Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A praise song of David.
143 Lord, hear my prayer.
Listen to my call for help and answer my prayer.
Show me how good and loyal you are.
2 Don’t judge me, your servant.
No one alive could be judged innocent by your standards.
3 My enemies are chasing me.
They have crushed me into the dirt.
They are pushing me into the dark grave,
like people who died long ago.
4 I am ready to give up.
I am losing my courage.
5 But I remember what happened long ago.
I am thinking about all you have done.
I am talking about what you made with your hands!
6 I lift my hands in prayer to you.
I am waiting for your help, like a dry land waiting for rain. Selah
7 Hurry and answer me, Lord!
I have lost my courage.
Don’t turn away from me.
Don’t let me die and become like the people lying in the grave.
8 Show me your faithful love this morning.
I trust in you.
Show me what I should do.
I put my life in your hands!
9 Lord, I come to you for protection.
Save me from my enemies.
10 Show me what you want me to do.
You are my God.
Let your good Spirit lead me over level ground.
11 Lord, let me live
so that people will praise your name.
Show me how good you are
and save me from my trouble.
12 Show me your love
and defeat my enemies.
Destroy those who are trying to kill me
because I am your servant.
18 The boy grew. One day the boy went out into the fields to see his father and the men cutting the grain. 19 The boy said to his father, “Oh, my head! My head hurts!”
The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother!”
20 The servant took the boy to his mother. The boy sat on his mother’s lap until noon. Then he died.
The Woman Goes to See Elisha
21 The woman laid the boy on the bed of Elisha, the man of God. Then she shut the door to that room and went outside. 22 She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey. Then I will go quickly to get the man of God and come back.”
23 The woman’s husband said, “Why would you want to go to the man of God today? It isn’t the New Moon or Sabbath day.”
She said, “Goodbye!”[a]
24 Then she put a saddle on a donkey and said to her servant, “Let’s go, and hurry! Go slow only when I tell you.”
25 The woman went to Mount Carmel to get the man of God.
The man of God saw the Shunammite woman coming from far away and said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there’s the Shunammite woman! 26 Please run now to meet her! Say to her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?’”
She answered, “Everything is all right.”[b]
27 But the Shunammite woman went up the hill to the man of God. She bowed down and touched Elisha’s feet. Gehazi came near to pull her away. But the man of God said to Gehazi, “Leave her alone! She’s very upset, and the Lord didn’t tell me about it. He hid this news from me.”
28 Then she said, “Sir, I never asked for a son. I told you, ‘Don’t trick me!’”
29 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready to go. Take my walking stick and go! If you meet anyone along the way, don’t even stop to say hello to him. If anyone says hello to you, don’t answer. Put my walking stick on the child’s face.”
30 But the child’s mother said, “I promise, as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave without you!”
So Elisha got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi arrived at the house before Elisha and the Shunammite woman. Gehazi laid the walking stick on the child’s face, but the child did not talk or show any sign that he heard anything. Then Gehazi came back to meet Elisha and said, “The child will not wake up!”
The Woman’s Son Comes Back to Life
32 Elisha went into the house, and there was the child, lying dead on his bed. 33 Elisha went into the room and shut the door. He and the child were alone in the room now. Then he prayed to the Lord. 34 Elisha went to the bed and lay on the child. He put his eyes on the child’s eyes, his mouth on the child’s mouth, and his hands on the child’s hands. He lay there on top of the child until the child’s body became warm.
35 Then Elisha turned away and walked around the room. He went back and lay on the child until the child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman!”
Gehazi called her, and she came to Elisha. Elisha said, “Pick up your son.”
37 Then the Shunammite woman went into the room and bowed down at Elisha’s feet. Then she picked up her son and went out.
From Death to Life
2 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. 2 Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers[a] that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. 3 In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.
4 But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. 5 We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) 6 Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. 7 God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. 9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. 10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International