Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 77[a]
Confidence in God During National Distress
1 For the leader; According to Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.
I
2 I cry aloud to God,
I cry to God to hear me.
II
12 [b]I will recall the deeds of the Lord;
yes, recall your wonders of old.(B)
13 I will ponder all your works;
on your exploits I will meditate.
14 Your way, God, is holy;
what god is as great as our God?(C)
15 You are the God who does wonders;
among the peoples you have revealed your might.(D)
16 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph.(E)
Selah
17 The waters saw you, God;
the waters saw you and lashed about,
even the deeps of the sea[c] trembled.(F)
18 The clouds poured down their rains;
the thunderheads rumbled;
your arrows flashed back and forth.(G)
19 The thunder of your chariot wheels resounded;
your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.(H)
20 Through the sea was your way;
your path, through the mighty waters,
though your footsteps were unseen.(I)
Ahab at Ramoth-gilead. 29 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead, 30 and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you put on your own robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and entered the battle. 31 In the meantime the king of Aram had given his thirty-two chariot commanders the order, “Do not fight with anyone, great or small, except the king of Israel alone.”
32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they cried out, “There is the king of Israel!” and wheeled to fight him. But Jehoshaphat cried out, 33 and the chariot commanders, seeing that he was not the king of Israel, turned away from him. 34 But someone drew his bow at random, and hit the king of Israel between the joints of his breastplate. He ordered his charioteer, “Rein about and take me out of the ranks, for I am wounded.”
35 (A)The battle grew fierce during the day, and the king, who was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans, died in the evening. The blood from his wound flowed to the bottom of the chariot. 36 At sunset a cry went through the army, “Every man to his city, every man to his land!”
37 And so the king died, and came back to Samaria, and they buried him there. 38 (B)When they washed out the chariot at the pool of Samaria, the dogs licked up his blood and prostitutes bathed there, as the Lord had prophesied.
39 The rest of the acts of Ahab, with all that he did, including the ivory house he built and all the cities he built, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 40 Ahab rested with his ancestors, and his son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.
51 Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors; he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David his father, and his son Jehoram succeeded him as king.
Reign of Ahaziah.[a] 52 Ahaziah, son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year[b] of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; he reigned two years over Israel.
53 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of his father, his mother, and Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
5 [a]Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, of course, you fail the test. 6 I hope you will discover that we have not failed. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do evil, not that we may appear to have passed the test but that you may do what is right, even though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong. What we pray for is your improvement.
10 [b](A)I am writing this while I am away, so that when I come I may not have to be severe in virtue of the authority that the Lord has given me to build up and not to tear down.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.