Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A psalm of David. A song for setting apart the completed temple to God.

¹⁸ The child grew. One day he went out to get his father. His father was with the people who were gathering the crops. ¹⁹ The boy said to his father, “My head hurts! It really hurts!”

His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ The servant lifted up the boy. He carried him to his mother. The boy sat on her lap until noon. Then he died. ²¹ She went up to the room on the roof. There she laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut the door and went out.

²² She sent for her husband. She said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey. Then I can go quickly to the man of God and return.”

²³ “Why do you want to go to him today?” he asked. “It isn’t the time for the New Moon feast. It isn’t the Sabbath day.”

“Don’t let that bother you,” she said.

²⁴ She put a saddle on her donkey. She said to her servant, “Let’s go. Don’t slow down for me unless I tell you to.” ²⁵ So she started out. She came to Mount Carmel. That’s where the man of God was.

When she was still a long way off, he saw her coming. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the woman from Shunem! ²⁶ Run out there to meet her. Ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’ ”

“Everything is all right,” she said.

²⁷ She came to the man of God at the mountain. Then she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is suffering terribly. But the Lord hasn’t told me the reason for it. He has hidden it from me.”

²⁸ “My master, did I ask you for a son?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t make me hope for something that won’t happen’?”

²⁹ Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your coat into your belt. Take my walking stick and run to Shunem. Don’t say hello to anyone you see. If anyone says hello to you, don’t answer. Lay my walking stick on the boy’s face.”

³⁰ But the child’s mother said, “I won’t leave you. And that’s just as sure as the Lord and you are alive.” So Elisha got up and followed her.

³¹ Gehazi went on ahead. He laid Elisha’s walking stick on the boy’s face. But there wasn’t any sound. The boy didn’t move at all. So Gehazi went back to Elisha. He told him, “The boy hasn’t awakened.”

Giving Freely to the Lord’s People

8 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given to the churches in Macedonia. ² They have suffered a great deal. But in their suffering, their joy was more than full. Even though they were very poor, they gave very freely. ³ I tell you that they gave as much as they could. In fact, they gave even more than they could. Completely on their own, ⁴ they begged us for the chance to share in serving the Lord’s people in that way. ⁵ They did more than we expected. First they gave themselves to the Lord. Then they gave themselves to us because that was what God wanted. ⁶ Titus had already started collecting money from you. So we asked him to help you finish making your kind gift. ⁷ You do well in everything else. You do well in faith and in speaking. You do well in knowledge and in complete commitment. And you do well in the love we have helped to start in you. So make sure that you also do well in the grace of giving to others.