1 Kings 19:1-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Elijah Flees from Jezebel
19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.(A) 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”(B) 3 Then he was afraid;[a] he got up and fled for his life and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”(C) 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” 8 He got up and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.(D) 9 At that place he came to a cave and spent the night there.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”(E)
Elijah Meets God at Horeb
11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake,(F) 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”(G) 14 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”(H) 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.(I) 16 Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel, and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.(J) 17 Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill, and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill.(K) 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”(L)
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- 19.3 Gk: Heb he saw
1 Corinthians 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Proclaiming Christ Crucified
2 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the testimony[a] of God to you with superior speech or wisdom.(A) 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were made not with persuasive words of wisdom[b] but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,(B) 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
The True Wisdom of God
6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are being destroyed.(C) 7 But we speak God’s wisdom, a hidden mystery, which God decreed before the ages for our glory 8 and which none of the rulers of this age understood, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—(D)
10 God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.(E) 11 For what human knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.(F) 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.[c](G)
14 Those who are unspiritual[d] do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.(H) 15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.(I)
Wisdom of Solomon 9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Prayer for Wisdom
9 “O God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy,
who have made all things by your word(A)
2 and by your wisdom have formed humankind
to have dominion over the creatures you have made(B)
3 and rule the world in holiness and righteousness
and pronounce judgment in uprightness of soul,(C)
4 give me the wisdom that sits by your throne,
and do not reject me from among your children.(D)
5 For I am your servant, the son of your female servant,
a man who is weak and short-lived,
with little understanding of judgment and laws,(E)
6 for even one who is perfect among humans
will be regarded as nothing without the wisdom that comes from you.
7 You have chosen me to be king of your people
and to be judge over your sons and daughters.(F)
8 You have given command to build a temple on your holy mountain
and an altar in the city of your habitation,
a copy of the holy tent that you prepared from the beginning.(G)
9 With you is wisdom, she who knows your works
and was present when you made the world;
she understands what is pleasing in your sight
and what is right according to your commandments.(H)
10 Send her forth from the holy heavens,
and from the throne of your glory send her,
that she may labor at my side
and that I may learn what is pleasing to you.(I)
11 For she knows and understands all things,
and she will guide me wisely in my actions
and guard me with her glory.
12 Then my works will be acceptable,
and I shall judge your people justly
and shall be worthy of the throne[a] of my father.
13 For who can learn the counsel of God?
Or who can discern what the Lord wills?(J)
14 For the reasoning of mortals is worthless,
and our designs are likely to fail,
15 for a perishable body weighs down the soul,
and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful[b] mind.(K)
16 We can hardly guess at what is on earth,
and what is at hand we find with labor,
but who has traced out what is in the heavens?
17 Who has learned your counsel
unless you have given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?(L)
18 And thus the paths of those on earth were set right,
and people were taught what pleases you
and were saved by wisdom.”(M)
1 Corinthians 3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
On Divisions in the Corinthian Church
3 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people but rather as fleshly, as infants in Christ.(A) 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready,(B) 3 for you are still fleshly. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling[a] among you, are you not fleshly and behaving according to human inclinations?(C) 4 For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not all too human?(D)
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will receive wages according to their own labor.(E) 9 For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.(F)
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Let each builder choose with care how to build on it.(G) 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.(H) 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the day[b] will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.(I) 14 If the work that someone has built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a wage. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?[c](J) 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise.(K) 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,
“He catches the wise in their craftiness,”(L)
20 and again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile.”
21 So let no one boast about people.[d] For all things are yours,(M) 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.(N)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.