Book of Common Prayer

The Blessedness of Dwelling in the House of God

To the Chief Musician. ^(A)On^[a] an instrument of Gath. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Elijah Escapes from Jezebel

19 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had ^(A)executed all the prophets with the sword. ² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ^(B)“So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” ³ And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a ^[a]broom tree. And he ^(C)prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

⁵ Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an ^[b]angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” ⁶ Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on ^[c]coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷ And the ^[d]angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” ⁸ So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and ^(D)forty nights as far as ^(E)Horeb, the mountain of God.

⁹ And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰ So he said, ^(F)“I have been very ^(G)zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and ^(H)killed Your prophets with the sword. ^(I)I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

God’s Revelation to Elijah

¹¹ Then He said, “Go out, and stand ^(J)on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord ^(K)passed by, and ^(L)a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the 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; ¹² and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire ^[e]a still small voice.

Christ’s Epistle^(A)

3 Do ^(B)we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, ^(C)epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? ^2 (D)You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; ³ clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ^(E)ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not ^(F)on tablets of stone but ^(G)on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

The Spirit, Not the Letter

⁴ And we have such trust through Christ toward God. ^5 (H)Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but ^(I)our sufficiency is from God, ⁶ who also made us sufficient as ^(J)ministers of ^(K)the new covenant, not ^(L)of the letter but of the ^[a]Spirit; for ^(M)the letter kills, ^(N)but the Spirit gives life.

Glory of the New Covenant

⁷ But if ^(O)the ministry of death, ^(P)written and engraved on stones, was glorious, ^(Q)so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, ⁸ how will ^(R)the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹ For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry ^(S)of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding ^(A)as in a mirror ^(B)the glory of the Lord, ^(C)are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as ^[a]by the Spirit of the Lord.