Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 77

For the music leader. According to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

²⁹ So Israel’s king and Judah’s King Jehoshaphat attacked Ramoth-gilead. ³⁰ Israel’s king said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself when we go into battle,^[a] but you should wear your royal attire.” When Israel’s king had disguised himself, they entered the battle.

³¹ Meanwhile, Aram’s king had commanded his thirty-two chariot officers, “Don’t bother with anyone big or small. Fight only with Israel’s king.”

³² As soon as the chariot officers saw Jehoshaphat, they assumed that he must be Israel’s king, so they turned to attack him. But Jehoshaphat cried out for help. ³³ When the chariot officers realized that he wasn’t Israel’s king, they stopped chasing him. ³⁴ But someone randomly shot an arrow that struck Israel’s king between the joints in his armor.^[b]

“Turn around and get me out of the battle,” the king told his chariot driver. “I’ve been hit!”

³⁵ While the battle raged all that day, the king stood propped up in the chariot facing the Arameans. But that evening he died after his blood had poured from his wound into the chariot. ³⁶ When the sun set, a shout spread throughout the camp: “Retreat to your towns! Retreat to your land!” ³⁷ Once the king had died, people came from Samaria and buried the king there. ³⁸ They cleaned the chariot at the pool of Samaria. The dogs licked up the king’s blood and the prostitutes bathed in it, just as the Lord had spoken.

Ahab’s last days

³⁹ The rest of Ahab’s deeds and all that he did—including the ivory palace he built and all the towns he constructed—aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s kings? ⁴⁰ Ahab lay down with his ancestors. His son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.

Ahaziah rules Israel

⁵¹ In the seventeenth year of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat, Ahaziah, Ahab’s son, became king over Israel in Samaria. He ruled over Israel for two years. ⁵² He did evil in the Lord’s eyes. He walked in his father’s ways and his mother’s ways—that is, in the ways of Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, who had caused Israel to sin. ⁵³ Ahaziah served Baal and worshipped him. He angered the Lord, Israel’s God, by doing all the same things his father had done.

⁵ Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don’t you understand that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. ⁶ But I hope that you will realize that we don’t fail the test. ⁷ We pray to God that you don’t do anything wrong, not because we want to appear to pass the test but so that you might do the right thing, even if we appear to fail.

⁸ We can’t do anything against the truth but only to help the truth. ⁹ We are happy when we are weak but you are strong. We pray for this: that you will be made complete. ¹⁰ This is why I’m writing these things while I’m away. I’m writing so that I won’t need to act harshly when I’m with you by using the authority that the Lord gave me. He gave it to me so that I could build you up, not tear you down.