Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
17 I am pleading for your help, O Lord; for I have been honest and have done what is right, and you must listen to my earnest cry! 2 Publicly acquit me, Lord, for you are always fair. 3 You have tested me and seen that I am good. You have come even in the night and found nothing amiss and know that I have told the truth. 4 I have followed your commands and have not gone along with cruel and evil men. 5 My feet have not slipped from your paths.
6 Why am I praying like this? Because I know you will answer me, O God! Yes, listen as I pray. 7 Show me your strong love in wonderful ways, O Savior of all those seeking your help against their foes. 8 Protect me as you would the pupil of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings as you hover over me.
9 My enemies encircle me with murder in their eyes. 10 They are pitiless and arrogant. Listen to their boasting. 11 They close in upon me and are ready to throw me to the ground. 12 They are like lions eager to tear me apart, like young lions hiding and waiting their chance.
13-14 Lord, arise and stand against them. Push them back! Come and save me from these men of the world whose only concern is earthly gain—these men whom you have filled with your treasures so that their children and grandchildren are rich and prosperous.
15 But as for me, my contentment is not in wealth but in seeing you and knowing all is well between us. And when I awake in heaven, I will be fully satisfied, for I will see you face-to-face.
21 Then Satan brought disaster upon Israel, for he made David decide to take a census.
2 “Take a complete census throughout the land[a] and bring me the totals,” he told Joab and the other leaders.
3 But Joab objected. “If the Lord were to multiply his people a hundred times, would they not all be yours? So why are you asking us to do this? Why must you cause Israel to sin?”
4 But the king won the argument, and Joab did as he was told; he traveled all through Israel and returned to Jerusalem. 5 The total population figure which he gave came to 1,100,000 men of military age in Israel and 470,000 in Judah. 6 But he didn’t include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in his figures because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.
7 And God, too, was displeased with the census and punished Israel for it.
8 But David said to God, “I am the one who has sinned. Please forgive me, for I realize now how wrong I was to do this.”
9 Then the Lord said to Gad, David’s personal prophet, 10-11 “Go and tell David, ‘The Lord has offered you three choices. Which will you choose? 12 You may have three years of famine, or three months of destruction by the enemies of Israel, or three days of deadly plague as the Angel of the Lord brings destruction to the land. Think it over and let me know what answer to return to the one who sent me.’”
13 “This is a terrible decision to make,” David replied, “but let me fall into the hands of the Lord rather than into the power of men, for God’s mercies are very great.”
14 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel and 70,000 men died as a result. 15 During the plague God sent an Angel to destroy Jerusalem; but then he felt such compassion that he changed his mind and commanded the destroying Angel, “Stop! It is enough!” (The Angel of the Lord was standing at the time by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.) 16 When David saw the Angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, pointing toward Jerusalem, he and the elders of Israel clothed themselves in sackcloth and fell to the ground before the Lord.
17 And David said to God, “I am the one who sinned by ordering the census. But what have these sheep done? O Lord my God, destroy me and my family, but do not destroy your people.”
2 My little children, I am telling you this so that you will stay away from sin. But if you sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. His name is Jesus Christ, the one who is all that is good and who pleases God completely. 2 He is the one who took God’s wrath against our sins upon himself and brought us into fellowship with God; and he is the forgiveness for our sins,[a] and not only ours but all the world’s.
3 And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By looking within ourselves: are we really trying to do what he wants us to?
4 Someone may say, “I am a Christian; I am on my way to heaven; I belong to Christ.” But if he doesn’t do what Christ tells him to, he is a liar. 5 But those who do what Christ tells them to will learn to love God more and more. That is the way to know whether or not you are a Christian. 6 Anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ did.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.