Book of Common Prayer

Wishing to Be in the Temple

For the director of music. By the gittith. A song of the sons of Korah.

Elijah at Mount Sinai

19 King Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done. Ahab told her how Elijah had killed all the prophets with a sword. ² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah. Jezebel said, “By this time tomorrow I will kill you. I will kill you as you killed those prophets. If I don’t succeed, may the gods punish me terribly.”

³ When Elijah heard this, he was afraid. So he ran away to save his life. He took his servant with him. When they came to Beersheba in Judah, Elijah left his servant there. ⁴ Then Elijah walked for a whole day into the desert. He sat down under a bush and asked to die. Elijah prayed, “I have had enough, Lord. Let me die. I am no better than my ancestors.” ⁵ Then Elijah lay down under the tree and slept.

Suddenly an angel came to him and touched him. The angel said, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ Elijah saw near his head a loaf baked over coals and a jar of water. So he ate and drank. Then he went back to sleep.

⁷ Later the Lord’s angel came to him a second time. The angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat. If you don’t, the journey will be too hard for you.” ⁸ So Elijah got up and ate and drank. The food made him strong enough to walk for 40 days and nights. He walked to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. ⁹ There Elijah went into a cave and stayed all night.

Then the Lord spoke his word to him: “Elijah! Why are you here?”

¹⁰ Elijah answered, “Lord, God of heaven’s armies, I have always served you the best I could. But the people of Israel have broken their agreement with you. They have destroyed your altars. They have killed your prophets with swords. I am the only prophet left. And now they are trying to kill me, too!”

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Go. Stand in front of me on the mountain. I will pass by you.” Then a very strong wind blew. It caused the mountains to break apart. It broke apart large rocks in front of the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake, there was a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a quiet, gentle voice.

Servants of the New Agreement

3 Are we starting to brag about ourselves again? Do we need letters of introduction to you or from you, like some other people? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts. It is known and read by everyone. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ that he sent through us. This letter is not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone tablets.^[a] It is written on human hearts.

⁴ We can say this, because through Christ we feel sure before God. ⁵ I do not mean that we are able to say that we can do this work ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do. ⁶ God made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. This new agreement is not a written law. It is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷ The law that brought death was written in words on stone. It came with God’s glory. Moses’ face was so bright with glory that the people of Israel could not continue to look at his face. And that glory later disappeared. ⁸ So surely the new way that brings the Spirit has even more glory. ⁹ That law judged people guilty of sin, but it had glory. So surely the new way that makes people right with God has much greater glory.

¹⁸ Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings more and more glory. And it comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.