Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 143
Do Not Bring Your Servant Into Judgment
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A psalm by David.
Prayer for Forgiveness
1 Lord, hear my prayer.
Give ear to my cry for mercy.
In your faithfulness, answer me in your righteousness.
2 Do not bring charges against your servant,
because no one living can be righteous before you.
The Problem
3 For the enemy pursues my soul.
He crushes my life to the ground.
He makes me dwell in dark places like those long dead,
4 so my spirit grows faint inside me.
Within me my heart is devastated.
The Reason for Hope
5 I remember the days of long ago.
I meditate on all your works,
and I consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you. Interlude
My soul thirsts for you like a weary land.
The Prayer
7 Hurry! Answer me, Lord.
My spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me,
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear about your mercy in the morning,
for I trust in you.
Teach me the way that I should go,
for I lift up my soul to you.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord,
for I hide myself in you.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
May your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
11 For the sake of your name, O Lord, preserve my life.
In your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.
12 In your mercy, wipe out my enemies,
and destroy all who threaten my life,
for I am your servant.
Elisha Raises the Boy From the Dead
18 The boy grew up, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 Then he said to his father, “My head! My head!”
His father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 So he picked him up and carried him to his mother, and the boy sat on her lap until noon. Then he died.
21 Then she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. She shut the door behind her and went out. 22 Then she called to her husband and said, “Send one of the servants to me with one of the donkeys, so that I can run to the man of God and come back.”
23 He said, “Why are you going to him today? It’s not the new moon, and it’s not the Sabbath.”
But she said, “It’s all right.”
24 Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead the way. Don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.”
25 So she went to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When the man of God saw her from a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! That’s the woman from Shunem! 26 Now run to meet her and say, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your son all right?’”
She answered, “We’re all right.”
27 Then she came to the man of God at the mountain, and she grasped his feet. Gehazi stepped forward to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me. He has not told me.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t give me false hope’?”
29 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Hike up your garments for travel,[a] and take my staff in your hand and go! If you meet someone, do not greet him, and if someone greets you, do not answer. Put my staff on the boy’s face.”
30 But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he 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, and there was no response. So he went back to Elisha and told him, “The boy did not wake up.”
32 When Elisha came to the house, there the boy was—dead, lying on his bed. 33 So he went in and he shut the door behind the two of them. Then he prayed to the Lord. 34 He got up and lay down on top of the boy. He put his mouth to the boy’s mouth, his eyes to the boy’s eyes, his palms to the boy’s palms. Then he bent down over him, and the boy’s flesh became warm. 35 He went back into the house and paced back and forth. Then he went up and bent down over him, and the boy sneezed seven times. Then the boy opened his eyes.
36 Then Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the woman of Shunem!” So he called her, and she came in. He said, “Pick up your son.” 37 So she came in and fell at Elisha’s feet and bowed down to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.
Made Alive in Christ by Grace
2 You were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked when you followed the ways of this present world. You were following the ruler of the domain of the air, the spirit now at work in the people who disobey.
3 Formerly, we all lived among them in the passions of our sinful flesh, as we carried out the desires of the sinful flesh and its thoughts. Like all the others, we were by nature objects of God’s wrath.
4 But God, because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6 He also raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 7 He did this so that, in the coming ages, he might demonstrate the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.