Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
161 Great men have persecuted me, though they have no reason to, but I stand in awe of only your words. 162 I rejoice in your laws like one who finds a great treasure. 163 How I hate all falsehood, but how I love your laws. 164 I will praise you seven times a day because of your wonderful laws.
165 Those who love your laws have great peace of heart and mind and do not stumble. 166 I long for your salvation, Lord, and so I have obeyed your laws. 167 I have looked for your commandments, and I love them very much; 168 yes, I have searched for them. You know this because everything I do is known to you.
17 But the Lord said to Elijah, 18 “Go to Samaria to meet King Ahab. He will be at Naboth’s vineyard, taking possession of it. 19 Give him this message from me: ‘Isn’t killing Naboth bad enough? Must you rob him too? Because you have done this, dogs shall lick your blood outside the city just as they licked the blood of Naboth!’”
20 “So my enemy has found me!” Ahab exclaimed to Elijah.
“Yes,” Elijah answered, “I have come to place God’s curse upon you because you have sold yourself to the devil.[a] 21 The Lord is going to bring great harm to you and sweep you away; he will not let a single one of your male descendants survive! 22 He is going to destroy your family as he did the family of King Jeroboam and the family of King Baasha, for you have made him very angry and have led all of Israel into sin. 23 The Lord has also told me that the dogs of Jezreel shall tear apart the body of your wife, Jezebel. 24 The members of your family who die in the city shall be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the country shall be eaten by vultures.”
25 No one else was so completely sold out to the devil as Ahab, for his wife, Jezebel, encouraged him to do every sort of evil. 26 He was especially guilty because he worshiped idols just as the Amorites did—the people whom the Lord had chased out of the land to make room for the people of Israel. 27 When Ahab heard these prophecies, he tore his clothing, put on rags, fasted, slept in sackcloth, and went about in deep humility.
28 Then another message came to Elijah: 29 “Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime; it will happen to his sons; I will destroy his descendants.”
4 Dearly loved friends, don’t always believe everything you hear just because someone says it is a message from God: test it first to see if it really is. For there are many false teachers around, 2 and the way to find out if their message is from the Holy Spirit is to ask: Does it really agree that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, actually became man with a human body? If so, then the message is from God. 3 If not, the message is not from God but from one who is against Christ, like the “Antichrist” you have heard about who is going to come, and his attitude of enmity against Christ is already abroad in the world.
4 Dear young friends, you belong to God and have already won your fight with those who are against Christ because there is someone in your hearts who is stronger than any evil teacher in this wicked world. 5 These men belong to this world, so, quite naturally, they are concerned about worldly affairs and the world pays attention to them. 6 But we are children of God; that is why only those who have walked and talked with God will listen to us. Others won’t. That is another way to know whether a message is really from God; for if it is, the world won’t listen to it.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.