Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God or Baal on Mount Carmel

²⁰ So Ahab sent orders among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. ²¹ Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “^(A)How long are you going to ^[a]struggle with the two choices? ^(B)If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him so much as a word.

²² Then Elijah said to the people, “I ^(A)alone am left as a prophet of the Lord, while Baal’s prophets are ^(B)450 men. ²³ Now have them give us two oxen; and have them choose the one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. ²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and ^(C)the God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people replied, “^[a]That is a good idea.”

²⁵ So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose the one ox for yourselves and prepare it first, since there are many of you, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under the ox.” ²⁶ Then they took the ox which ^[b]was given them and they prepared it, and they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was ^(D)no voice and no one answered. And they ^[c]limped about the altar which ^[d]they had made. ²⁷ And at noon Elijah ridiculed them and said, “Call out with a loud voice, since he is a god; undoubtedly he is attending to business, or is on the way, or is on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep, and will awaken.” ²⁸ So they cried out with a loud voice, and ^(E)cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until blood gushed out on them. ²⁹ When midday was past, they raved ^(F)until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and ^[e]no one paid attention.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come forward to me.” So all the people came forward to him. And ^(A)he repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down. ³¹ Then Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “^(B)Israel shall be your name.” ³² And with the stones he built an altar in ^(C)the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two ^[a]measures of seed. ^33 (D)Then he laid out the wood, and he cut the ox in pieces and placed it on the wood. ³⁴ And he said, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time,” so they did it a second time. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” so they did it a third time. ³⁵ The water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water.

Elijah’s Prayer

³⁶ Then ^(E)at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached and said, “^(F)Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that ^(G)You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant, and that ^(H)I have done all these things at Your word. ³⁷ Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that You, Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back.” ³⁸ Then the ^(I)fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stones and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell on their faces; and they said, “^(J)The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God!”

A Call to Worship the Lord the Righteous Judge.

Introduction

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle (^(B)not sent from men nor through human agency, but ^(C)through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who ^(D)raised Him from the dead), ² and all ^(E)the brothers who are with me,

To ^(F)the churches of Galatia:

^3 (G)Grace to you and peace from ^[a]God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who ^(H)gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from ^(I)this present evil ^[b]age, according to the will of ^(J)our God and Father, ^5 (K)to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Distortion of the Gospel

⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting ^(L)Him who called you ^[c]by the grace of Christ, for a ^(M)different gospel, ⁷ which is not just another account; but there are some who are ^(N)disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or ^(O)an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be ^[d](P)accursed! ⁹ As we ^(Q)have said before, even now I say again: ^(R)if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be ^[e](S)accursed!

¹⁰ For am I now ^(T)seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a ^(U)bond-servant of Christ.

Paul Defends His Ministry

¹¹ For ^(V)I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is ^(W)not ^[f]of human invention. ¹² For ^(X)I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a ^(Y)revelation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Slave

7 ^(A)When He had completed all His ^[a]teaching in the hearing of the people, ^(B)He went to Capernaum.

² Now a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. ³ When he heard about Jesus, ^(C)he sent some ^[b]Jewish elders to Him, asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they strongly urged Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; ⁵ for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue.” ⁶ Now Jesus started on His way with them; but already, when He was not yet far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “^[c]Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to enter under my roof; ⁷ for that reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You; but just ^[d]say the word, and my servant ^[e]shall be healed. ⁸ For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under myself; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ⁹ Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, ^(D)not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” ¹⁰ And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.