Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Prayer for a Safe Place

59 O my God, take me away from those who hate me. Put me up high above those who rise up against me. ² Take me away from those who do wrong. And save me from those who kill. ³ For, look, they lie in wait for my life. Strong men are gathering together to fight me, but not because of my wrong-doing or my sin, O Lord. ⁴ I have done no wrong, but they get ready to fight against me. Rise up to help me. ⁵ You, O Lord God of All, God of Israel, rise up to punish all the nations. Show no loving-kindness to those people who cannot be trusted and plan sins. ⁶ They return at evening. They sound like dogs and go around the city. ⁷ See, they spit with their mouth. Swords are in their lips. And they say, “Who can hear us?” ⁸ But You laugh at them, O Lord. You laugh at all the nations.

⁹ O my Strength, I will watch for You. For God is my strong place. ¹⁰ My God in His loving-kindness will meet me. God will let me look at those who come against me and know that I will win the fight. ¹¹ Do not kill them, or my people may forget. Divide them by Your power and bring them down, O Lord, our safe-covering. ¹² Let them be caught in their pride for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips. For the lies and bad things they say, ¹³ destroy them in anger. Destroy them so that they will be no more. Let it be known that God rules in Jacob and to the ends of the earth.

¹⁴ They return at evening. They make sounds like dogs and go around the city. ¹⁵ They go around looking for food and they show their teeth if they are not filled.

¹⁶ But as for me, I will sing of Your strength. Yes, I will sing with joy of Your loving-kindness in the morning. For You have been a strong and safe place for me in times of trouble. ¹⁷ O my Strength, I will sing praises to You. For God is my strong place and the God Who shows me loving-kindness.

Jehu Is Chosen to Be King of Israel

9 Now Elisha the man of God called one of the sons of those who spoke for God. He said to him, “Get ready to travel. Take this jar of oil and go to Ramoth-gilead. ² When you get there, find Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi. Go in and have him come away from his brothers. Bring him into a room in the house. ³ Then take the jar of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘The Lord says, “I have chosen you to be the king of Israel.”’ Then open the door and run. Do not wait.” ⁴ So the young servant of the man of God went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵ When he came, he found the captains of the army sitting there. He said, “I have something to tell you, O captain.” And Jehu said, “Which one of us?” And he said, “You, O captain.” ⁶ So he got up and went into the house. He poured the oil on Jehu’s head and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have chosen you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. ⁷ You are to destroy the house of your owner Ahab, so that I will punish Jezebel for the blood of My servants who speak for God, and the blood of all the Lord’s servants. ⁸ The whole family of Ahab must be destroyed. And I will destroy every male person in Israel who belongs to Ahab, both the servants and those who are free. ⁹ I will make the family of Ahab like the family of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the family of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ The dogs will eat Jezebel in the land of Jezreel. No one will bury her.’” Then he opened the door and ran away.

¹¹ When Jehu came out to his owner’s servants, one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this crazy person come to you?” Jehu said, “You know the man and his talk.” ¹² And they said, “That is not true. Tell us now.” Jehu said, “This is how he spoke to me. He said, ‘The Lord says, “I have chosen you to be the king of Israel.”’” ¹³ Then each man took his clothes in a hurry and put them under him on the steps. And they sounded the horn and said, “Jehu is king!”

Christ Is the Power and Wisdom of God

¹⁸ Preaching about the cross sounds foolish to those who are dying in sin. But it is the power of God to those of us who are being saved from the punishment of sin. ¹⁹ The Holy Writings say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise people. I will put aside the learning of those who think they know a lot.” ^{(A) 20} Where is the man who is wise? Where is the man who thinks he knows a lot? Where is the man who thinks he has all the answers? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. ²¹ In His wisdom, He did not allow man to come to know Him through the wisdom of this world. It pleased God to save men from the punishment of their sins through preaching the Good News. This preaching sounds foolish. ²² The Jews are looking for something special to see. The Greek people are looking for the answer in wisdom. ²³ But we preach that Christ died on a cross to save them from their sins. These words are hard for the Jews to listen to. The Greek people think it is foolish. ²⁴ Christ is the power and wisdom of God to those who are chosen to be saved from the punishment of sin for both Jews and Greeks. ²⁵ God’s plan looked foolish to men, but it is wiser than the best plans of men. God’s plan which may look weak is stronger than the strongest plans of men.

God’s Wisdom—Human Wisdom

²⁶ Christian brothers, think who you were when the Lord called you. Not many of you were wise or powerful or born into the family of leaders of a country. ²⁷ But God has chosen what the world calls foolish to shame the wise. He has chosen what the world calls weak to shame what is strong. ²⁸ God has chosen what is weak and foolish of the world, what is hated and not known, to destroy the things the world trusts in. ²⁹ In that way, no man can be proud as he stands before God. ³⁰ God Himself made the way so you can have new life through Christ Jesus. God gave us Christ to be our wisdom. Christ made us right with God and set us apart for God and made us holy. Christ bought us with His blood and made us free from our sins. ³¹ It is as the Holy Writings say, “If anyone is going to be proud of anything, he should be proud of the Lord.”