Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
In God I Trust
Psalm 56
1 For the music director: “A Silent Dove Far Away,” a Michtam of David, when the Philistines had seized him in Gath.
2 Be gracious to me, O God!
For man has crushed me,
fighting all day he oppresses me.
3 My foes trample me all day.
For many are fighting me arrogantly.
4 In a day when I am afraid,
I will put my trust in You.
5 In God—I keep praising His word—
in God I trust, I will not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
6 All day they twist my words.
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
7 They stir up strife; they lie hidden.
They mark my steps, eager to take my soul.
8 In spite of such sin, will they escape?
In fierce anger, O God, cast down such people!
9 You have recorded my wanderings.
You put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
10 Then my enemies will turn back in the day I call.
This I know—that God is for me.
11 In God—I keep praising His word—
in Adonai—I keep praising His word—
12 in God I trust, I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
13 I am under vows to You, O God.
I will present thank offerings to You.
14 For You have delivered my soul from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God in the light of life.
Naaman’s Tza’arat
5 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly esteemed, because through him Adonai had given victory to Aram. Though the man was a mighty man of valor, he had tza’arat.
2 Aram had gone out in bands, and had taken captive a young girl from the land of Israel. So she served Naaman’s wife. 3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my lord went before the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his tza’arat.”
4 So Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel.” 5 The king of Aram said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothes.
6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel saying, “When this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent my servant Naaman to you, so you may cure him of his tza’arat.”
7 Now when the king of Israel read the letter, he ripped his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending to me to cure a man of his tza’arat? But please consider, and see how he is seeking a pretext against me.”
8 Now when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent word to the king saying, “Why have you rent your clothes? Please, let him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. 10 So Elisha sent him a messenger, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”
11 But Naaman was angered and walked away, saying, “I thought he would surely come out to me, stand and call on the Name of Adonai his God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the tza’arat. 12 Aren’t Amanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 But his servants approached him and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he told you only to ‘Wash and be clean’?” 14 So, he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God. Then his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
13 Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What is it then? I will pray in my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing praises with my spirit, and I will also sing praises with my mind. 16 Otherwise if you give thanks and praise in the spirit, how will one filling the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he has no idea what you’re saying? 17 For you certainly give thanks well, but the other person is not built up. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 However, in Messiah’s community I would rather speak five words with my mind, so I may also instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brothers and sisters, stop being children in your thinking—rather, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In the Prophets[a] it is written,
“By those with strange tongues
and by the lips of strangers
I will speak to this people.
And not even then will they listen to me,” says Adonai.
22 Therefore tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers—but prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 So if Messiah’s whole community comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and uninstructed or unbelieving people come in, won’t they say that you are crazy? 24 But if all are prophesying and some unbelieving or ungifted person comes in, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all. 25 The secrets of his heart become known, and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring, “God really is among you!”[b]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.