Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Sin/Shin

Loving God’s Instruction

Elijah Rebukes Ahab

¹⁷ That’s when this message from the Lord came to Elijah the foreigner:^{[a] 18} “Get up and go down to meet King Ahab of Israel. He’s in Samaria. Look! He’s in Naboth’s vineyard, where he’s gone to confiscate it. ¹⁹ Ask the king, ‘Did you commit murder? And now you’re going to steal as well?’ Also tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Where the dogs were licking up Naboth’s blood, dogs will also lick up your blood—that’s right—yours!”’”

²⁰ Later on, Ahab asked Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?”

But Elijah answered, “I’ve found you because you sold yourself to do what the Lord considers to be evil! ²¹ Now pay attention! I’m going to send evil in your direction! I will completely sweep you away and eliminate from Ahab every male, whether indentured servant or free, throughout Israel. ²² I will make your household resemble that of Nebat’s son Jeroboam, or like the household of Ahijah’s son Baasha, because of how you’ve provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. ²³ The Lord also has this to say about Jezebel: ‘Dogs will eat Jezebel within the outer ramparts of Jezreel. ²⁴ Dogs will eat whoever belongs to Ahab and who dies in the city. The birds of the sky will eat whoever dies in the fields.’”

²⁵ It can be truly said that no one else sold himself to practice what the Lord considered to be evil quite like the way Ahab did, because his wife Jezebel incited him. ²⁶ His behavior in pursuing idolatry was detestable, just like the Amorites had done whom the Lord had expelled in front of the army of Israel. ²⁷ Nevertheless, as soon as Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He even slept in sackcloth and wandered around meekly.

²⁸ Later, this message from the Lord came to Elijah the foreigner:^{[b] 29} “Have you noticed that Ahab has humbled himself in my presence? Because he has humbled himself in my presence, I will not bring his evil to harvest^[c] during his lifetime, but I will bring evil to his household during his son’s lifetime.”

Test What People Say

4 Dear friends, stop believing^[a] every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

² This is how you can recognize God’s Spirit: Every spirit who acknowledges that Jesus the Messiah^[b] has become human—and remains so—is from God. ³ But every spirit who does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard that he is coming, and now he is already in the world. ⁴ Little children, you belong to God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ These people belong to the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective,^[c] and the world listens to them. ⁶ We belong to God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.