Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 143^[a]

Prayer of a Penitent in Distress

^1 [b]A psalm of David.

¹⁸ The child grew up, and one day he went out to his father who was with the reapers. ¹⁹ He said to his father, “My head! My head!” He said to a young man, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ He picked him up and brought him to his mother. He sat on her lap until noon when he died.

²¹ She went up and laid him on the bed belonging to the man of God. She closed him in the room and went out. ²² She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys so that I can hurry to the man of God and return.” ²³ He said, “Why would you go today? It is not a new moon or the Sabbath.” But she said, “It is all right.”^[a]

²⁴ She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on, and do not slow down for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she departed and came to the man of God on Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her from a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, it is the Shunammite. ²⁶ Run to her and say to her, ‘Is everything all right? Is your husband well? Is your child well?’ ” She answered, “It is all right.”

²⁷ When she reached the man of God on the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. Her spirit is in despair, but the Lord had hidden it from me and did not tell me.”

²⁸ She said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not lie to me.’ ”

²⁹ Elisha said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hands, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him. And if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff upon the child’s face.”^{[b] 30} But the boy’s mother said, “As the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

³¹ Gehazi went on before them, and he laid the staff upon the child’s face, but there was no sound or response. He went out to meet him, and he said to him, “The child did not wake up.”

³² When Elisha arrived at the house, the child was lying dead upon his bed. ³³ He went in, and he shut the door on the two of them, and then he prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ He got up and lay upon the child, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, and hands to hands. He stretched himself out upon the child, and the child’s flesh grew warm. ³⁵ He turned and walked back and forth in the room, and then he went and stretched himself out again. The boy sneezed seven times, and then the boy opened his eyes.

³⁶ Elisha called for Gehazi, and he said, “Call this Shunammite.” He called her, and she came, and he said to her, “Take your son.” ³⁷ She came in and bowed down, falling to the ground at Elisha’s feet. She then took her son and left.

Chapter 2

Christ Brought Us from Death to Life.^{[a] 1} You formerly were dead as a result of your transgressions and sins, ² which were your way of life in this worldly era,^[b] obeying the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit that is now at work among the children of rebellion. ³ We too were all numbered among them at one time. We were ruled by our sinful nature, succumbing to the temptations of the flesh and desires. And like all others, we were by nature children of wrath.

⁴ But God is rich in his mercy, and because he had such great love for us, ⁵ he brought us to life with Christ when we were already dead through sin—it is by grace that you have been saved. ⁶ He raised us up in union with Christ Jesus and enthroned us with him in the heavens, ⁷ so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace evidenced by his mercy to us in Christ Jesus.

^8 [c]For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. This has not come from you but from the gift of God. ⁹ It does not come from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for a life of good works that God had prepared for us to do.