Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
or take My covenant in your mouth?
17 You hate instruction,
and cast My words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you are pleased,
and have a share in those who commit adultery.
19 You let loose your mouth to evil,
and your tongue is bound to deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you accuse your own mother’s son.
21 These things have you done, and I kept silent;
you thought that I was indeed like you;
but I will reprove you
and make a case before your eyes.
22 “Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:
23 Whoever sacrifices a thank offering
glorifies Me and makes a way;
I will show him the salvation of God.”
15 Then Nathan went to his house. The Lord struck the child that the wife of Uriah had born for David, and he became sick. 16 David entreated God on behalf of the child. He fasted for a period, and he would go in and lie throughout the night on the ground. 17 The elders of his house stood beside him to rouse him from the ground, but he was not willing, nor would he consume food with them.
18 The child died on the seventh day, and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child had died. They said, “When the child was alive, we would speak to him, but he would not acknowledge our voices. Now how can we say to him, ‘The child is dead’? He may do harm.”
19 When David noticed that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?”
They said, “He is dead.”
20 So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his garments. Then he entered the house of the Lord and worshipped. He then went in to his own house. When he asked, they set down food for him and ate.
21 His servants said to him, “What is this thing you have done? You fasted and wept for the sake of the living child, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”
22 He explained, “As long as the child was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, so that the child may live.’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
The Birth of Solomon
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife. He went to her and lay with her, so that she conceived a son. They named him Solomon, and the Lord loved him. 25 So He sent a word by way of the prophet Nathan that he should be named Jedidiah for the sake of the Lord.
The Old Life and New Life
17 Therefore this I say and testify in the Lord, that from now on you walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds, 18 having their understanding darkened, excluded from the life of God through the ignorance that is within them, due to the hardness of their hearts. 19 Being calloused they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
20 But you did not learn about Christ in this manner, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off the former way of life in the old nature, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 and that you put on the new nature, which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.