Book of Common Prayer

The Majesty of the Lord.

A Call to Worship the Lord the Righteous Judge.

The Lord, a Provider and the One Who Rescues Me.

A Psalm of David, when he pretended to be insane before ^[a]Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

The Shunammite Woman

⁸ Now a day came when Elisha went over to ^(A)Shunem, where there was a ^[a]prominent woman, and she urged him to eat ^[b]food. And so it was, as often as he passed by, that he turned in there to eat ^[c]food. ⁹ And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I am aware that this is a holy ^(B)man of God passing by us repeatedly. ¹⁰ Please, let’s ^(C)make a little walled upper room, and let’s set up a bed for him there, and a table, a chair, and a lampstand; then it shall be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there.”

¹¹ Now ^[d]one day he came there, and turned in to the upper room and ^[e]rested. ¹² Then he said to his servant ^(D)Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite.” And when he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³ And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have taken trouble for us with all this ^[f]care; what can I do for you? ^[g]Would you like me to speak for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’” But she ^[h]answered, “I live among my own people.” ¹⁴ So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi ^[i]answered, “It is a fact that she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ He then said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ Then he said, “^(E)At this season ^[j]next year, you are going to embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, you man of God, ^(F)do not lie to your servant.”

¹⁷ Now the woman conceived and gave birth to a son at that season ^[k]the next year, as Elisha had told her.

The Shunammite’s Son

¹⁸ When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father, to the reapers. ¹⁹ And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” And his father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ When he had carried him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her ^[l]lap until noon, and then he died. ²¹ And she went up and ^(G)laid him on the bed of ^(H)the man of God, and shut the door behind him and left. ²² Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may run to the man of God and return.” ²³ But he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither ^(I)new moon nor Sabbath.” So she just said, “It will be fine.” ²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Drive the donkey and go on; do not slow down ^[m]the pace for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she went on and came to the man of God at ^(J)Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, that person there is the Shunammite. ²⁶ Please run now to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it going well for you? Is it going well for your husband? Is it going well for the child?’” Then she ^[n]answered, “It is going well.” ²⁷ But she came to the man of God ^(K)at the hill and took hold of his feet. And Gehazi came up to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is ^[o]troubled within her; and the Lord has concealed it from me and has not informed me.” ²⁸ Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘^(L)Do not give me false hope’?”

²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, “^[p](M)Get ready and ^(N)take my staff in your hand, and go; if you meet anyone, do not ^[q](O)greet him, and if anyone ^[r]greets you, do not reply to him. And ^(P)lay my staff on the boy’s face.” ³⁰ The mother of the boy said, “^(Q)As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her. ³¹ Then Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or ^[s]response. So he returned to meet him and informed him, saying, “The boy ^(R)has not awakened.”

³² When Elisha entered the house, behold the boy was dead, laid on his bed. ³³ So he entered and ^(S)shut the door behind them both, and he prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ Then ^(T)he got up on the bed and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands, and he bent down on him; and the flesh of the child became warm. ³⁵ Then he returned and walked in the house back and forth once, and went up and ^(U)bent down on him; and the boy sneezed seven times, then the boy opened his eyes. ³⁶ And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷ Then she came in and fell at his feet and bowed down to the ground, and ^(V)she picked up her son and left.

¹⁰ Now there was a disciple in ^(A)Damascus named ^(B)Ananias; and the Lord said to him in ^(C)a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from ^(D)Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, ¹² and he has seen ^[a]in a vision a man named Ananias come in and ^(E)lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, ^(F)how much harm he did to ^(G)Your ^[b]saints in Jerusalem; ¹⁴ and here he ^(H)has authority from the chief priests to ^[c]arrest all who ^(I)call on Your name.” ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for ^(J)he is a chosen ^[d]instrument of Mine, to bear My name before ^(K)the Gentiles and ^(L)kings and the sons of Israel; ¹⁶ for ^(M)I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.” ¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after ^(N)laying his hands on him said, “^(O)Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be ^(P)filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ And immediately something like fish scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; ¹⁹ and he took food and was strengthened.

Saul Begins to Preach Christ

Now ^(Q)for several days he was with ^(R)the disciples who were in Damascus, ²⁰ and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus ^(S)in the synagogues, ^[e]saying, “He is ^(T)the Son of God.” ²¹ All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not the one who in Jerusalem ^(U)destroyed those who ^(V)called on this name, and had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” ²² But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the ^[f]Christ.

²³ When ^(W)many days had elapsed, ^(X)the Jews plotted together to do away with him, ²⁴ but ^(Y)their plot became known to Saul. ^(Z)They were also closely watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; ²⁵ but his disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

^26 (AA)When he came to Jerusalem, he tried repeatedly to associate with the disciples; and yet they were all afraid of him, as they did not believe that he was a disciple. ²⁷ But ^(AB)Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had ^(AC)seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how ^(AD)he had ^(AE)spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus at Damascus. ²⁸ And he was with them, ^[g]moving about freely in Jerusalem, ^(AF)speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ And he was talking and arguing with the ^[h](AG)Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. ³⁰ Now when ^(AH)the ^[i]brothers learned of it, they brought him down to ^(AI)Caesarea and ^(AJ)sent him away to ^(AK)Tarsus.

³¹ So ^(AL)the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria ^[j]enjoyed peace, as it was being built up; and as it ^[k]continued in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it kept increasing.

⁷ So he was saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “^(A)You ^[a]offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore produce fruits that are consistent with repentance, and ^(B)do not start saying ^[b]to yourselves, ‘^(C)We have Abraham as our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ But indeed the axe is already being laid at the root of the trees; so ^(D)every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “^(E)Then what are we to do?” ¹¹ And he would answer and say to them, “The one who has two ^[c]tunics is to ^(F)share with the one who has none; and the one who has food is to do likewise.” ¹² Now even ^(G)tax collectors came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what are we to do?” ¹³ And he said to them, “^[d]Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” ¹⁴ And soldiers also were questioning him, saying, “What are we to do, we as well?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone, nor ^[e](H)harass anyone, and ^(I)be content with your wages.”

¹⁵ Now while the people were in a state of expectation and they all were thinking carefully in their hearts about John, ^(J)whether he himself perhaps was the ^[f]Christ, ^16 (K)John responded to them all, saying, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but He is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the straps of His sandals; He will baptize you ^[g]with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His ^(L)winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with ^(M)unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.