Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Joy Comes with the Morning

A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of ^(A)the temple.

Elisha and the Shunammite Woman

⁸ One day Elisha went on to ^(A)Shunem, where a ^(B)wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. ⁹ And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy ^(C)man of God who is continually passing our way. ¹⁰ Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.”

¹¹ One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. ¹² And he said to ^(D)Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³ And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to ^(E)the commander of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.” ¹⁴ And he said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ He said, “Call her.” And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ And he said, “At this season, ^(F)about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, ^(G)O man of God; ^(H)do not lie to your servant.” ¹⁷ But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time ^(I)the following spring, as Elisha had said to her.

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^(A)sold under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(B)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^(C)the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now ^(D)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells ^(E)in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ^19 (F)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, ^(G)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For ^(H)I delight in the law of God, ^(I)in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members ^(J)another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^(K)this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.