Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm[a] to the tune of[b] “A Silent Dove Far Away,” when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
A Prayer about Trust in God
56 Have mercy on me, God,
because men have harassed me.
Those who oppress me have fought against me all day long.
2 Those who watch me all day have harassed me,
for there are many who fight against me out of conceit.
3 On days when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I put my trust.
I will not fear what mortal man[c] can do to me.
5 All day long people[d] distort what I say;
all their schemes against me are for evil purposes.
6 They gather together
and hide in ambush.
They watch my every step
as they lie in wait for my life.
7 Cast them away because of their wickedness.
In wrath, God, cast down these[e] people!
8 You have kept count of my wanderings.
Put my tears in your bottle—
have not you recorded them in your book?
9 My enemies will retreat when I call on you.[f]
This has been my experience,
because God is with me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 in God I will put my trust.
I will not fear what mortal man can do to me.
The Healing of Naaman
5 Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram,[a] was a great man in the opinion[b] of his master. He was highly favored, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. Though he was a mighty and valiant man, he was suffering from leprosy. 2 On one of their raids to the territory of Israel, Aram had taken captive a young girl when she was an infant,[c] who had eventually become an attendant to[d] Naaman’s wife. 3 She mentioned to her mistress, “If only my master were to visit the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
4 Later, Naaman[e] went to inform his master and told him something like this: “Thus and so spoke the young woman from the territory of Israel.”
5 The king of Aram replied, “Go now, and I’ll send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he left and took with him ten talents[f] of silver and 6,000 units[g] of gold, along with ten sets[h] of clothing. 6 He also brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read as follows: “…and now as this letter finds its way to you, look! I’ve sent my servant Naaman to you so you may heal him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he ripped his clothes and cried out, “Am I God? Can I kill and give life? Is this man sending me a request[i] to heal a man’s leprosy? Let’s think about this—he’s looking for a reason to start a fight[j] with me!”
8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message[k] to the king and asked, “Why did you tear your clothes? Please, let the man come visit me and he will learn that there is a prophet in Israel!”
9 So Naaman arrived with his horses and chariots and stood in front of the door to Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger out to him, who told him, “Go bathe in the Jordan River[l] seven times. Your flesh will be restored for you. Now stay clean!”
11 But Naaman flew into a rage and left, telling himself, “Look! I thought ‘He’s surely going to come out to me, stand still, call out in the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the infection,[m] and cure the leprosy!’ 12 Aren’t the Abana and Pharpar rivers in Damascus better than all of the water in Israel? Couldn’t I just bathe in them and become clean?” So he turned away and left, filled with anger.
13 But then his servants approached him and spoke with him. They said, “My father, had the prophet only asked of you something great, you would have done it, wouldn’t you? Yet he told you, ‘Bathe, and be clean…!’” 14 So he went down and plunged himself into the Jordan River[n] seven times, just as the man of God had said, and his flesh rejuvenated like the flesh of a newborn child. And he was clean.
13 Therefore, the person who speaks in a foreign language should pray for the ability to interpret it. 14 For if I pray in a foreign language, my spirit prays but my mind is not productive. 15 What does this mean? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing psalms with my spirit, but I will also sing psalms with my mind. 16 Otherwise, if you say a blessing with your spirit, how can an otherwise uneducated person[a] say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you’re saying? 17 It’s good for you to give thanks, but it does not build up the other person. 18 I thank God that I speak in foreign languages more than all of you. 19 But in church I would rather speak five words with my mind to instruct others than 10,000 words in a foreign language.
20 Brothers, stop being[b] childish in your thinking. Be like infants with respect to evil, but think like adults. 21 In the Law it is written,
“By means of foreign languages
and through the mouths of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,”[c]
declares the Lord.
22 Foreign languages, then, are meant to be a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is meant, not for unbelievers, but for believers. 23 Now if the whole church gathers in the same place and everyone is speaking in foreign languages, when uneducated people or unbelievers come in, they will say that you are out of your mind, won’t they? 24 But if everyone is prophesying, when an unbeliever or an uneducated person comes in he will be convicted and examined by everything that’s happening.[d] 25 His secret, inner heart will become known, and so he will bow down to the ground and worship God, declaring, “God is truly among you!”
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