Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ I am listening carefully to all the Lord is saying—for he speaks peace to his people, his saints, if they will only stop their sinning. ⁹ Surely his salvation is near to those who reverence him; our land will be filled with his glory.

¹⁰ Mercy and truth have met together. Grim justice^[a] and peace have kissed! ¹¹ Truth rises from the earth, and righteousness smiles down from heaven.

¹² Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings on the land, and it yields its bountiful crops. ¹³ Justice goes before him to make a pathway for his steps.^[b]

18 It was three years later that the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and tell King Ahab that I will soon send rain again!”

² So Elijah went to tell him. Meanwhile the famine had become very severe in Samaria.

^3-4 The man in charge of Ahab’s household affairs was Obadiah, who was a devoted follower of the Lord. Once when Queen Jezebel had tried to kill all of the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden one hundred of them in two caves—fifty in each—and had fed them with bread and water.

⁵ That same day, while Elijah was on the way to see King Ahab,^[a] the king said to Obadiah, “We must check every stream and brook to see if we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules. You go one way and I’ll go the other, and we will search the entire land.”

⁶ So they did, each going alone. ⁷ Suddenly Obadiah saw Elijah coming toward him! Obadiah recognized him at once and fell to the ground before him.

“Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” he asked.

⁸ “Yes, it is,” Elijah replied. “Now go and tell the king I am here.”

⁹ “Oh, sir,” Obadiah protested, “what harm have I done to you that you are sending me to my death? ¹⁰ For I swear by God that the king has searched every nation and kingdom on earth from end to end to find you. And each time when he was told ‘Elijah isn’t here,’ King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his claim. ¹¹ And now you say, ‘Go and tell him Elijah is here’! ¹² But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away, who knows where, and when Ahab comes and can’t find you, he will kill me; yet I have been a true servant of the Lord all my life. ¹³ Has no one told you about the time when Queen Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord’s prophets, and I hid a hundred of them in two caves and fed them with bread and water? ¹⁴ And now you say, ‘Go tell the king that Elijah is here’! Sir, if I do that, I’m dead!”

¹⁵ But Elijah said, “I swear by the Lord God of the armies of heaven, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab today.”

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come; and Ahab went out to meet him.

¹⁰ That night the Christians hurried Paul and Silas to Berea, and, as usual,^[a] they went to the synagogue to preach. ¹¹ But the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and gladly listened to the message. They searched the Scriptures day by day to check up on Paul and Silas’ statements to see if they were really so. ¹² As a result, many of them believed, including several prominent Greek women and many men also.

¹³ But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching in Berea, they went over and stirred up trouble. ¹⁴ The believers acted at once, sending Paul on to the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind. ¹⁵ Those accompanying Paul went on with him to Athens and then returned to Berea with a message for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join him.