Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God Knows Everything
For the director of music. A song of David.
139 Lord, you have examined me.
You know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts before I think them.
3 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know well everything I do.
4 Lord, even before I say a word,
you already know what I am going to say.
5 You are all around me—in front and in back.
You have put your hand on me.
6 Your knowledge is amazing to me.
It is more than I can understand.
7 Where can I go to get away from your Spirit?
Where can I run from you?
8 If I go up to the skies, you are there.
If I lie down where the dead are, you are there.
9 If I rise with the sun in the east,
and settle in the west beyond the sea,
10 even there you would guide me.
With your right hand you would hold me.
11 I could say, “The darkness will hide me.
The light around me will turn into night.”
12 But even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night is as light as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You made my whole being.
You formed me in my mother’s body.
14 I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know this very well.
15 You saw my bones being formed
as I took shape in my mother’s body.
When I was put together there,
16 you saw my body as it was formed.
All the days planned for me
were written in your book
before I was one day old.
17 God, your thoughts are precious to me.
They are so many!
18 If I could count them,
they would be more than all the grains of sand.
When I wake up,
I am still with you.
Naaman Is Healed
5 Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man to his master. He had much honor because the Lord had used him to give victory to Aram. He was a mighty and brave man. But he had a harmful skin disease.
2 The Arameans had gone out to steal from the Israelites. And they had taken a little girl as a captive from Israel. This little girl served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “I wish that my master would meet the prophet who lives in Samaria. He would heal Naaman of his disease.”
4 Naaman went to the king. He told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 The king of Aram said, “Go now. And I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left and took about 750 pounds of silver. He also took about 150 pounds of gold and ten changes of clothes with him. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel. It read, “I am sending my servant Naaman to you. I’m sending him so you can heal him of his skin disease.”
7 The king of Israel read the letter. Then he tore his clothes to show how upset he was. He said, “I’m not God! I can’t kill and make alive again! Why does this man send someone with a harmful skin disease for me to heal? You can see that the king of Aram is trying to start trouble with me!”
8 Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes. So he sent a message to the king. It said, “Why have you become so upset that you tore your clothes? Let Naaman come to me. Then he will know there is a prophet in Israel!” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots to Elisha’s house. And he stood outside the door.
10 Elisha sent a messenger to Naaman. The messenger said, “Go and wash in the Jordan River seven times. Then your skin will be healed, and you will be clean.”
11 Naaman became angry and left. He said, “I thought Elisha would surely come out and stand before me. I thought he would call on the name of the Lord his God. I thought he would wave his hand over the place and heal the disease! 12 Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are better than all the waters of Israel! Why can’t I wash in them and become clean?” So Naaman went away very angry.
13 But Naaman’s servants came near and talked to him. They said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? Doesn’t it make more sense just to do it? After all, he only told you, ‘Wash, and you will be clean.’” 14 So Naaman went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times. He did just as Elisha had said. Then Naaman’s skin became new again. It was like the skin of a little boy. And Naaman was clean!
8 Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You are sinners. So clean sin out of your lives. You are trying to follow God and the world at the same time. Make your thinking pure. 9 Be sad, cry, and weep! Change your laughter into crying. Change your joy into sadness. 10 Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will honor you.
You Are Not the Judge
11 Brothers, do not say bad things about each other. If you say bad things about your brother in Christ or judge him, then you are saying bad things about the law he follows. You are also judging the law he follows. And when you are judging the law, you are not a follower of the law. You have become a judge! 12 God is the only One who makes laws, and he is the only Judge. He is the only One who can save and destroy. So it is not right for you to judge your neighbor.
Let God Plan Your Life
13 Some of you say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.” 14 But you do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. 15 So you should say, “If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But now you are proud and you brag. All of this bragging is wrong. 17 And when a person knows the right thing to do, but does not do it, then he is sinning.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.