Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The privileges of citizenship in Zion.

A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a Song.

5 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man ^[a]with his master, and honorable, because by him Jehovah had given ^[b]victory unto Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. ² And the Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she ^[c]waited on Naaman’s wife. ³ And she said unto her mistress, Would that my lord were ^[d]with the prophet that is in Samaria! then would he recover him of his leprosy. ⁴ And ^[e]one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maiden that is of the land of Israel. ⁵ And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand ^[f]pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. ⁶ And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, And now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. ⁷ And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? but consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh ^[g]a quarrel against me.

⁸ And it was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. ⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. ¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and ^[h]thou shalt be clean. ¹¹ But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place, and recover the leper. ¹² Are not ^[i]Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? ¹⁴ Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

15 And certain men came down from Judaea and taught the brethren, saying, Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved. ² And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and questioning with them, the brethren appointed that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. ³ They therefore, being brought on their way by the church, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. ⁴ And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and the apostles and the elders, and they rehearsed all things that God had done with them. ⁵ But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, saying, It is needful to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the law of Moses.

⁶ And the apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider of this matter. ⁷ And when there had been much questioning, Peter rose up, and said unto them,

Brethren, ye know that ^[a]a good while ago God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the ^[b]gospel, and believe. ⁸ And God, who knoweth the heart, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us; ⁹ and he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now therefore why make ye trial of God, that ye should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? ¹¹ But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in like manner as they.

¹² And all the multitude kept silence; and they hearkened unto Barnabas and Paul rehearsing what signs and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles through them. ¹³ And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying,

Brethren, hearken unto me: ¹⁴ Symeon hath rehearsed how first God visited the ^[c]Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. ¹⁵ And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

¹⁹ Wherefore my judgment is, that we trouble not them that from among the Gentiles turn to God; ²⁰ but that we ^[g]write unto them, that they abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood. ²¹ For Moses from generations of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath.