Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God’s Chosen One Will Rule

2 Why are the nations so shaken up and the people planning foolish things? ² The kings of the earth stand in a line ready to fight, and all the leaders are against the Lord and against His Chosen One. ³ They say, “Let us break their chains and throw them away from us.”

⁴ He Who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord makes fun of them. ⁵ Then He will speak to them in His anger and make them afraid, saying, ⁶ “But as for Me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy mountain.” ⁷ I will make known the words of the Lord. He said to Me, “You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father. ⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for you to own. The ends of the earth will belong to You. ⁹ You will break them using a piece of iron. And they will be broken in pieces like pots of clay.”

¹⁰ So, kings, be wise. Listen, you rulers of the earth. ¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear, and be full of joy as you shake in fear. ¹² Kiss the Son. Be afraid that He may be angry and destroy you in the way. For His anger is quick. Happy are all who put their trust in Him.

²⁰ Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O you who hate me?” Elijah answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is sinful in the eyes of the Lord. ²¹ See, I will bring trouble upon you. I will destroy you. I will kill every male of Ahab in Israel, both those who are servants and those who are free. ²² I will make your house like the family of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the family of Baasha the son of Ahijah. Because you have made Me angry, and have made Israel sin. ²³ And the Lord has spoken about Jezebel, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the land of Jezreel.’ ²⁴ The dogs will eat anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city. The birds of the air will eat anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the field.”

²⁵ There was no one who sold himself to do what is sinful in the eyes of the Lord like Ahab did. His wife Jezebel moved him to do it. ²⁶ He did what was hated by following false gods. He did all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out in front of the people of Israel.

²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and dressed in cloth made from hair, and would not eat. He lay dressed in cloth made from hair, and went about very sad. ²⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹ “Do you see how Ahab has got rid of his pride before Me? Because he has gotten rid of his pride, I will not bring trouble to him while he is alive. But I will bring trouble upon his house in his son’s days.”

⁹ They came down from the mountain. Then Jesus said with strong words that they should tell no one what they had seen. They should wait until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰ So they kept those words to themselves, talking to each other about what He meant by being raised from the dead.

¹¹ They asked Jesus, “Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah must come first?” ¹² He said to them, “For sure, Elijah will come first and get things ready. Is it not written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and that men will have nothing to do with Him? ^{(A) 13} But I say to you, Elijah has already come. They did to him whatever they wanted to do. It is written that they would.”