Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Naboth's vineyard

21 Naboth lived in a town called Jezreel. He had a vineyard in Jezreel, near to the palace of Ahab, the king of Samaria. ² King Ahab said to Naboth, ‘Give me your vineyard. I want to grow vegetables in it, because it is near to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard instead of that one. Or, if you want, I will pay you its value in money.’ ³ Naboth replied to Ahab, ‘The Lord will never allow that to happen! It belongs to me because it belonged to my ancestors.’^[a]

⁴ So Ahab went home to his palace. He was angry and upset because of what Naboth had said. He had said, ‘I will not sell you my vineyard that belonged to my ancestors.’ Ahab lay on his bed. He covered his face and he would not eat any food.

⁵ Ahab's wife, Jezebel, came in to his room. She asked him, ‘Why are you so upset? Why do you refuse to eat anything?’ ⁶ Ahab answered her, ‘It is because of Naboth, the man from Jezreel. I said to him, “Sell your vineyard to me. Or, if you want, I will give you another vineyard instead of that one.” But he said, “I will not give you my vineyard.” ’

⁷ Jezebel said, ‘You are the king who rules Israel! Now get up from your bed and eat something. Do not be upset! I will get Naboth's vineyard for you.’

⁸ Jezebel wrote some letters as if King Ahab had written them. She used his special seal as a mark on them. Then she sent them to the older leaders and important men who lived in Jezreel with Naboth. ⁹ This is what she wrote in those letters: ‘Choose a day for everyone to fast. Give Naboth a seat where the people can see him. ¹⁰ Put two wicked men in seats near him. Tell them to accuse Naboth that he has insulted God and the king. Then take him out. Throw stones at him until he is dead.’

¹¹ So the leaders and the important men who lived in Naboth's city, obeyed Jezebel. They did what she commanded them to do in the letters that she sent to them. ¹² They chose a day for the people to fast. They put Naboth in a seat where the people could see him. ¹³ Then two wicked men came and they sat near to him. They accused Naboth so that the people could all hear them. They said, ‘Naboth has insulted God and the king.’ So the people took him outside the city. They threw stones at him until he was dead. ¹⁴ Then the city's leaders sent a message to Jezebel. They told her, ‘The people have killed Naboth with stones.’

¹⁵ When Jezebel heard that Naboth was dead, she said to Ahab, ‘Get up from your bed! Go to Jezreel and take Naboth's vineyard for yourself. He refused to sell it to you when he was alive. But now he is dead.’ ¹⁶ When Ahab knew that Naboth was dead, he got up from his bed. He went to Naboth's vineyard to take it for himself.

¹⁷ After this, the Lord gave a message to Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe. ¹⁸ He said to Elijah, ‘Go now to meet King Ahab of Israel who rules in Samaria. He is at Naboth's vineyard to take it as his own vineyard. ¹⁹ Say to Ahab, “This is what the Lord says to you: You have murdered a man. You have taken the dead man's field for yourself.” Then say to him, “This is what the Lord says: In the place where the dogs drank Naboth's blood from the ground, dogs will drink your blood. Yes, they will drink your blood there too!” ’

²⁰ When Elijah met Ahab, Ahab said to him, ‘So, my enemy, now you have found me!’ Elijah answered, ‘Yes, I have found you to warn you! You have decided to do things that the Lord says are evil. ²¹ So the Lord says, “Now I will bring great trouble on you. I will destroy you and your family. I will kill every male among Ahab's descendants in Israel, whoever they are.

Tell the music leader to use flutes.

This is a song that David wrote.

Pray about your enemies^[a]

¹⁵ We were born as Jewish people. We are not Gentiles who have never obeyed God's rules. ¹⁶ But we know that we do not become right with God because we obey his Law. A person only becomes right with God when they believe in Jesus Christ. And we, as Jewish believers, have believed in Christ Jesus. We have become right with God because we trust in what Christ has done. It is not because we obey God's Law that he accepts us. Nobody becomes right with God only because they obey the rules in God's Law.

¹⁷ So then, we Jews become right with God when we believe in Christ. That means that we no longer obey all the Jewish rules. But that does not mean that Christ causes us to do wrong things. Certainly, it does not mean that! ¹⁸ Instead, I would really be doing something wrong if I tried to obey all those rules again. I would be building again something that I had destroyed. That would really be against God's Law. ¹⁹ But God's Law showed me that I could never obey all its rules. So I became like a dead person, free from the authority of those rules. That means that I can now live to please God.^[a]

²⁰ Christ died on the cross on my behalf. It is like I died there with him. So I do not live my own life any more. Instead, Christ lives in me. The life that I live now in my body, I live because I trust what he has done for me. He has loved me so much that he died on my behalf. ²¹ So I do not refuse to accept the kind gift of God. If the rules of God's Law could make me right with him, then Christ would have died for no reason!

A woman pours expensive oil on Jesus

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat a meal with him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. ³⁷ In that town was a woman who had done many wrong things. She heard that Jesus was eating a meal at the house of the Pharisee. So she took a small stone jar with oil in it, and she went there. The oil had a very nice smell. ³⁸ She went into the house and she stood behind Jesus. She was crying and she made his feet wet with her tears. Then she made his feet dry again with her hair and she kissed them. She then poured the oil out of the jar onto his feet. ³⁹ When the Pharisee saw this, he said to himself, ‘This man cannot be a prophet from God. If he were, he would know all about this woman. He would know that she is a very bad person. He would not let her touch him.’

⁴⁰ Jesus said to him, ‘Simon, I want to tell you something.’ Simon replied, ‘Yes, Teacher, tell me.’ So Jesus told him a story about two men:

⁴¹ ‘Someone had lent two men some money. He had lent one of them 500 silver coins. He had lent the other one 50 coins.^{[a] 42} Neither of the men had enough money to pay him back. Then the man that had lent them the money forgave them. “You do not need to pay back my money,” he said to them both.’

Jesus then asked Simon, ‘Which of these two men will love that man most?’ ⁴³ Simon replied, ‘I think that it is the man that needed to pay back the most money.’

‘You are right,’ Jesus said. ⁴⁴ Then he turned towards the woman. ‘You see this woman,’ he said to Simon. ‘When I came into your house, you did not give me water for my feet.^[b] But she has washed my feet with her tears and she has made them dry with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not say “Hello” to me with a kiss. But this woman began to kiss my feet when she came in. And she has not stopped. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head. But she has brought oil with a nice smell and put it on my feet. ⁴⁷ So I tell you, this woman has done many bad things. But I have forgiven her. She loves me a lot, because I have forgiven her for many bad things. If I only forgive someone a little, that person only loves me a little.’

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Woman, I forgive you for all the bad things that you have done.’

⁴⁹ The other people at the meal talked among themselves. They said, ‘Who is this man? Can he really forgive the bad things that people have done?’

⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, ‘You have believed in me, so God has saved you. You may go now, and be happy.’

The women that helped Jesus

8 After this, Jesus went to visit many towns and villages. He told people the good news about the kingdom of God. The 12 disciples were travelling with him. ² Some women also went with them. These women had been ill, but Jesus had made them well again. One of the women was Mary from Magdala. Jesus had sent seven bad spirits away from her. ³ Another of the women was Joanna, the wife of Chuza. Chuza had authority over all the people that worked in the house of King Herod. Another of the women was Susanna. There were also many others. These women were using their own money to help Jesus and his disciples.