Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Elijah Gets Away from Jezebel

19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. He told her how Elijah had killed with the sword all the men who spoke for Baal. ² Then Jezebel sent news to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” ³ Elijah was afraid. He got up and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba of Judah, he left his servant there. ⁴ But he himself traveled for a day into the desert. He came and sat down under a juniper tree. There he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough now, O Lord. Take my life. For I am not better than my fathers.”

⁵ When he lay down and slept under the juniper tree, an angel touched him. The angel said to him, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ Then Elijah looked and saw by his head a loaf of bread made ready on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. ⁷ The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him, and said, “Get up and eat. Because this traveling is too hard for you.”

⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. And he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

⁹ He came to a cave, and stayed there. The word of the Lord came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰ Elijah said, “I have been very careful to serve the Lord, the God of All. For the people of Israel have turned away from Your agreement. They have torn down Your altars and have killed with the sword the men who speak for You. Only I am left, and they want to kill me.”

God Speaks to Elijah

¹¹ So the angel said, “Go and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And the Lord passed by. A strong wind tore through the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind the earth shook. But the Lord was not in the shaking of the earth. ¹² After the earth shook, a fire came. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a sound of gentle blowing. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he put his coat over his face, and went out and stood at the opening of the hole. Then a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴ He said, “I have been very careful to serve the Lord, the God of All. For the people of Israel have turned away from Your agreement. They have torn down Your altars. And they have killed with the sword the men who speak for You. Only I am left, and they want to kill me.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, set apart Hazael to be the king of Syria.

42 As the deer desires rivers of water, so my soul desires You, O God. ² My soul is thirsty for God, for the living God. When will I come and meet with God? ³ My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” ⁴ These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with many people and lead them to the house of God, with the voice of thankful joy, among the many happy people.

⁵ Why are you sad, O my soul? Why have you become troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will praise Him again for His help of being near me. ⁶ O my God, my soul is troubled within me. So I remember You from the land of the Jordan and the tops of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. ⁷ Sea calls to sea at the sound of Your waterfalls. All Your waves have rolled over me. ⁸ The Lord will send His loving-kindness in the day. And His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I have sorrow because those who hate me come against me with power?” ¹⁰ As a breaking of my bones, those who hate me speak sharp words to me. All day long they say to me, “Where is your God?” ¹¹ Why are you sad, O my soul? Why have you become troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my help and my God.

Prayer to Be Kept Safe

43 Stand by me, O God, and speak in my favor against a sinful nation. Save me from the lying and sinful man. ² For You are the God of my strength. Why have You turned away from me? Why do I have sorrow because those who hate me come against me with power?

³ Send out Your light and Your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy hill and to the places where You live. ⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God, the God of my joy. And I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

⁵ Why are you sad, O my soul? Why have you become troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will praise Him again, my help and my God.

²³ Before it was possible to be saved from the punishment of sin by putting our trust in Christ, we were held under the Law. It was as if we were being kept in prison. We were kept this way until Christ came. ²⁴ The Law was used to lead us to Christ. It was our teacher, and so we were made right with God by putting our trust in Christ. ²⁵ Now that our faith is in Christ, we do not need the Law to lead us. ²⁶ You are now children of God because you have put your trust in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ All of you who have been baptized to show you belong to Christ have become like Christ. ²⁸ God does not see you as a Jew or as a Greek. He does not see you as a servant or as a person free to work. He does not see you as a man or as a woman. You are all one in Christ. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you have become the true children of Abraham. What God promised to him is now yours.

Demons Ask Jesus to Let Them Live in Pigs ^(A)

²⁶ They came to the land of the Gadarenes, which is on the other side of the country of Galilee. ²⁷ As Jesus stepped out on land, a man met Him who had come from the city. This man had demons in him. For a long time he had worn no clothes. He did not live in a house, but lived among the graves. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he got down before Him and cried with a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High? I beg of You not to hurt me!” ²⁹ For Jesus had spoken to the demon to come out of the man. Many times the demon had taken hold of him. The man had to be tied with chains. But he would break the chains and be taken by the demon into the desert.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And the demon answered, “Many,” because many demons had gone into him. ³¹ The demons asked Jesus not to send them to the hole without a bottom in the earth. ³² There were many pigs feeding on the side of the mountain. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs. Jesus said they could. ³³ The demons came out of the man and went into the pigs. Then the many pigs ran down the side of the mountain into the water and died.

³⁴ The men who cared for the pigs ran fast and told what had happened in the town and in the country. ³⁵ People came to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the man from whom the demons had been sent. He was sitting at the feet of Jesus with clothes on and had the right use of his mind. The people were afraid. ³⁶ Those who had seen it told how the man who had had the demons was healed. ³⁷ Then all the people of the country of the Gadarenes begged Jesus to go away from them. They were very much afraid. Jesus got into the boat and went back to the other side.

³⁸ The man out of whom the demons had gone begged to go with Jesus. But Jesus sent him away and said, ³⁹ “Go back to your house and tell everything God has done for you.” He went back and told all the people of the city what great things Jesus had done for him.