Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

ת Tav

The Old Prophet and the Man of God

¹¹ Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel.^(A) His son^[a] came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. His sons also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king.^{(B) 12} Then their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” His sons had seen^[b] the way taken by the man of God who had come from Judah. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he got on it. ¹⁴ He followed the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“I am,” he said.

¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

¹⁶ But he answered, “I cannot go back with you, eat bread, or drink water with you in this place, ¹⁷ for a message came to me by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there^(C) or go back by the way you came.’”

¹⁸ He said to him, “I am also a prophet^(D) like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet deceived him,^{(E) 19} and the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.

²⁰ While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, ²¹ and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you rebelled against the command of the Lord and did not keep the command that the Lord your God commanded you— ²² but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place that He said to you, “Do not eat bread and do not drink water”—^(F) your corpse will never reach the grave of your fathers.’”^(G)

²³ So after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. ²⁴ When he left,^[c] a lion attacked^[d] him along the way and killed him.^(H) His corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it; the lion was standing beside the corpse too.

²⁵ There were men passing by who saw the corpse thrown on the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived.

The Life of the New Man

3 So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God.^{(A) 2} Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.^{(B) 3} For you have died,^(C) and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. ⁴ When the Messiah, who is your^[a] life, is revealed,^(D) then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.^(E)

⁵ Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature:^[b] sexual immorality, impurity,^(F) lust,^(G) evil desire, and greed,^(H) which is idolatry.^{(I) 6} Because of these, God’s wrath^(J) comes on the disobedient,^{[c] 7} and you once walked in these things when you were living^(K) in them. ⁸ But now you must also put away^(L) all the following: anger,^(M) wrath,^(N) malice,^(O) slander,^(P) and filthy language from your mouth.^{(Q) 9} Do not lie^(R) to one another, since you have put off^(S) the old self^[d](T) with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on^(U) the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your^[e] Creator.^{(V) 11} In Christ^[f] there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,^[g] slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.^(W)