Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
10 Join together to thank the Lord!
Everything that he has made will praise him.
Your own people will praise you, Lord!
11 King is who you are and your kingdom is great!
People will speak about your royal authority.
12 Let everyone agree that you do great things!
Let them say that you rule with great authority.
13 Many years your kingdom will remain, even for ever.
You will always rule your people and their descendants.
Nothing that the Lord promises is false.
He is kind in everything that he does.[a]
14 Often people fall, but the Lord lifts them up.
He helps everyone who has trouble.
15 People look to you for help.
You give them food when they need it.
16 Ready to help, you open your hand.
You give to every living thing the good things that they want.
17 So the Lord is fair in all that he does.
He always shows how much he loves us.
18 The Lord is ready to help everyone who asks him.
He is near to everyone who prays honestly.
4 Mesha, the king of Moab, was a sheep farmer. Every year he had to pay the king of Israel 100,000 male lambs and the wool from 100,000 male sheep. 5 But after King Ahab died, the king of Moab turned against the king of Israel. 6 So King Jehoram left Samaria to bring all Israel's army together. They were ready to attack Moab. 7 He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah: ‘The king of Moab has turned against me. Will you go with me to fight against the Moabites?’
Jehoshaphat replied, ‘Yes, I will go with you. We will have one army. My soldiers will join with your soldiers. My horses will be under your authority.’
8 King Jehoram asked, ‘What road should we go on to attack Moab?’ King Jehoshaphat replied, ‘We should travel through the Edom desert.’
9 So the king of Israel, the king of Judah and the king of Edom joined together to attack Moab.[a] They were travelling along the road for seven days. After that time, there was no more water for the army or for their animals. 10 The king of Israel was very upset. He said, ‘What has happened? Perhaps the Lord has brought us three kings here to put us under the power of the king of Moab!’ 11 But King Jehoshaphat asked, ‘There must surely be a prophet of the Lord here somewhere. We could ask him what the Lord wants us to do.’
An officer of the king of Israel answered him, ‘Yes, Shaphat's son Elisha is here. He was Elijah's servant.’ 12 Jehoshaphat said, ‘He will tell us what the Lord is saying.’ So the king of Israel, King Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went to meet Elisha.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘We have nothing to say to each other! Instead, go to the prophets that your father and your mother liked to listen to.’ The king of Israel replied, ‘No! The Lord told us three kings to come here together. Now he is putting us under Moab's power.’ 14 Elisha said to him, ‘I serve the Lord Almighty. I promise you, as surely as the Lord lives, I would never even look at you! But I do respect Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who is with you. So I will help you. 15 But now, bring someone to play music on a harp for me.’
While the man was making music, the Lord's power came to Elisha. 16 Elisha said, ‘This is what the Lord says: Dig many holes in this dry valley, 17 because the Lord says this: You will not see any wind or any rain. But this valley will become full of water! You, your cows and your other animals will have water to drink. 18 This is an easy thing for the Lord to do. He will also put the Moabites under your power. 19 You will destroy all their strong cities and all their important towns. You will cut down every good tree. You will stop their springs giving any water. You will cover their fields with stones so that nothing grows there.’
20 The next morning, at the time when they offered the morning sacrifice, the water appeared! It came from the direction of Edom so that the land was full of water!
12 God has chosen you to be his own special people. You belong to him and he loves you very much. So this is how you should live: Be kind to other people and help them. Do not think that you are better than other people. Instead, respect them and be patient with them. 13 Do not become angry with each other. If you think that someone has done something wrong against you, forgive them. Remember that the Lord has forgiven you. So you should also forgive other people. 14 And you must also love each other. That is the most important thing that you should do. Love holds all these good things completely together.
15 Christ has given you peace in your minds. So let that peace rule your thoughts. God has chosen you to be like one body, as his people. So he wants you to live together in peace. Thank God for everything that he gives to you. 16 Let Christ's message always be in your thoughts, with all the good things that it brings. Use that message to teach and to warn each other. Be very wise as you do that. And also sing all kinds of spiritual songs to praise God. Sing psalms and Christian songs. As you sing, thank God from inside yourselves. 17 Show that you belong to the Lord Jesus with everything that you do and with everything that you say. Always thank God the Father in the way that you serve Jesus.
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