Book of Common Prayer

Korah's sons wrote this song for the music leader. Use special music.

The journey to Zion

Elijah runs away

19 King Ahab told Jezebel about everything that Elijah had done. He told her how Elijah had killed all Baal's prophets with a sword. ² So Jezebel sent someone with this message to Elijah: ‘By this time tomorrow, I will make sure that you are dead, the same as Baal's prophets! If I do not do that, I pray that the gods will kill me instead.’

³ Elijah became very afraid. He ran away to save his life. He arrived at Beersheba in Judah.^[a] He left his servant there. ⁴ Then Elijah went into the desert by himself. He travelled for about a day. He found a small tree there and he sat down under it. He prayed that he might die. He said, ‘Lord, I have had enough trouble! Take my life from me. It is no better for me here than to be with my dead ancestors.’ ⁵ Then he lay down under the tree and he slept. Suddenly, an angel came and touched him. The angel said, ‘Get up and eat something.’ ⁶ When Elijah looked, he saw some bread near his head. Someone had baked it on a fire. There was also a jar of water. So he ate the bread and he drank the water. Then he lay down again to sleep. ⁷ The angel of the Lord came back a second time. He touched Elijah and he said, ‘Get up and eat more food. Then you will be strong enough to go on a long journey.’ ⁸ So Elijah got up. He ate the food and he drank the water. The meal made him strong enough to travel for 40 days and 40 nights. He travelled to Sinai, the mountain of God.^[b]

The Lord appears to Elijah

⁹ Elijah went into a cave on Sinai mountain and he stayed there all night. Suddenly, the Lord spoke to Elijah. He asked Elijah, ‘Elijah, why have you come here?’ ¹⁰ Elijah replied, ‘The Israelites have turned away from the covenant that you made with them. They have destroyed your altars.^[c] They have killed your prophets with swords. But I have always served the Lord God Almighty faithfully. Now I am the only prophet that is still alive and they are trying to kill me too.’ ¹¹ The Lord said, ‘Go out from the cave and stand on the mountain, in front of me. I, the Lord, will pass in front of you.’

Then a very strong wind broke the mountain apart. It broke the rocks into pieces as the Lord came near. 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 very quiet voice.

God's Holy Spirit gives us new life

3 We do not need any more to show that our work is good. Some people need to have letters from other people to say that they do good work. We do not need to show you letters like that. Nor do we need you to write a letter like that for us. ² You yourselves show that we have done good work. You are like a letter that is written on our lives. Everybody can read that letter and they can understand it. ³ It is clear that you are a like a letter that Christ himself has written. We are the people who brought God's message to you. Now people see what God has done in your lives. That is like a letter that they read. But it is not a letter written on paper with ink. It is the Spirit of the living God who wrote it. He did not write it on pieces of stone. Instead, he wrote it deep inside you.^[a]

⁴ We know that these things are true. Because of what Christ has done, we trust God to help us. ⁵ We know that we cannot do this work by ourselves. We never think that. But God makes us able to do it. ⁶ God has made us his servants. So we are able to tell people the message of his new agreement. This new agreement is not about rules. Rules tell people what they must do and they bring death. But God's new agreement comes from his Spirit. And the Spirit brings new life to us, not death.^[b]

⁷ Moses wrote the words of the old agreement on pieces of stone. It showed how great and powerful God was. Moses' face shone brightly after God spoke to him. It did not stay bright, but the Israelite people still could not look at Moses' face. The old agreement that brought death was powerful. ⁸ So the new agreement, which comes from God's Spirit, will show the power of God even more. ⁹ The old agreement showed people that they were guilty. God's new agreement makes people right with him. So surely the new agreement shows God's power even more than the old one did!

¹⁸ We show the power of the Lord to other people. It is like God has removed a cloth from over our faces. He is changing us so that we become more and more like him. We show how great God is more and more clearly. It is the Lord who does all this, by the work of his Spirit.