Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Shin
161 Princes persecute me without reason,
but my heart remains true and is awed by Your words.
162 I celebrate because of Your promise,
like someone who discovers great treasure.
163 I despise and abhor lies,
but I love Your law.
164 Seven times every day I praise You
because of Your right rulings.
165 Those who love Your law have an abundance of peace,
and nothing along their paths can cause them to stumble.
166 I wait for Your salvation, O Eternal One,
and I live out Your commands.
167 My soul is faithful to Your decrees,
and my love for them is extraordinary.
168 I live according to Your precepts and decrees
because everything I do is right before Your eyes.
Ahab’s willingness to sell himself cheaply for things outside of God’s will strikes again. But this time, the true source of Ahab’s wickedness is revealed. God knows that it is Jezebel, Ahab’s foreign wife, who is the root of the evil. Intending to regain Ahab’s devotion once and for all, God sends Elijah with His message instead of an unknown prophet. Although God’s mission is successful, Elijah is left with a powerful enemy.
17 Meanwhile, the word of the Eternal One visited Elijah the Tishbite.
Eternal One: 18 Get up, and go find Ahab (Israel’s king) in Samaria. Naboth has been killed because of the work of Jezebel. Right now, Ahab is in Naboth’s vineyard, claiming it as his own. 19 Tell him, “This is the message of the Eternal One: ‘Are you a murderer and a thief?’” Tell him, “This is the message of the Eternal One: ‘Beware. The dogs will slurp up your blood in the very spot where they licked up Naboth’s blood.’”
Ahab (replying to Elijah): 20 Have you discovered what I have done, my enemy?
Elijah: I have only discovered what you have done because you have sold your soul to wickedness in the Eternal’s eyes. 21 He says, “I will send evil against you and blow you away. I will also separate you from every man in Israel—both free and enslaved. You will be all alone. 22 I will destroy your house just as I did Jeroboam’s house (Nebat’s son) and Baasha’s house (Ahijah’s son). I will do this because your wickedness has provoked My wrath and because you have caused the Israelites to live sinful lives.”
23 The Eternal also has said a word about Jezebel. He has said, “Jezebel will be devoured by dogs at the wall[a] in Jezreel.” 24 Any of Ahab’s servants who die in the city will be devoured by ravenous dogs, and any of Ahab’s servants who die in the fields will be devoured by ravenous birds of heaven.
25 There was no one in Israel like Ahab who sold himself and decided to commit evil in the Eternal’s eyes because his wife, Jezebel, manipulated him to evil. 26 Ahab was incredibly wicked, giving his life over to idols as the Amorites (whom the Eternal handed to the Israelites) had done. 27 When Ahab heard all of this, he ripped off his clothing, dressed himself in sackcloth, and entered into a time of fasting. He rested in depression, wearing only sackcloth.
28 The word of the Eternal One visited Elijah the Tishbite.
Eternal One: 29 Have you witnessed Ahab’s repentance? He has shed his pride and wickedness and humbled his heart before Me. Therefore I will not send evil against his house while he is still alive; instead I will send it during the lifetime of his son.
4 My loved ones, I warn you: do not trust every spirit. Instead, examine them carefully to determine if they come from God, because the corrupt world is filled with the voices of many false prophets. 2 Here is how you know God’s Spirit: if a spirit affirms the truth that Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, has come in human flesh, then that spirit is from God. 3 If a spirit does not affirm the true nature of Jesus the Anointed, then that spirit does not come from God and is, in fact, the spirit of the antiChrist.[a] You have heard about its coming; in fact it is already active in the world. 4 My children, you have come from God and have conquered these spirits because the One who lives within you is greater than the one in this world. 5 But they are of this world, and they articulate the views of the corrupt world, which the world understands. 6 We come from God, and those who know God hear us. Whoever is not from God will not listen to us. This is the way we discern the difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.