Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁰ All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, and Your loving ones shall bless You [affectionately and gratefully shall Your saints confess and praise You]!

¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power,

¹² To make known to the sons of men God’s mighty deeds and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.

¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

¹⁴ The Lord upholds all those [of His own] who are falling and raises up all those who are bowed down.

¹⁵ The eyes of all wait for You [looking, watching, and expecting] and You give them their food in due season.

¹⁶ You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with favor.

¹⁷ The Lord is [rigidly] righteous in all His ways and gracious and merciful in all His works.

¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him sincerely and in truth.

^4 [a]Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and paid in tribute to the king of Israel [annually] 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams, with the wool.

⁵ But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

⁶ So King Joram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel.

⁷ And he sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to war against Moab? And he said, I will go; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.

⁸ Joram said, Which way shall we go up? Jehoshaphat answered, The way through the Wilderness of Edom.

⁹ So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. They made a circuit of seven days’ journey, but there was no water for the army or for the animals following them.

¹⁰ Then the king of Israel said, Alas! The Lord has called [us] three kings together to be delivered into Moab’s hand!

¹¹ But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no prophet of the Lord here by whom we may inquire of the Lord? One of the king of Israel’s servants answered, Elisha son of Shaphat, who served Elijah, is here.

¹² Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So Joram king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to Elisha.

¹³ And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your [wicked] father Ahab and your [wicked] mother Jezebel. But the king of Israel said to him, No, for the Lord has called [us] three kings together to be delivered into the hand of Moab.

¹⁴ And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts lives, before Whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you [King Joram].

¹⁵ But now bring me a minstrel. And while the minstrel played, the hand and power of the Lord came upon [Elisha].

¹⁶ And he said, Thus says the Lord: Make this [dry] brook bed full of trenches.

¹⁷ For thus says the Lord: You shall not see wind or rain, yet that ravine shall be filled with water, so you, your cattle, and your beasts [of burden] may drink.

¹⁸ This is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will deliver the Moabites also into your hands.

¹⁹ You shall smite every fenced city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop all wells of water and mar every good piece of land with stones.

²⁰ In the morning, when the sacrifice was offered, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

¹² Clothe yourselves therefore, as God’s own chosen ones (His own picked representatives), [who are] purified and holy and well-beloved [by God Himself, by putting on behavior marked by] tenderhearted pity and mercy, kind feeling, a lowly opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, [and] patience [which is tireless and long-suffering, and has the power to endure whatever comes, with good temper].

¹³ Be gentle and forbearing with one another and, if one has a difference (a grievance or complaint) against another, readily pardoning each other; even as the Lord has [freely] forgiven you, so must you also [forgive].

¹⁴ And above all these [put on] love and enfold yourselves with the bond of perfectness [which binds everything together completely in ideal harmony].

¹⁵ And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always].

¹⁶ Let the word [spoken by] Christ (the Messiah) have its home [in your hearts and minds] and dwell in you in [all its] richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom [in spiritual things, and as you sing] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with [His] grace in your hearts.

¹⁷ And whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in [dependence upon] His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.