Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
(For the music leader. Use with stringed instruments. A special psalm that David wrote when the people of Ziph went to Saul and said, “David is hiding here with us.”)
Trusting God in Times of Trouble
1 (A) Save me, God, by your power
and prove that I am right.
2 Listen to my prayer
and hear what I say.
3 Cruel strangers have attacked
and want me dead.
Not one of them cares
about you.
4 You will help me, Lord God,
and keep me from falling;
5 you will punish my enemies
for their evil deeds.
Be my faithful friend
and destroy them.
6 I will bring a gift
and offer a sacrifice
to you, Lord.
I will praise your name
because you are good.
7 You have rescued me
from all my troubles,
and my own eyes have seen
my enemies fall.
24 Zedekiah walked up to Micaiah and slapped him on the face. Then he asked, “Do you really think the Lord would speak to you and not to me?”
25 Micaiah answered, “You'll find out on the day you have to hide in the back room of some house.”
26 Ahab shouted, “Arrest Micaiah! Take him to Prince Joash and Governor Amon of Samaria. 27 Tell them to put him in prison and to give him nothing but bread and water until I come back safely.”
28 Micaiah said, “If you do come back, I was wrong about what the Lord wanted me to say.” Then he told the crowd, “Don't forget what I said!”
Ahab Dies at Ramoth
(2 Chronicles 18.28-34)
29 Ahab and Jehoshaphat led their armies to Ramoth in Gilead. 30 Before they went into battle, Ahab said, “Jehoshaphat, I'll disguise myself, but you wear your royal robe.” Then Ahab disguised himself and went into battle.
31 The king of Syria had ordered his 32 chariot commanders to attack only Ahab. 32 So when they saw Jehoshaphat in his robe, they thought he was Ahab and started to attack him. But when Jehoshaphat shouted out to them, 33 they realized he wasn't Ahab, and they left him alone.
34 However, during the fighting a soldier shot an arrow without even aiming, and it hit Ahab where two pieces of his armor joined. He shouted to his chariot driver, “I've been hit! Get me out of here!”
35 The fighting lasted all day, with Ahab propped up in his chariot so he could see the Syrian troops. He bled so much that the bottom of the chariot was covered with blood, and by evening he was dead.
36 As the sun was going down, someone in Israel's army shouted to the others, “Retreat! Go back home!”
37 Ahab's body was taken to Samaria and buried there. 38 Some workers washed his chariot near a spring in Samaria, and prostitutes washed themselves in his blood.[a] Dogs licked Ahab's blood off the ground, just as the Lord had warned.
39 Everything else Ahab did while he was king, including the towns he strengthened and the palace he built and furnished with ivory, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel. 40 Ahab died, and his son Ahaziah became king.
The People of Israel Will Be Brought Back
25 My friends, I don't want you Gentiles to be too proud of yourselves. So I will explain the mystery of what has happened to the people of Israel. Some of them have become stubborn, and they will stay like that until the complete number of you Gentiles has come in. 26 (A) In this way all of Israel will be saved, as the Scriptures say,
“From Zion someone will come
to rescue us.
Then Jacob's descendants
will stop being evil.
27 (B) This is what the Lord
has promised to do
when he forgives their sins.”
28 The people of Israel are treated as God's enemies, so the good news can come to you Gentiles. But they are still the chosen ones, and God loves them because of their famous ancestors. 29 God doesn't take back the gifts he has given or disown the people he has chosen.
30 At one time you Gentiles rejected God. But now Israel has rejected God, and you have been shown mercy. 31 And because of the mercy shown to you, they will also be shown mercy. 32 All people have disobeyed God, and that's why he treats them as prisoners. But he does this, so that he can have mercy on all of them.
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.