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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.
Duration: 1245 days
New Century Version (NCV)
Version
Psalm 96

Praise for the Lord’s Glory

96 Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord and praise his name;
    every day tell how he saves us.
Tell the nations of his glory;
    tell all peoples the miracles he does,

because the Lord is great; he should be praised at all times.
    He should be honored more than all the gods,
because all the gods of the nations are only idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
The Lord has glory and majesty;
    he has power and beauty in his Temple.

Praise the Lord, all nations on earth;
    praise the Lord’s glory and power.
Praise the glory of the Lord’s name.
    Bring an offering and come into his Temple courtyards.
Worship the Lord because he is holy.
    Tremble before him, everyone on earth.
10 Tell the nations, “The Lord is king.”
    The earth is set, and it cannot be moved.
    He will judge the people fairly.
11 Let the skies rejoice and the earth be glad;
    let the sea and everything in it shout.
12 Let the fields and everything in them rejoice.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
13 before the Lord, because he is coming.
    He is coming to judge the world;
he will judge the world with fairness
    and the peoples with truth.

1 Kings 18:1-19

Elijah Kills the Prophets of Baal

18 During the third year without rain, the Lord spoke his word to Elijah: “Go and meet King Ahab, and I will soon send rain.” So Elijah went to meet Ahab.

By this time there was no food in Samaria. King Ahab sent for Obadiah, who was in charge of the king’s palace. (Obadiah was a true follower of the Lord. When Jezebel was killing all the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah hid a hundred of them in two caves, fifty in one cave and fifty in another. He also brought them food and water.) Ahab said to Obadiah, “Let’s check every spring and valley in the land. Maybe we can find enough grass to keep our horses and mules alive and not have to kill our animals.” So each one chose a part of the country to search; Ahab went in one direction and Obadiah in another.

While Obadiah was on his way, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized Elijah, so he bowed down to the ground and said, “Elijah? Is it really you, master?”

“Yes,” Elijah answered. “Go tell your master that I am here.”

Then Obadiah said, “What wrong have I done for you to hand me over to Ahab like this? He will put me to death. 10 As surely as the Lord your God lives, the king has sent people to every country to search for you. If the ruler said you were not there, Ahab forced the ruler to swear you could not be found in his country. 11 Now you want me to go to my master and tell him, ‘Elijah is here’? 12 The Spirit of the Lord may carry you to some other place after I leave. If I go tell King Ahab you are here, and he comes and doesn’t find you, he will kill me! I have followed the Lord since I was a boy. 13 Haven’t you been told what I did? When Jezebel was killing the Lord’s prophets, I hid a hundred of them, fifty in one cave and fifty in another. I brought them food and water. 14 Now you want me to go and tell my master you are here? He will kill me!”

15 Elijah answered, “As surely as the Lord All-Powerful lives, whom I serve, I will be seen by Ahab today.”

16 So Obadiah went to Ahab and told him where Elijah was. Then Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17 When he saw Elijah, he asked, “Is it you—the biggest troublemaker in Israel?”

18 Elijah answered, “I have not made trouble in Israel. You and your father’s family have made all this trouble by not obeying the Lord’s commands. You have gone after the Baals. 19 Now tell all Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel. Also bring the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

Luke 4:31-37

Jesus Forces Out an Evil Spirit

31 Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and on the Sabbath day, he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33 In the synagogue a man who had within him an evil spirit shouted in a loud voice, 34 “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!”

35 Jesus commanded the evil spirit, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” The evil spirit threw the man down to the ground before all the people and then left the man without hurting him.

36 The people were amazed and said to each other, “What does this mean? With authority and power he commands evil spirits, and they come out.” 37 And so the news about Jesus spread to every place in the whole area.

New Century Version (NCV)

The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.