Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Treat the young man Absalom gently for my sake.” All the troops heard him give all the commanders this order regarding Absalom.

⁶ So the troops went out to the country to fight Israel in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷ There David’s men defeated Israel’s army, and the massacre was sizable that day—20,000 men. ⁸ The fighting spread over the whole country. That day the woods devoured more people than the battle.

⁹ Absalom happened to come face to face with some of David’s men. He was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the tangled branches of a large tree. Absalom’s head became caught in the tree. So he was left hanging ^[a] in midair when the mule that was under him ran away.

¹⁵ Then ten of Joab’s armorbearers surrounded Absalom, attacked him, and killed him.

³¹ Then the Sudanese messenger came. “Good news for Your Majesty!” he said. “Today the Lord has freed you from all who turned against you.”

³² “Is the young man Absalom alright?” the king asked.

The Sudanese messenger answered, “May your enemies and all who turned against you be like that young man!” ^[a]

³³ The king was shaken ⌞by the news⌟. He went to the room above the gate and cried. “My son Absalom!” he said as he went. “My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!”

A song for going up to worship.

²⁵ So then, get rid of lies. Speak the truth to each other, because we are all members of the same body.

²⁶ Be angry without sinning. Don’t go to bed angry. ²⁷ Don’t give the devil any opportunity ⌞to work⌟.

²⁸ Thieves must quit stealing and, instead, they must work hard. They should do something good with their hands so that they’ll have something to share with those in need.

²⁹ Don’t say anything that would hurt ⌞another person⌟. Instead, speak only what is good so that you can give help wherever it is needed. That way, what you say will help those who hear you. ³⁰ Don’t give God’s Holy Spirit any reason to be upset with you. He has put his seal on you for the day you will be set free ⌞from the world of sin⌟.

³¹ Get rid of your bitterness, hot tempers, anger, loud quarreling, cursing, and hatred. ³² Be kind to each other, sympathetic, forgiving each other as God has forgiven you through Christ.

Imitate God

5 Imitate God, since you are the children he loves. ² Live in love as Christ also loved us. He gave his life for us as an offering and sacrifice, a soothing aroma to God.

³⁵ Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty.

⁴¹ The Jews began to criticize Jesus for saying, “I am the bread that came from heaven.” ⁴² They asked, “Isn’t this man Jesus, Joseph’s son? Don’t we know his father and mother? How can he say now, ‘I came from heaven’?”

⁴³ Jesus responded, “Stop criticizing me! ⁴⁴ People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. I will bring these people back to life on the last day. ⁴⁵ The prophets wrote, ‘God will teach everyone.’ Those who do what they have learned from the Father come to me. ⁴⁶ I’m saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ I can guarantee this truth: Every believer has eternal life.

⁴⁸ “I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes from heaven so that whoever eats it won’t die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give to bring life to the world is my flesh.”