Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Supplication for Deliverance and Grateful Trust in God.
For the choir director; according to [a]Jonath elem rehokim. A [b]Mikhtam of David, [c]when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
56 Be gracious to me, O God, for man has [d](A)trampled upon me;
[e]Fighting all day long he (B)oppresses me.
2 My foes have [f](C)trampled upon me all day long,
For [g]they are many who (D)fight proudly against me.
3 [h]When I am (E)afraid,
[i]I will (F)put my trust in You.
4 (G)In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
(H)What can mere [j]man do to me?
5 All day long they [k](I)distort my words;
All their [l](J)thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They [m](K)attack, they lurk,
They (L)watch my [n]steps,
As they have (M)waited to take my [o]life.
7 Because of wickedness, [p](N)cast them forth,
In anger (O)put down the peoples, O God!
8 You (P)have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my (Q)tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in (R)Your book?
9 Then my enemies will (S)turn back (T)in the day when I call;
This I know, [q]that (U)God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
In the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 In God I have put my [r]trust, I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 Your (V)vows are binding upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to You.
13 For You have (W)delivered my soul from death,
[s]Indeed (X)my feet from stumbling,
So that I may (Y)walk before God
In the (Z)light of the [t]living.
Naaman Is Healed
5 Now (A)Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man [a]with his master, and highly respected, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Arameans had gone out (B)in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she [b]waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “I wish that my master were [c]with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 [d]Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel.” 5 Then the king of Aram said, “Go [e]now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” He departed and (C)took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold and ten (D)changes of clothes.
6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, (E)he tore his clothes and said, “(F)Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But (G)consider now, and see how he is seeking [f]a quarrel against me.”
8 It happened when Elisha (H)the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “(I)Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.” 11 But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I [g]thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ 12 Are not [h]Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and (J)went away in a rage. 13 (K)Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “(L)My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and (M)his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and (N)he was clean.
13 Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 (A)What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will (B)sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. 16 Otherwise if you bless [a]in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the [b]ungifted say (C)the “Amen” at your (D)giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not (E)edified. 18 I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; 19 however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Instruction for the Church
20 (F)Brethren, (G)do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil (H)be infants, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In (I)the Law it is written, “(J)By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord. 22 So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but (K)prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe. 23 Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and [c]ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that (L)you are mad? 24 But if all (M)prophesy, and an unbeliever or an [d]ungifted man enters, he is (N)convicted by all, he is called to account by all; 25 (O)the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will (P)fall on his face and worship God, (Q)declaring that God is certainly among you.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.