Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 54

Ruthless Men Seek My Life

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For the choir director. With stringed instruments.
A maskil by David. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Isn’t David hiding himself with us?”^[a]

The Plea

The Problem

The Solution

The Outcome

²⁴ Then Zedekiah son of Kena’anah came up and struck Micaiah on his cheek and said, “Where is this pathway on which the spirit of the Lord has traveled from me to speak to you?”

²⁵ Micaiah said, “Listen to me. You will see it on the day you go into the inner room to hide.”

²⁶ Then the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon, the administrator of the city, and to Joash son of the king. ²⁷ Then say, ‘This is what the king says. Put this man in prison and feed him nothing more than bread and water until I come back safely.’”

²⁸ Then Micaiah said, “If you ever come back safely, then the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he said, “Hear this, you people, all of you!”

Ahab Dies in Battle

²⁹ Then the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.

³⁰ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself when I go into the battle, but you wear your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

³¹ The king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone small or great, but only against the king of Israel.”

³² When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “That is the king of Israel!” They turned to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried for help.

³³ When the chariot commanders realized that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him. ³⁴ But a man shot an arrow at random and struck the king of Israel in the seam between two parts of his armor.

So Ahab said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, because I have been wounded.”

³⁵ The battle went on all that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing Aram. He died in the evening, and the blood from his wound ran down onto the floor of the chariot. ³⁶ Then, as the sun was going down, a cry went up through the army: “Every man to his own city and every man to his own land!”

³⁷ So the king died, and they brought him to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. ³⁸ They washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria, and dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed there, in fulfillment of the word which the Lord had spoken.

³⁹ As for the rest of Ahab’s acts and everything he did, and the ivory house he built, and all the cities he built, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Israel? ⁴⁰ Ahab rested with his fathers. Then his son Ahaziah became king in his place.

²⁵ For I do not want you to be uninformed about this mystery, brothers, so that you are not conceited in your opinion of yourselves. There has been a hardening of part of Israel until the full number of Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

The Paradox of How God Shows Mercy

²⁸ In regard to the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But, in regard to election, they are especially dear for the sake of the patriarchs, ²⁹ because God’s gracious gifts and call are not regretted. ³⁰ For just as you were once disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy due to their disobedience, ³¹ so also now they have become disobedient, so that by the mercy shown to you they may be shown mercy too. ³² For God imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all.