Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
שׂ Sin/ שׁ Shin
161 Princes have persecuted me without cause,
but my heart fears only Your word.(A)
162 I rejoice over Your promise(B)
like one who finds vast treasure.
163 I hate and abhor falsehood,(C)
but I love Your instruction.(D)
164 I praise You seven times a day
for Your righteous judgments.(E)
165 Abundant peace belongs to those(F)
who love Your instruction;
nothing makes them stumble.(G)
166 Lord, I hope for Your salvation(H)
and carry out Your commands.
167 I obey Your decrees
and love them greatly.(I)
168 I obey Your precepts and decrees,
for all my ways are before You.(J)
The Lord’s Judgment on Ahab
17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite:(A) 18 “Get up and go to meet Ahab king of Israel,(B) who is in Samaria.(C) You’ll find him in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. 19 Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you murdered(D) and also taken possession?’(E) Then tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked Naboth’s blood, the dogs will also lick your blood!’”(F)
20 Ahab said to Elijah, “So, you have caught me, my enemy.”(G)
He replied, “I have caught you because you devoted(H) yourself to do what is evil in the Lord’s sight. 21 This is what the Lord says:[a] ‘I am about to bring disaster on you and will sweep away your descendants:
22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam(J) son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha(K) son of Ahijah, because you have provoked My anger and caused Israel to sin.(L) 23 The Lord also speaks of Jezebel: The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land[c] at Jezreel:(M)
24 He who belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, the dogs will eat,
and he who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.’”(N)
25 Still, there was no one like Ahab, who devoted himself to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight, because his wife Jezebel incited him.(O) 26 He committed the most detestable acts by going after idols(P) as the Amorites(Q) had, whom the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.
27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth over his body, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth(R) and walked around subdued. 28 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? I will not bring the disaster during his lifetime,(S) because he has humbled himself before Me. I will bring the disaster on his house during his son’s lifetime.”(T)
The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error
4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits(A) to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has[a] come in the flesh(B) is from God.(C) 3 But every spirit who does not confess Jesus[b] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist;(D) you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.
4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you(E) is greater than the one who is in the world.(F) 5 They are from the world.(G) Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us;(H) anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.(I)
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