Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the Overcomer upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my meditation.

² Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God, for unto thee will I pray.

³ My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; early will I present myself unto thee and wait.

⁴ For thou art not a God that loves wickedness; neither shall one who is evil dwell with thee.

⁵ The foolish (those who are governed by carnal thoughts or desires) shall not stand in thy sight; thou dost hate all workers of iniquity.

⁶ Thou shalt destroy those that speak lies: the LORD will abominate the bloody and deceitful man.

⁷ ¶ But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear I will worship toward thy holy temple.

⁸ Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

20 ¶ Then Benhadad, the king of Syria, gathered all his host together; and there were thirty-two kings with him and horses and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria and warred against it.

² And he sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel, into the city and said unto him, Thus hath Benhadad said,

³ Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.

⁴ And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy word, I am thine and all that I have.

⁵ And the messengers came again and said, Thus hath Benhadad said, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver and thy gold and thy wives and thy children,

⁶ yet I will send my slaves unto thee tomorrow about this time, and they shall search thy house and the houses of thy slaves; and it shall be that whatever is precious in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand and take it away.

⁷ Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, Understand, I pray you, and see how this man seeks only evil, for he sent unto me for my wives and for my children and for my silver and for my gold, and I denied him not.

⁸ And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.

⁹ So he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy slave at the first I will do, but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed and brought him word again.

¹⁰ And Benhadad sent unto him again and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, that the dust of Samaria shall not be enough for the open hands of all the people that follow me.

¹¹ And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girds on his harness boast as he that puts it off.

¹² ¶ And when he heard this word, as he was drinking with the kings in the pavilions, he said unto his slaves, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city.

¹³ And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab, king of Israel, saying, Thus hath the LORD said, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into thy hand today, that thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

¹⁴ And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus hath the LORD said, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall begin the battle? And he answered, Thou.

¹⁵ Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the sons of Israel, being seven thousand.

¹⁶ And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings that helped him.

¹⁷ And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first. And Benhadad had sent out men who warned him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.

¹⁸ Then he said, If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive.

¹⁹ So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army followed after them.

²⁰ And each one smote the man that came against him; and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them. And Benhadad, the king of Syria, escaped on a horse with some of the horsemen.

²¹ And the king of Israel went out and smote the horsemen and the chariots and smote the Syrians with a great slaughter.

²² ¶ And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and consider, and see what thou must do, for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.

4 ¶ Where do the wars and disputes come from among you? Is it not from here, that is to say, of your lusts which fight in your members?

² Ye covet and have not; ye murder, and have envy and cannot obtain; ye fight and war and have not that which ye desire because ye ask not.

³ Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your pleasures.

⁴ Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore that desires to be a friend of the world, makes himself the enemy of God.

⁵ Do ye think that the scripture says in vain, The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy?

⁶ But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble.

⁷ Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.