Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Tell the music leader to use flutes.

This is a song that David wrote.

Pray about your enemies^[a]

A prophet warns King Ahab

³⁵ At this time, the Lord gave a message to a prophet who belonged to a group of prophets. He told the prophet to say to one of his friends, ‘Hit me with your stick.’ But his friend refused to do it.^{[a] 36} So the prophet said to him, ‘You have not obeyed the Lord's command. Because of that, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave here.’ After the man left the prophet, a lion attacked him and it killed him.

³⁷ Then the prophet found another man. He said to him, ‘Please hit me!’ So the man hit him. He hurt the prophet very much. ³⁸ Then the prophet went and he stood beside the road. He was waiting for king Ahab to come. He tied a cloth over his eyes so that the king would not recognize him.

³⁹ When the king came along the road, the prophet shouted to him, ‘Please sir, I went to fight in the middle of the battle. Then someone brought an enemy soldier to me as a prisoner. He said to me, “Keep this prisoner safe. If he escapes for any reason, you will die! To save your life, you will have to pay 3,000 silver coins.” ⁴⁰ But I had other things to do, sir. While I was doing them, the prisoner escaped.’

King Ahab replied, ‘What you have just said shows that you deserve your punishment.’

⁴¹ Then the prophet quickly took away the cloth that covered his eyes. The king recognized that the man was one of the prophets. ⁴² The prophet said to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says to you: “I decided that a man should die, but you have let him go free. So you must pay for his life with your life. Your people will receive the trouble that his people deserved.” ’

⁴³ So King Ahab of Israel went home to his palace in Samaria. He was angry and upset.

Jesus helps a man who cannot walk

¹⁷ One day, while Jesus was teaching in someone's house, many people were sitting there. Some of them were Pharisees.^[a] Other people were teachers of God's Law. They had come from many villages in Galilee, and from Judea and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there with Jesus to make sick people well.

¹⁸ Then some men arrived. They were carrying a man on a mat. The man could not walk or move his legs. They tried to get into the house because they wanted to bring the man to Jesus. ¹⁹ But the house was full of people and they could not get in. So they carried the man onto the flat roof of the house. Then they made a hole in the roof. After that, they put the mat down through the hole. The man was still lying on it. He came down in the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ Jesus saw them. He knew that they believed in him. So he said to the sick man, ‘My friend, I forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.’

²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of God's Law were there. They heard what Jesus said. So they began to think among themselves, ‘Who is this man? He is speaking as if he is God. Only God can forgive people for the wrong things that they have done.’ ²² Jesus knew what these men were thinking. He told them, ‘You should not be thinking these things. ²³ I said to this man, “I forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.” Instead, I could have said to him, “Stand up and walk.” Which one is easier for me to say? ²⁴ But I want you to know this. I, the Son of Man, have authority here on earth.^[b] I can forgive people for the wrong things that they have done.’

Then he said to the man who could not walk, ‘I am saying to you, “Stand up. Pick up your mat and go home!” ’

²⁵ Immediately, the man stood up in front of them all. He picked up the mat that he had been lying on. He went home. He was praising God as he went. ²⁶ What had happened surprised everyone. They said, ‘God is great and powerful! We have seen very strange and special things happen today.’