Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Help in Time of Trouble[a]
6 (A)Lord, don't be angry and rebuke me!
Don't punish me in your anger!
2 I am worn out, O Lord; have pity on me!
Give me strength; I am completely exhausted
3 and my whole being is deeply troubled.
How long, O Lord, will you wait to help me?
4 Come and save me, Lord;
in your mercy rescue me from death.
5 In the world of the dead you are not remembered;
no one can praise you there.
6 I am worn out with grief;
every night my bed is damp from my weeping;
my pillow is soaked with tears.
7 I can hardly see;
my eyes are so swollen
from the weeping caused by my enemies.
8 (B)Keep away from me, you evil people!
The Lord hears my weeping;
9 he listens to my cry for help
and will answer my prayer.
10 My enemies will know the bitter shame of defeat;
in sudden confusion they will be driven away.
The Recovery of the Ax Head
6 One day the group of prophets that Elisha was in charge of complained to him, “The place where we live is too small! 2 Give us permission to go to the Jordan and cut down some trees, so that we can build a place to live.”
“All right,” Elisha answered.
3 One of them urged him to go with them; he agreed, 4 and they set out together. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began to work. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, suddenly his iron ax head fell in the water. “What shall I do, sir?” he exclaimed to Elisha. “It was a borrowed ax!”
6 “Where did it fall?” Elisha asked.
The man showed him the place, and Elisha cut off a stick, threw it in the water, and made the ax head float. 7 “Take it out,” he ordered, and the man reached down and picked it up.
The Unbelieving Towns(A)
13 (B)“How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have long ago sat down, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins! 14 God will show more mercy on the Judgment Day to Tyre and Sidon than to you. 15 (C)And as for you, Capernaum! Did you want to lift yourself up to heaven? You will be thrown down to hell!”
16 (D)Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.