Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

77 Understanding for Asaph. Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

² I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from the beginning.

¹¹ And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them.

¹² Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.

¹³ He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.

¹⁴ And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with a light of fire.

¹⁵ He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.

¹⁶ He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers.

¹⁷ And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water.

¹⁸ And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.

¹⁹ And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

²⁰ Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?

¹³ Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees, before Elias, and besought him and said: Man of God, despise not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me.

¹⁴ Behold fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them: but now I beseech thee to spare my life.

¹⁵ And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: Go down with him, fear not. He arose therefore, and went down with him to the king,

¹⁶ And said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest inquire the word; therefore from the bed on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die.

¹⁷ So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elias spoke, and Joram his brother reigned in his stead, in the second year of Joram the son of Josaphat king of Juda: because he had no son.

¹⁸ But the rest of the acts of Ochozias which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

³ The sons of the prophets, that were at Bethel, came forth to Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he answered: I also know it: hold your peace.

⁴ And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay here because the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And when they were come to Jericho,

⁵ The sons of the prophets that were at Jericho, came to Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he said: I also know it: hold your peace.

²¹ But he strictly charging them, commanded they should tell this to no man.

²² Saying: The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day rise again.

²³ And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

²⁴ For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it.

²⁵ For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself?

²⁶ For he that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of man shall be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty, and that of his Father, and of the holy angels.

²⁷ But I tell you of a truth: There are some standing here that shall not taste death, till they see the kingdom of God.