Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

ת (Tav)

¹¹ Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. When his sons^[a] came home, they told him everything the prophet^[b] had done in Bethel that day. And they told their father all the words that he had spoken to the king.^{[c] 12} Their father asked them, “Which road did he take?” His sons showed him^[d] the road the prophet from Judah had taken. ¹³ He then told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” When they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it ¹⁴ and took off after the prophet, whom he found sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the prophet from Judah?” He answered, “Yes, I am.” ¹⁵ He then said to him, “Come home with me and eat something.” ¹⁶ But he replied, “I can’t go back with you.^[e] I am not allowed to eat food or to drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For an order came to me in the Lord’s message, ‘Eat no food. Drink no water there. And do not return by the way you came.’” ¹⁸ Then the old prophet^[f] said, “I too am a prophet like you. And an angel has told me in a message from the Lord, ‘Bring him back with you to your house so he can eat food and drink water.’” But he had lied to him.^{[g] 19} So the prophet^[h] went back with him. He ate food in his house and he drank water.

²⁰ While they were sitting at the table, the Lord’s message came to the old prophet who had brought him back. ²¹ So he cried out to the prophet^[i] who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘You^[j] have rebelled against the Lord’s instruction^[k] and have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. ²² You went back. You ate food. And you drank water in the place of which he had said to you, “Eat no food. Drink no water.” Therefore^[l] your corpse will not be buried in your ancestral tomb.’”^[m]

²³ So this is what happened after he had eaten food and drunk water.^[n] The old prophet^[o] saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ So the prophet from Judah travelled on. Then a lion attacked him on the road and killed him.

There was his body lying on the road, with the donkey standing next to it, and the lion just standing there by the body. ²⁵ Then some men came passing by and saw the body lying in the road with the lion standing next to the body. They went and reported what they had seen^[p] in the city where the old prophet lived.

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, ³ for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ (who is your^[a] life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. ⁵ So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth:^[b] sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion,^[c] evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.^{[d] 7} You also lived your lives^[e] in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. ⁸ But now, put off all such things^[f] as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices ¹⁰ and have been clothed with the new man^[g] that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. ¹¹ Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave^[h] or free, but Christ is all and in all.