Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 77

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

Ahaziah’s death

1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel.

² Ahaziah fell out the window of his second-story room in Samaria and was hurt. He sent messengers, telling them, “Go to Ekron’s god Baal-zebub, and ask if I will recover from this injury.”

³ But the Lord’s messenger said to Elijah from Tishbe, “Go, intercept the messengers of Samaria’s king, and ask them, ‘Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you are going to question Ekron’s god Baal-zebub? ⁴ This is what the Lord says: You will never get out of the bed you are lying in; you will die for sure!’” So Elijah set off.

⁵ The messengers returned to Ahaziah. He said to them, “Why have you come back?”

⁶ They said to him, “A man met us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you. Say to him, This is what the Lord says: Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you’ve come to question Ekron’s god Baal-zebub? Because of this, you will never get out of the bed you are lying in; you will die for sure!’”

⁷ Ahaziah said to them, “Describe the man who met you and said these things.”

⁸ They said to him, “He wore clothes made of hair^[a] with a leather belt around his waist.”

Ahaziah said, “That was Elijah from Tishbe.”

⁹ So Ahaziah sent out a commander with fifty soldiers. The commander met up with Elijah while he was sitting on a hilltop. The commander said, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”

¹⁰ Elijah replied to the commander of the fifty soldiers, “If I really am a man of God, may fire come down from the sky and burn up you and your fifty soldiers.” Then fire came down from the sky and burned up the commander and his fifty soldiers.

¹¹ Ahaziah then sent another commander with fifty soldiers. The commander said to Elijah, “Man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Hurry and come down!’”

¹² Elijah said to them, “If I really am a man of God, may fire come down from the sky and burn up you and your fifty soldiers.” Then God’s fire came down from the sky and burned up the commander and his fifty soldiers.

Paul’s concern for the Galatians

⁸ At the time, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved by things that aren’t gods by nature. ⁹ But now, after knowing God (or rather, being known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless world system? Do you want to be slaves to it again? ¹⁰ You observe religious days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹ I’m afraid for you! Perhaps my hard work for you has been for nothing.

¹² I beg you to be like me, brothers and sisters, because I have become like you! You haven’t wronged me. ¹³ You know that I first preached the gospel to you because of an illness. ¹⁴ Though my poor health burdened you, you didn’t look down on me or reject me, but you welcomed me as if I were an angel from God, or as if I were Christ Jesus! ¹⁵ Where then is the great attitude that you had? I swear that, if possible, you would have dug out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶ So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? ¹⁷ They are so concerned about you, though not with good intentions. Rather, they want to shut you out so that you would run after them. ¹⁸ However, it’s always good to have people concerned about you with good intentions, and not just when I’m there with you. ¹⁹ My little children, I’m going through labor pains again until Christ is formed in you. ²⁰ But I wish I could be with you now and change how I sound, because I’m at a loss about you.