Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²⁶ When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷ When the time of mourning was concluded, David sent for her and brought her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was displeasing to the Lord.

Nathan Rebukes David^(A)

12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “There were two men in a certain city. One was wealthy, but the other was poor. ² The wealthy man had a very large flock and herd, ³ but the poor man had nothing except a single small ewe lamb that he had acquired. He nourished it and raised it together with himself and his sons. From his crumbs, it would eat; from his cup, it would drink; and in his arms it would lie. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴ “There came a visitor to the wealthy man, but he was unwilling to take from his own flock or herd to prepare a meal for the wanderer who had come to him. Instead he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared food for the wanderer who had come to him.”

⁵ David became very angry because of this man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die. ⁶ And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

⁷ Then Nathan told David, “You are this man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you as king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave to you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave to you the house of Israel and Judah. If this were too little, I would have continued to do for you much more. ⁹ Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and you took his wife as a wife for yourself. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

¹¹ “Thus says the Lord: See, I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house. I will take your wives before your eyes and will give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² Although you did it secretly, I will do this thing before all of Israel, and under the sun.”

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.

Psalm 51

For the Music Director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Unity of the Body

4 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called. ² With all humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ be eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling, ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

⁷ But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ. ⁸ Therefore He says:

⁹ (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is also He who ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things.)

¹¹ He gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, and for the building up of the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, into a complete man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so we may no longer be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, by craftiness with deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ But, speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, Christ Himself, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body is joined together and connected by every joint and ligament, as every part effectively does its work and grows, building itself up in love.

²⁴ When the people therefore saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus.

²⁵ When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not work for the food which perishes, but for that food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

²⁸ Then they asked Him, “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?”

²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

³⁰ Therefore they said to Him, “What sign do You show then, that we may see and believe You? What work will You perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate manna in the desert. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’^[a]”

³² Then Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me shall never hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.