Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song to sing as we climb.

I have great trouble

²⁵ Everyone in Israel praised Absalom. They all thought that he was the most handsome man in the whole country. His body was perfect, from head to toe. ²⁶ Once every year he cut his hair because it became too heavy. Each time, the hair that he cut off weighed about 2 kilograms.

²⁷ Absalom had three sons and one daughter. Her name was Tamar. She was a very beautiful woman.

²⁸ Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years, but he never saw the king. ²⁹ Then Absalom sent a message to Joab. He asked Joab to come to him. He wanted Joab to go to the king on his behalf. But Joab refused to come to Absalom. So then Absalom sent another message, but Joab still refused to come. ³⁰ Then Absalom said to his servants, ‘Joab has a field that is next to mine. Some barley is growing in it. Go and light a fire there, so that it all burns.’ So Absalom's servants went to Joab's field and they did that.

³¹ Then Joab did go to Absalom's house. He asked Absalom, ‘Why did your servants take fire and burn my field?’

³² Absalom replied, ‘You did not come when I sent messages to you. I wanted you to take a message to the king on my behalf. I wanted to ask the king, “Why have you brought me from Geshur to Jerusalem? It would have been better for me to stay there!” Now I want to go to see the king myself. If he thinks that I am guilty, then he can punish me with death.’

³³ So Joab went to the king. He told the king what Absalom had said. King David then sent his men to bring Absalom to him. When Absalom arrived, he bent his body down low in front of the king, with his face towards the ground. The king was happy and he kissed Absalom.

Be kind and good to each other

6 My friends, if you see that someone among you is doing a wrong thing, you must warn that person. Those of you who have help from God's Spirit should tell that person how to live in a good way. But you must be patient and respect him. Be very careful yourselves, so that you do not also want to do wrong things. ² When anyone among you has troubles, you must help each other. If you do that, you will be obeying Christ's rule.^{[a] 3} You must not think that you are too important to help other people. If you are not really so important, you are thinking a false thought. ⁴ Everyone should think carefully about the things that they themselves do. If those things are good, that is a reason to be proud. A person like that does not need to think about whether he is better than anyone else. ⁵ Each person must live in a way that they know is right for them.

⁶ Everyone who is learning about God's message from a teacher should help his teacher. The student should share all the good things that he has with his teacher.

⁷ Nobody can hide the things that he does from God. Do not think a false thought like that! It is like a farmer who plants seeds in his field. The same kind of crops will grow as the seeds which he plants. That will be his harvest. ⁸ A person may do things only to make himself happy. That person's harvest will be God's punishment and death. Or a person may do the things that God's Spirit wants. That person will receive a harvest from God's Spirit. The harvest will be life with God for ever. ⁹ We must continue to do things that are good and we should not get tired. If we do not feel weak and stop doing good things, then we will receive a good harvest at the proper time.

¹⁰ Because of all that, we must help everyone when we have the chance. Certainly we must do good things to help our friends who believe in Christ, as we do.