Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the Director: With stringed instruments. A Davidic instruction,^[a] when the Ziphites came and told Saul, “David is hiding among us, is he not?”

A Prayer in Times of Trouble

²⁴ Right then, Chenaanah’s son Zedekiah approached Micaiah and struck him on the cheek. Then he asked him, “How did the Spirit of the Lord move from me to speak to you?”

²⁵ Micaiah replied, “You’ll see how when the day comes that you run away to hide yourself in a closet!”

²⁶ Then the king of Israel ordered, “Take Micaiah and place him in the custody of Amon, the city governor. Hand him over to Joash, the king’s son. ²⁷ Give him this order: ‘Place him in prison on survival rations of bread and water only until I come back safely.’”

²⁸ “If you return alive,” Micaiah responded, “then the Lord has not spoken by me.” Then he added, “Listen, all you people!”

Ahab Dies at Ramoth-gilead^(A)

²⁹ So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah both attacked Ramoth-gilead. ³⁰ The king of Israel suggested to Jehoshaphat, “I’ll go into battle in disguise, but you keep your royal uniform on.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and they both went into the battle.

³¹ Meanwhile, the king of Aram had issued these orders to 32 of his chariot commanders: “Don’t attack unimportant soldiers or ranking officers. Go after only the king of Israel.”

³² So when the chariot commanders observed Jehoshaphat, they said by mistake,^[a] “It’s the king of Israel!” and they turned aside to attack him. But Jehoshaphat cried out. ³³ When the chariot commanders saw that their target^[b] was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.

³⁴ Meanwhile, somebody drew his bow aimlessly and struck the king of Israel between the scales where his armor breastplates joined, so he instructed his chariot driver, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, because I’ve been severely wounded.” ³⁵ The battle continued on for the rest of the day while the king of Israel was propped up in front of the Arameans until the sun set, at which time he died. The blood from Ahab’s wound ran down into the bottom of the chariot.

³⁶ As the day drew to a close, this order was circulated throughout the army telling the soldiers, “Everybody go back to his city and to his own land.” ³⁷ So the king died and was brought back to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. ³⁸ They washed the chariot by the reservoir of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood near where the prostitutes went to bathe, in keeping with the message that the Lord had spoken.

³⁹ Now as to the rest of Ahab’s accomplishments, everything that he undertook, the ivory palace he built, and the cities that he built, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not? ⁴⁰ That’s how Ahab died, just as his ancestors had, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.

The Restoration of Israel

²⁵ For I want to let you know about this secret, brothers, so that you will not claim to be wiser than you are: Stubbornness has come to part of Israel until the full number of the gentiles comes to faith.^{[a] 26} In this way, all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake, but as far as election is concerned, they are loved for the sake of their ancestors. ²⁹ For God’s gifts and calling never change. ³⁰ For just as you disobeyed God in the past but now have received his mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹ so they, too, have now disobeyed. As a result, they may^[c] receive mercy because of the mercy shown to you. ³² For God has locked all people in the prison of their own disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.