Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David wrote this psalm for the music leader.

It was when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had sex with Bathsheba.

Please forgive me, Lord^[a]

¹⁹ Then Moses arrived at the camp. He saw the gold calf. He saw that the people were dancing. He became very angry. He threw the two flat stones that he was carrying onto the ground. He broke them into pieces there at the bottom of the mountain. ²⁰ Then he took the image of the calf that they had made. He burned it in the fire. He beat it into powder. He mixed the powder with the people's water. Then he commanded the Israelites to drink it.

²¹ Moses said to Aaron, ‘Why did you agree to do this? What did the people do to you? You have made them guilty of a great sin.’ ²² Aaron answered, ‘My lord, please do not be so angry with me. You know how quickly these people decide to do wicked things. ²³ They said to me, “Make us some gods that will lead us. This man Moses brought us here out of Egypt. But now we do not know what has happened to him.” ²⁴ So I said to them, “Everyone who has any gold rings must remove them.” So they gave the gold to me. I threw it into the fire. Then this image of a calf came out of the fire!’

God punishes the people

²⁵ Moses saw that the people were running about everywhere. Aaron had not been able to control them. If their enemies could see them, they would see how foolish they were. ²⁶ So Moses stood at the edge of the camp. He said, ‘Everyone who decides to serve the Lord must come here to me.’ Then all the Levites went to stand near Moses.

The Lord's Supper

¹⁷ Now I must teach you about something else about your meetings. I will not praise you, because more bad things than good things happen when you meet together. ¹⁸ First, I hear that there are separate groups when you meet together as God's people.^[a] I believe that some of what I have heard about you is true. ¹⁹ Perhaps there must be separate groups among you. Then everyone can see clearly which group God accepts as right!

²⁰ When you meet together, the meal that you eat is not really the Lord's Supper. ²¹ When you are ready to eat, each of you eats your own meal. You do not wait for anyone else. As a result, one of you may be hungry, while another person becomes drunk. ²² If you want to eat like that, you have your own homes where you can eat and drink! Instead, you insult the people of God's church. You make people who have nothing feel ashamed. I cannot praise you for what you do. Whatever I might say to you about this, I certainly cannot praise you.