Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Elijah Runs Away from Ahab and Jezebel

19 Ahab told his wife Jezebel what Elijah had done and that he had killed the prophets. ² She sent a message to Elijah: “You killed my prophets. Now I'm going to kill you! I pray that the gods will punish me even more severely if I don't do it by this time tomorrow.”

³ Elijah was afraid when he got her message, and he ran to the town of Beersheba in Judah. He left his servant there, ^4 (A) then walked another whole day into the desert. Finally, he came to a large bush and sat down in its shade. He begged the Lord, “I've had enough. Just let me die! I'm no better off than my ancestors.”

⁵ Then he lay down in the shade and fell asleep.

Suddenly an angel woke him up and said, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ Elijah looked around, and by his head was a jar of water and some baked bread. He sat up, ate and drank, then lay down and went back to sleep.

⁷ Soon the Lord's angel woke him again and said, “Get up and eat, or else you'll get too tired to travel.”

⁸ So Elijah sat up and ate and drank.

The food and water made him strong enough to walk 40 more days. At last, he reached Mount Sinai,^[a] the mountain of God, ⁹ and he spent the night there in a cave.

The Lord Appears to Elijah

While Elijah was on Mount Sinai, the Lord asked, “Elijah, why are you here?”

^10 (A) He answered, “Lord God All-Powerful, I've always done my best to obey you. But your people have broken their solemn promise to you. They have torn down your altars and killed all your prophets, except me. And now they are even trying to kill me!”

¹¹ “Go out and stand on the mountain,” the Lord replied. “I want you to be there when I pass by.”

All at once, a strong wind shook the mountain and shattered the rocks. But the Lord was not in the wind. Next, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² Then there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

Finally, there was a gentle breeze,^{[b] 13} and when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his coat. He went out and stood at the entrance to the cave.

A voice asked, “Elijah, why are you here?”

¹⁴ Elijah answered, “Lord God All-Powerful, I've always done my best to obey you. But your people have broken their solemn promise to you. They have torn down your altars and killed all your prophets, except me. And now they are even trying to kill me!”

^15 (B) The Lord said:

Elijah, you can go back to the desert near Damascus. And when you get there, appoint^[c] Hazael to be king of Syria.

BOOK II

(Psalms 42–72)

(A special psalm by the clan of Korah and for the music leader.)

Longing for God

A Prayer in Times of Trouble

²³ The Law controlled us and kept us under its power until the time came when we would have faith. ²⁴ In fact, the Law was to be our teacher until Christ came. Then we could have faith and be acceptable to God. ²⁵ But once a person has learned to have faith, there is no more need to have the Law as a teacher.

²⁶ All of you are God's children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes. ²⁸ Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman. ^29 (A) So if you belong to Christ, you are now part of Abraham's family,^[a] and you will be given what God has promised.

A Man with Demons in Him

(Matthew 8.28-34; Mark 5.1-20)

²⁶ Jesus and his disciples sailed across Lake Galilee and came to shore near the town of Gerasa.^{[a] 27} As Jesus was getting out of the boat, he was met by a man from this town. The man had demons in him. He had gone naked for a long time and no longer lived in a house, but in the graveyard.^[b]

²⁸ The man saw Jesus and screamed. He knelt down in front of him and shouted, “Jesus, Son of God Most High, what do you want with me? I beg you not to torture me!” ²⁹ He said this because Jesus had already told the evil spirit to go out of him.

The man had often been attacked by the demon. And even though he had been bound with chains and leg irons and kept under guard, he smashed whatever bound him. Then the demon would force him out into lonely places.

³⁰ Jesus asked the man, “What is your name?”

He answered, “My name is Lots.” He said this because there were “lots” of demons in him. ³¹ They begged Jesus not to send them to the deep pit,^[c] where they would be punished.

³² A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. So the demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and Jesus let them go. ³³ Then the demons left the man and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

³⁴ When the men taking care of the pigs saw this, they ran to spread the news in the town and on the farms. ³⁵ The people went out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they also found the man. The demons had gone out of him, and he was sitting there at the feet of Jesus. He had clothes on and was in his right mind. But the people were terrified.

³⁶ Then all who had seen the man healed told about it. ³⁷ Everyone from around Gerasa^[d] begged Jesus to leave, because they were so frightened.

When Jesus got into the boat to start back, ³⁸ the man who had been healed begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him off and said, ³⁹ “Go back home and tell everyone how much God has done for you.” The man then went all over town, telling everything that Jesus had done for him.