Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 96^(A)

Elijah Confronts Ahab

18 After many days, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” ² Elijah went to show himself to Ahab.

And there was a great famine in Samaria. ³ Ahab called Obadiah, who was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. ⁴ When Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) ⁵ And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go into the land, to all the springs of water and to all the brooks. Perhaps we will find grass to save the horses and mules, so that we do not lose all the beasts.” ⁶ So they divided the land between them to search throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷ As Obadiah was going along, he met Elijah, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?”

⁸ And he answered him, “I am. Go, tell your lord, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”

⁹ He said, “What evil have I done that you would hand your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death? ¹⁰ As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not looked for you, and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom and nation swear that they could not find you, ¹¹ and now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Elijah is here!” ’ ¹² As soon as I am gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you to a place I do not know, and so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will execute me. But I, your servant, have feared the Lord since my youth. ¹³ Were you not told what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water? ¹⁴ And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Elijah is here,” ’ and he will execute me.”

¹⁵ Elijah said, “As the Lord of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Are you he that troubles Israel?”

¹⁸ And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals. ¹⁹ Now send word out and gather for me all Israel on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

The Man With an Unclean Spirit^(A)

³¹ Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. ³² They were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.

³³ In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Leave us alone! What have You to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵ Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him and did not hurt him.

³⁶ They were all amazed and said among themselves, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” ³⁷ And His fame went out to every place in the surrounding countryside.