Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
96 Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing it everywhere around the world! 2 Sing out his praises! Bless his name. Each day tell someone that he saves.
3 Publish his glorious acts throughout the earth. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. 4 For the Lord is great beyond description and greatly to be praised. Worship only him among the gods! 5 For the gods of other nations are merely idols, but our God made the heavens! 6 Honor and majesty surround him; strength and beauty are in his Temple.
7 O nations of the world, confess that God alone is glorious and strong. 8 Give him the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come to worship him.[a] 9 Worship the Lord with the beauty of holy lives.[b] Let the earth tremble before him. 10 Tell the nations that Jehovah reigns! He rules the world. His power can never be overthrown. He will judge all nations fairly.
11 Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the vastness of the roaring seas demonstrate his glory. 12 Praise him for the growing fields, for they display his greatness. Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise. 13 For the Lord is coming to judge the earth; he will judge the nations fairly and with truth!
18 It was three years later that the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and tell King Ahab that I will soon send rain again!”
2 So Elijah went to tell him. Meanwhile the famine had become very severe in Samaria.
3-4 The man in charge of Ahab’s household affairs was Obadiah, who was a devoted follower of the Lord. Once when Queen Jezebel had tried to kill all of the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden one hundred of them in two caves—fifty in each—and had fed them with bread and water.
5 That same day, while Elijah was on the way to see King Ahab,[a] the king said to Obadiah, “We must check every stream and brook to see if we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules. You go one way and I’ll go the other, and we will search the entire land.”
6 So they did, each going alone. 7 Suddenly Obadiah saw Elijah coming toward him! Obadiah recognized him at once and fell to the ground before him.
“Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” he asked.
8 “Yes, it is,” Elijah replied. “Now go and tell the king I am here.”
9 “Oh, sir,” Obadiah protested, “what harm have I done to you that you are sending me to my death? 10 For I swear by God that the king has searched every nation and kingdom on earth from end to end to find you. And each time when he was told ‘Elijah isn’t here,’ King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his claim. 11 And now you say, ‘Go and tell him Elijah is here’! 12 But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away, who knows where, and when Ahab comes and can’t find you, he will kill me; yet I have been a true servant of the Lord all my life. 13 Has no one told you about the time when Queen Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord’s prophets, and I hid a hundred of them in two caves and fed them with bread and water? 14 And now you say, ‘Go tell the king that Elijah is here’! Sir, if I do that, I’m dead!”
15 But Elijah said, “I swear by the Lord God of the armies of heaven, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab today.”
16 So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come; and Ahab went out to meet him.
17 “So it’s you, is it?—the man who brought this disaster upon Israel!” Ahab exclaimed when he saw him.
18 “You’re talking about yourself,” Elijah answered. “For you and your family have refused to obey the Lord and have worshiped Baal instead. 19 Now bring all the people of Israel to Mount Carmel, with all 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.”
31 Then he returned to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and preached there in the synagogue every Saturday. 32 Here, too, the people were amazed at the things he said. For he spoke as one who knew the truth, instead of merely quoting the opinions of others as his authority.
33 Once as he was teaching in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon began shouting at Jesus, 34 “Go away! We want nothing to do with you, Jesus from Nazareth. You have come to destroy us. I know who you are—the Holy Son of God.”
35 Jesus cut him short. “Be silent!” he told the demon. “Come out!” The demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched, and then left him without hurting him further.
36 Amazed, the people asked, “What is in this man’s words that even demons obey him?” 37 The story of what he had done spread like wildfire throughout the whole region.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.