Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁶¹ Rulers make it hard for me for no reason, but my heart honors Your Words with fear. ¹⁶² I am made happy by Your Word, like one who finds great riches. ¹⁶³ I hate what is false, but I love Your Law. ¹⁶⁴ I praise You seven times a day, because Your Law is right. ¹⁶⁵ Those who love Your Law have great peace, and nothing will cause them to be hurt in their spirit. ¹⁶⁶ I hope for Your saving power, O Lord, and I follow Your Word. ¹⁶⁷ I obey Your Law, for I love it very much. ¹⁶⁸ I obey Your Word and Laws, for You know all my ways.

¹⁷ Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ¹⁸ “Get ready and go down to Samaria to meet Ahab king of Israel. He is in Naboth’s grape-field. He has gone down to take it for his own. ¹⁹ And you will speak to him, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says, “Have you killed and also taken away?” And you will speak to him, saying, “This is what the Lord says, ‘The dogs will drink up your blood in the place where the dogs drank up the blood of Naboth.’”’” ²⁰ Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O you who hate me?” Elijah answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is sinful in the eyes of the Lord. ²¹ See, I will bring trouble upon you. I will destroy you. I will kill every male of Ahab in Israel, both those who are servants and those who are free. ²² I will make your house like the family of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the family of Baasha the son of Ahijah. Because you have made Me angry, and have made Israel sin. ²³ And the Lord has spoken about Jezebel, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the land of Jezreel.’ ²⁴ The dogs will eat anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city. The birds of the air will eat anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the field.”

²⁵ There was no one who sold himself to do what is sinful in the eyes of the Lord like Ahab did. His wife Jezebel moved him to do it. ²⁶ He did what was hated by following false gods. He did all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out in front of the people of Israel.

²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and dressed in cloth made from hair, and would not eat. He lay dressed in cloth made from hair, and went about very sad. ²⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹ “Do you see how Ahab has got rid of his pride before Me? Because he has gotten rid of his pride, I will not bring trouble to him while he is alive. But I will bring trouble upon his house in his son’s days.”

The Spirits Must Be Tested

4 Dear Christian friends, do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are from God for there are many false preachers in the world. ² You can tell if the spirit is from God in this way: Every spirit that says Jesus Christ has come in a human body is from God. ³ And every spirit that does not say Jesus has come in a human body is not from God. It is the teaching of the false-christ. You have heard that this teaching is coming. It is already here in the world. ⁴ My children, you are a part of God’s family. You have stood against these false preachers and had power over them. You had power over them because the One Who lives in you is stronger than the one who is in the world. ⁵ Those false teachers are a part of the world. They speak about the things of the world. The world listens to them. ⁶ We are a part of God’s family. The person who knows God will listen to us. The person who is not a part of God’s family will not listen to us. In this way, we can tell what is the spirit of truth and what is the spirit of false teaching.