Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

David wrote this prayer.

God will help me

King Ahaziah dies

1 After King Ahab's death, the country of Moab turned against Israel. ² At this time, Ahaziah was king of Israel. He lived in the city of Samaria. One day he fell from the window of an upstairs room in his palace. He became very ill. So he sent men to the temple of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. He told them, ‘Ask their god if I will become well again after my disease.’

³ Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Elijah.^[a] He was a prophet who came from Tishbe. The angel said, ‘Go and meet the men that the king of Samaria has sent. Say to them, “Do you think that there is no God in Israel? Is that why you are going to Ekron's god, Baal-Zebub, to ask if the king will be well again?” ⁴ Because you are doing this, the Lord says to you, Ahaziah, “You will never leave the bed that you are lying on. You will certainly die.” ’

⁵ Elijah went to tell the men the Lord's message. So the men returned to the king. He asked them, ‘Why have you returned already?’ ⁶ They replied, ‘A man came to meet us. He told us to go back to the king who had sent us. He says to you, “This is what the Lord says: Why have you sent men to speak to Ekron's god, Baal-Zebub? You seem to think that there is no God in Israel. Because of that, you will not leave the bed that you are lying on. You will certainly die.” ’

⁷ The king asked them, ‘Describe the man who came to meet you. What did he look like?’ ⁸ They replied, ‘He was wearing rough clothes. He had tied a leather belt around him.’ Then the king said, ‘That was Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe.’

⁹ Then the king sent 50 soldiers with their captain to fetch Elijah. Elijah was sitting on the top of a hill. The captain went up and he said to Elijah, ‘Man of God, the king says, “Come down with us.” ’

¹⁰ Elijah replied to the captain, ‘If I am really a man of God, fire will come down from the sky. It will destroy you and your 50 soldiers.’ Then fire did come down from the sky. It destroyed the captain and his 50 soldiers.

¹¹ Then the king sent another captain with 50 more soldiers to fetch Elijah. The captain went up and he said to Elijah, ‘Man of God, the king says, “Come down immediately!” ’ ¹² Elijah answered, ‘If I am really a man of God, fire will come down from the sky. It will destroy you and your 50 soldiers.’ Then fire from God did come down from the sky. It destroyed the captain and his 50 soldiers.

¹³ So the king sent a third captain, with 50 more soldiers. This captain went up to Elijah. He bent down on his knees in front of Elijah to ask him to be kind to them. He said, ‘Man of God, we are your servants. Please do not kill me and my 50 soldiers. ¹⁴ We know that fire came down from the sky. It destroyed the two captains who came before me and all their soldiers. But now, please be kind and do not kill me.’

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.’ So Elijah went down with the captain to meet the king. ¹⁶ Elijah said to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: You sent men to speak to Ekron's god, Baal-Zebub, to find out what would happen to you. Did you think that there is no God in Israel? You did not ask him what would happen. Because of that, you will not leave the bed that you are lying on. You will certainly die.’

Continue to trust Christ

⁸ Before, when you did not know God, you served false gods. They were not gods at all, but you were their slaves. ⁹ But now you do know God. Or really, I should say that God knows you. So you must not turn back to serve those weak spirits that rule this world. Why do you want to obey their useless rules and become their slaves again? ¹⁰ You say that certain days, or months, or seasons, or years are special. That is how you want to please God. ¹¹ I am afraid about you. I worked very much to help you. I do not want my work to have no results.

¹² My Christian friends, please become like me! I ask you to do this, because when I was with you, I became like you. You did not then do anything wrong to me. ¹³ You must remember that I first came to you because I was ill. That was when I first told God's good news to you. ¹⁴ I caused trouble for you because I was ill. But you did not insult me. You did not tell me to go away. But you were kind to me. You took care of me as if I were an angel from God, or even Christ Jesus himself. ¹⁵ But now you do not seem to be happy with me any more. I can say that you would have pulled out your own eyes to help me. You would have given them to me, if that had been possible. ¹⁶ But now I seem to have become your enemy! Is that because I am telling you God's true message?

¹⁷ Those false teachers try very much to please you. But they do not really want what is good for you. They want to make you turn away from me. Then you will only want to listen to them. ¹⁸ It is good for someone to try to please other people if they really want to help them. That is true all the time, not only when I am there with you. ¹⁹ My children, I feel like a mother who is giving birth to you again. I will continue to feel that kind of pain until you become more completely like Christ. ²⁰ I want very much to be there with you now. Then I would know better how to speak to you. As it is, I do not know what to think about you.