SUNDAY BETWEEN 24 AND 30 JULY YEAR B
PROPER 12
TRACK 1
FIRST READING 2 Samuel 11.1-15
A reading from the second book of Samuel.
1 In the spring
of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent
Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the
Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
2 It happened, late
one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking
about on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof
a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.
3 David sent someone
to inquire about the woman. It was reported, 'This is Bathsheba
daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.'
4 So David sent
messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.
(Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned
to her house.
5 The woman conceived;
and she sent and told David, 'I am pregnant.'
6 So David sent
word to Joab, 'Send me Uriah the Hittite.' And Joab sent Uriah
to David.
7 When Uriah came
to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the
war was going.
8 Then David said
to Uriah, 'Go down to your house, and wash your feet.' Uriah went
out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from
the king.
9 But Uriah slept
at the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his
lord, and did not go down to his house.
10 When they told
David, 'Uriah did not go down to his house,' David said to Uriah,
'You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to
your house?'
11 Uriah said to
David, 'The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my
lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open
field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to
lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will
not do such a thing.'
12 Then David said
to Uriah, 'Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you
back.' So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day,
13 David invited
him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in
the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants
of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
14 In the morning
David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 In the letter
he wrote, 'Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting,
and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and
die.'
PSALM Psalm 14
RR Have they no knowledge, all those evildoers [who eat up
my people like bread]?
1 The fool has said in his heart, 'There
is no God.' All are corrupt and commit abominable acts; there
is none who does any good.
2 The Lord looks
down from heaven upon us all, to see if there is any who is wise,
if there is one who seeks after God. RR
3 Everyone has proved
faithless; all alike have turned bad; there is none who does good;
no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge,
all those evildoers who eat up my people like bread and do not
call upon the Lord? RR
5 See how they tremble
with fear, because God is in the company of the righteous.
6 Their aim is to
confound the plans of the afflicted, but the Lord is their refuge.
7 O that Israel's
deliverance would come out of Zion! when the Lord restores the
fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.
RR
Or TRACK 2
FIRST READING 2 Kings 4.42-44
A reading from the second book of Kings.
42 A man came bringing
food from the first fruits to Elisha, the man of God: twenty loaves
of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, 'Give
it to the people and let them eat.'
43 But his servant
said, 'How can I set this before a hundred people?' So he repeated,
'Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD,
"They shall eat and have some left."'
44 He set it before
them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the
LORD.
PSALM Psalm 145.10-19
RR You open wide your hand, O Lord, and satisfy our needs.
10 All your works praise you, O Lord, and
your faithful servants bless you. RR
11 They make known
the glory of your kingdom and speak of your power;
12 That the peoples
may know of your power and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.
RR
13 Your kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom; your dominion endures throughout all
ages.
14 The Lord is faithful
in all his words and merciful in all his deeds.
15 The Lord upholds
all those who fall; he lifts up those who are bowed down. RR
16 The eyes of all
wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season.
17 You open wide
your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature. RR
18 The Lord is righteous
in all his ways and loving in all his works.
19 The Lord is near
to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully.
RR
SECOND READING Ephesians 3.14-21
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians.
14 I bow my knees
before the Father,
15 from whom every
family in heaven and on earth takes its name.
16 I pray that,
according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may
be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,
17 and that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted
and grounded in love.
18 I pray that you
may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is
the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the
love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled
with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who
by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly
far more than all we can ask or imagine,
21 to him be glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever
and ever. Amen.
GOSPEL John 6.1-21
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
1 Jesus went to
the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.
2 A large crowd
kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing
for the sick.
3 Jesus went up
the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
4 Now the Passover,
the festival of the Jews, was near.
5 When he looked
up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip,
'Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?'
6 He said this to
test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered
him, 'Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of
them to get a little.'
8 One of his disciples,
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Jesus,
9 'There is a boy
here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they
among so many people?'
10 Jesus said, 'Make
the people sit down.' Now there was a great deal of grass in the
place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.
11 Then Jesus took
the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them
to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 When they were
satisfied, he told his disciples, 'Gather up the fragments left
over, so that nothing may be lost.'
13 So they gathered
them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left
by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.
14 When the people
saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, 'This is indeed
the prophet who is to come into the world.'
15 When Jesus realized
that they were about to come and take him by force to make him
king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
16 When evening
came, his disciples went down to the lake,
17 got into a boat,
and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and
Jesus had not yet come to them.
18 The lake became
rough because a strong wind was blowing.
19 When they had
rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the
lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified.
20 But he said to
them, 'It is I; do not be afraid.'
21 Then they wanted
to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the
land towards which they were going.
