Book of Common Prayer

The Lord Is King

Sing a New Song to the Lord

(Written by David when he pretended to be crazy in front of Abimelech, so that Abimelech would send him away, and David could leave.)

Honor the Lord

Elisha Brings a Rich Woman's Son Back to Life

⁸ Once, while Elisha was in the town of Shunem,^[a] he met a rich woman who invited him to her home for dinner. After that, whenever he was in Shunem, he would have a meal there with her and her husband.

⁹ Some time later the woman said to her husband, “I'm sure the man who comes here so often is a prophet of God. ¹⁰ Why don't we build him a small room on the flat roof of our house? We can put a bed, a table and chair, and an oil lamp in it. Then whenever he comes, he can stay with us.”

¹¹ The next time Elisha was in Shunem, he stopped at their house and went up to his room to rest. ^12-13 He said to his servant Gehazi, “This woman has been very helpful. Have her come up here to the roof for a moment.” She came, and Elisha told Gehazi to say to her, “You've gone to a lot of trouble for us, and we want to help you. Is there something we can request the king or army commander to do?”^[b]

The woman answered, “With my relatives nearby, I have everything I need.”

¹⁴ “Then what can we do for her?” Elisha asked Gehazi.

Gehazi replied, “I do know that her husband is old, and that she doesn't have a son.”

¹⁵ “Ask her to come here again,” Elisha told his servant. He called for her, and she came and stood in the doorway of Elisha's room.

^16 (A) Elisha said to her, “Next year at this time, you'll be holding your own baby son in your arms.”

“You're a man of God,” the woman replied. “Please don't lie to me.”

¹⁷ But a few months later, the woman got pregnant. She gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had promised.

¹⁸ One day while the boy was still young, he was out in the fields with his father, where the workers were harvesting the crops. ¹⁹ Suddenly he shouted, “My head hurts. It hurts a lot!”

“Carry him back to his mother,” the father said to his servant. ²⁰ The servant picked up the boy and carried him to his mother. The boy lay on her lap all morning, and by noon he was dead. ²¹ She carried him upstairs to Elisha's room and laid him across the bed. Then she walked out and shut the door behind her.

²² The woman called to her husband, “I need to see the prophet. Let me use one of the donkeys. Send a servant along with me, and let me leave now, so I can get back quickly.”

²³ “Why do you need to see him today?” her husband asked. “It's not the Sabbath or time for the New Moon Festival.”

“That's all right,” she answered. ²⁴ She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Let's go. And don't slow down unless I tell you to.” ²⁵ She left at once for Mount Carmel to talk with Elisha.^[c]

When Elisha saw her coming, he said, “Gehazi, look! It's the woman from Shunem. ²⁶ Run and meet her. And ask her if everything is all right with her and her family.”

“Everything is fine,” she answered Gehazi. ²⁷ But as soon as she got to the top of the mountain, she went over and grabbed Elisha by the feet.

Gehazi started toward her to push her away, when Elisha said, “Leave her alone! Don't you see how sad she is? But the Lord hasn't told me why.”

²⁸ The woman said, “Sir, I begged you not to get my hopes up, and I didn't even ask you for a son.”

²⁹ “Gehazi, get ready and go to her house,” Elisha said. “Take along my walking stick, and when you get there, lay it on the boy's face. Don't stop to talk to anyone, even if they try to talk to you.”

³⁰ But the boy's mother said to Elisha, “I swear by the living Lord and by your own life that I won't leave without you.” So Elisha got up and went with them.

³¹ Gehazi ran on ahead and laid Elisha's walking stick on the boy's face, but the boy didn't move or make a sound. Gehazi ran back to Elisha and said, “The boy didn't wake up.”

³² Elisha arrived at the woman's house and went straight to his room, where he saw the boy's body on his bed. ³³ He walked in, shut the door, and prayed to the Lord. ^34 (B) Then he got on the bed and stretched out over the dead body, with his mouth on the boy's mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hand on his hands. As he lay there, the boy's body became warm. ³⁵ Elisha got up and walked back and forth in the room, then he went back and leaned over the boy's body. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

³⁶ Elisha called out to Gehazi, “Ask the boy's mother to come here.” Gehazi did, and when she was at the door, Elisha said, “You can take your son.”

³⁷ She came in and bowed down at Elisha's feet. Then she picked up her son and left.

¹⁰ A follower named Ananias lived in Damascus, and the Lord spoke to him in a vision. Ananias answered, “Lord, here I am.”

¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the house of Judas on Straight Street. When you get there, you will find a man named Saul from the city of Tarsus. Saul is praying, ¹² and he has seen a vision. He saw a man named Ananias coming to him and putting his hands on him, so he could see again.”

¹³ Ananias replied, “Lord, a lot of people have told me about the terrible things this man has done to your followers in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Now the chief priests have given him the power to come here and arrest anyone who worships in your name.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to Ananias, “Go! I have chosen him to tell foreigners, kings, and the people of Israel about me. ¹⁶ I will show him how much he must suffer for worshiping in my name.”

¹⁷ Ananias left and went into the house where Saul was staying. Ananias placed his hands on him and said, “Saul, the Lord Jesus has sent me. He is the same one who appeared to you along the road. He wants you to be able to see and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

^18 (A) Suddenly something like fish scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see. He got up and was baptized. ¹⁹ Then he ate and felt much better.

Saul Preaches in Damascus

For several days Saul stayed with the Lord's followers in Damascus. ²⁰ Soon he went to the synagogues and started telling people that Jesus is the Son of God. ²¹ Everyone who heard Saul was amazed and said, “Isn't this the man who caused so much trouble for those people in Jerusalem who worship in the name of Jesus? Didn't he come here to arrest them and take them to the chief priests?”

²² Saul preached with such power that he completely confused the Jewish people in Damascus, as he tried to show them that Jesus is the Messiah.

^23 (B) Later some of them made plans to kill Saul, ²⁴ but he found out about it. He learned that they were guarding the gates of the city day and night in order to kill him. ²⁵ Then one night his followers let him down over the city wall in a large basket.

Saul in Jerusalem

²⁶ When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the followers. But they were all afraid of him, because they did not believe he was a true follower. ²⁷ Then Barnabas helped him by taking him to the apostles. He explained how Saul had seen the Lord and how the Lord had spoken to him. Barnabas also said when Saul was in Damascus, he had spoken bravely in the name of Jesus.

²⁸ Saul moved about freely with the followers in Jerusalem and told everyone about the Lord. ²⁹ He was always arguing with the Jews who spoke Greek, and so they tried to kill him. ³⁰ But the followers found out about this and took Saul to Caesarea. From there they sent him to the city of Tarsus.

³¹ The church in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria now had a time of peace and kept on worshiping the Lord. The church became stronger, as the Holy Spirit encouraged it and helped it grow.

^7 (A) Crowds of people came out to be baptized, but John said to them, “You bunch of snakes! Who warned you to run from the coming judgment? ^8 (B) Do something to show that you really have given up your sins. Don't start saying you belong to Abraham's family. God can turn these stones into children for Abraham.^{[a] 9 (C)} An ax is ready to cut the trees down at their roots. Any tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire.”

¹⁰ The crowds asked John, “What should we do?”

¹¹ John told them, “If you have two coats, give one to someone who doesn't have any. If you have food, share it with someone else.”

^12 (D) When tax collectors^[b] came to be baptized, they asked John, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³ John told them, “Don't make people pay more than they owe.”

¹⁴ Some soldiers asked him, “And what about us? What do we have to do?”

John told them, “Don't force people to pay money to make you leave them alone. Be satisfied with your pay.”

¹⁵ Everyone became excited and wondered, “Could John be the Messiah?”

¹⁶ John said, “I am just baptizing with water. But someone more powerful is going to come, and I am not good enough even to untie his sandals.^[c] He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷ His threshing fork^[d] is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks. He will store the wheat in his barn and burn the husks with a fire that never goes out.”

¹⁸ In many different ways John preached the good news to the people.