Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A psalm by David sung at the dedication of the temple.

¹⁸ Several years later the boy went to his father, who was with the harvest workers. ¹⁹ ⌞Suddenly,⌟ he said to his father, “My head! My head!”

The father told his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”

²⁰ The servant picked him up and brought him to his mother. The boy sat on her lap until noon, when he died. ²¹ She took him upstairs and laid him on the bed of the man of God, left ⌞the room⌟, and shut the door behind her. ²² She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys. I will go quickly to the man of God and come back again.”

²³ Her husband asked, “Why are you going to him today? It isn’t a New Moon Festival or a day of rest—a holy day.”

But she said goodbye to him.

²⁴ She saddled the donkey. Then she told her servant, “Lead on. Don’t slow down unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When he saw her coming at a distance, he told his servant Gehazi, “There is the woman from Shunem. ²⁶ Run to meet her and ask her how she, her husband, and the boy are doing.”

“Everyone’s fine,” she answered.

²⁷ When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi went to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is bitter. The Lord has hidden the reason from me. He hasn’t told me.”

²⁸ The woman said, “I didn’t ask you for a son. I said, ‘Don’t raise my hopes.’ ”

²⁹ The man of God told Gehazi, “Put on a belt, take my shepherd’s staff in your hand, and go. Whenever you meet anyone, don’t stop to greet him. If he greets you, don’t stop to answer him. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”

³⁰ The boy’s mother said, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord and you live, I will not leave without you.” So Elisha got up and followed her.

³¹ Gehazi went ahead of them and put the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or sign of life. So Gehazi came back to meet the man of God. Gehazi told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.”

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

8 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know how God showed his kindness ^[a] to the churches in the province of Macedonia. ² While they were being severely tested by suffering, their overflowing joy, along with their extreme poverty, has made them even more generous. ³ I assure you that by their own free will they have given all they could, even more than they could afford. ⁴ They made an appeal to us, begging us to let them participate in the ministry of God’s kindness to his holy people ⌞in Jerusalem⌟. ⁵ They did more than we had expected. First, they gave themselves to the Lord and to us, since this was God’s will. ⁶ This led us to urge Titus to finish his work of God’s kindness among you in the same way as he had already started it.

⁷ Indeed, the more your faith, your ability to speak, your knowledge, your dedication, and your love for us increase, the more we want you to participate in this work of God’s kindness.