Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Messiah’s Triumph and Kingdom(A)
2 Why (B)do the [a]nations [b]rage,
And the people plot a [c]vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the (C)rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His (D)Anointed,[d] saying,
3 “Let (E)us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens (F)shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have [e]set My King
[f]On My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the [g]decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
(G)‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 (H)You shall [h]break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”
20 So Ahab said to Elijah, (A)“Have you found me, O my enemy?”
And he answered, “I have found you, because (B)you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord: 21 ‘Behold, (C)I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your (D)posterity, and will cut off from Ahab (E)every male in Israel, both (F)bond and free. 22 I will make your house like the house of (G)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of (H)Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin.’ 23 And (I)concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the [a]wall of Jezreel.’ 24 The dogs shall eat (J)whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field.”
25 But (K)there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, (L)because Jezebel his wife [b]stirred him up. 26 And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all (M)that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
27 So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and (N)put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning.
28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 “See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he (O)has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. (P)In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.”
9 (A)Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept this word to themselves, questioning (B)what the rising from the dead meant.
11 And they asked Him, saying, “Why do the scribes say (C)that Elijah must come first?”
12 Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And (D)how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and (E)be treated with contempt? 13 But I say to you that (F)Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.