out through a window. She saw what King David was doing. He was jumping and dancing to worship the Lord. Michal felt ashamed of him.

¹⁷ David had put up a special tent for the Covenant Box, so they took it there. They put it in its place inside the tent. Then David offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord.

¹⁸ After David had offered those sacrifices, he prayed that the Lord Almighty would bless the people. ¹⁹ Then he gave a gift to every man and woman in the crowd of Israelite people. Each person received a loaf of bread, some dates and some raisins. Then all the people went to their homes.

This is a song that David wrote.

The great King^[a]

God blesses us as Christians

³ We praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us in very many ways. Because we belong to Christ, we enjoy all the good things that come from heaven. God blesses our spirits with those good things. ⁴ Before God made the world, he chose us to be his people because of Christ. He chose us so that we would please him. Because we belong to Christ, God accepts us as completely good. This shows how much he loves us. ⁵ Long ago, he already decided to accept us into his family as his children, because of Jesus Christ. He chose us to belong to him because it made him very happy. ⁶ As a result, we praise him, because he is great and he has been so kind to us. He has given us so much because of his Son, whom he loves very much. ⁷ When Christ died as a sacrifice on the cross, he paid the price to make us free. Because of Christ's death on our behalf, God has forgiven our sins. God is so very kind that he has done all this for us!

⁸ Even more than that, God has shown how wise he is. He understands what we need. ⁹ He has let us know his great purpose, which had been a secret before. That plan would make him very happy. It would be possible because of Christ. ¹⁰ God will make that plan happen when the time is completely right. At that time, he will bring everything together so that Christ rules all of them. That includes the things that are in heaven, and the things that are on earth.

¹¹ God is able to make all things happen just like he decides. He chose us to be his own people, because we are united with Christ. In the beginning, God had already decided that this was his purpose. ¹² We were the first people to trust in Christ, God's special Messiah.^[a] God wanted us to show how great he is. He wanted people to praise him because of us. ¹³ You believers in Ephesus also heard God's true message. You heard the good news about how God saves you. When you believed in Christ, God gave his Holy Spirit to you. He had promised to do that, to show that you belong to him. ¹⁴ God has put his Holy Spirit inside us now. As a result, we know that one day we will receive all the good things that God has promised. At that time we will be completely free, because we belong to God. So we praise God and we say that he is great!

Herod kills John the Baptist

¹⁴ People were talking about Jesus. King Herod heard about what was happening.^[a] Some people were saying that Jesus was really John the Baptist. They said that John had died, but he had become alive again. ‘That is why this man can do these very powerful things,’ they said.

¹⁵ Other people said, ‘This man is Elijah.’ And other people said, ‘He is a prophet. He is like one of God's prophets who lived a long time ago.’^[b]

¹⁶ But when someone told Herod, he said, ‘This man is surely John. I sent a soldier to cut off his head. But he has become alive again!’

¹⁷ Herod himself had sent his soldiers to take hold of John. He had said to his soldiers, ‘Tie his hands and feet and put him in prison.’ Herod had done that because of his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Herod's brother, Philip. But Herod had married her. ¹⁸ John had said to him, ‘Herodias is your brother's wife. It is not right for you to have her as your wife.’^[c]

¹⁹ So Herodias was angry with John. She wanted to kill him. But she could not do that, ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John. Herod knew that John was a good man and a servant of God. So Herod kept John safe. Herod liked to listen to the things that John said. But he did not know what to think about those things.

²¹ One day, Herodias had her chance. It was Herod's birthday and he asked many people to come to a special meal. Important men and officers came. The rulers from Galilee were also there. ²² The daughter of Herodias came in and she danced. Herod and his visitors were very happy when they saw her dance.

King Herod said to the girl, ‘Ask me for anything that you want. I will give it to you.’ ²³ He made a strong promise, ‘I will give you anything that you ask me to give to you. I will even give you half of everything that I rule over.’

²⁴ The girl went out and she said to her mother, ‘What should I ask him for?’ Her mother replied, ‘Ask for the head of John the Baptist.’

²⁵ The girl went quickly to Herod and she said to him, ‘I want the head of John the Baptist. Put it on a plate! Do it now!’

²⁶ Then Herod felt very sad. Because he had made a special promise, he did not want to refuse her. All his visitors had heard him. ²⁷ So immediately, the king sent a soldier to go to John. The king told the soldier that he must bring John's head. So the soldier went to the prison and he cut off John's head there. ²⁸ Then he brought it back on a plate. He gave it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ²⁹ People told John's disciples about what had happened. So they went to the prison. They took away John's body and they buried it.