Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 125

A Song of Ascents.

⁹ And as they were crossing, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask for something, and I will do it for you before I am taken away from you.”

And Elisha said, “Let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

¹⁰ He said, “You have asked for a difficult thing, but if you see me when I am taken from you, it will happen to you. If not, it will not.”

¹¹ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹² Elisha was watching and crying, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” And he did not see him again. Then he grabbed his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

¹³ He picked up the robe of Elijah that fell from him, and he returned and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴ And he took the robe of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord, God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, it parted from one side to the other, and Elisha crossed over.

¹⁵ When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him from far off, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him. ¹⁶ They said to him, “Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has lifted him up and thrown him on some mountain or into some valley.”

He said, “Do not send them.”

¹⁷ When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days but did not find him. ¹⁸ When they returned to him (for he had stayed at Jericho), he said to them, “Did I not say to you, do not go?”

Elisha Performs Miracles

¹⁹ Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “The location of this city is good, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.”

²⁰ He said, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

²¹ He went out to the spring of water and threw the salt into it and said, “Thus says the Lord: I have healed this water. No more death or unfruitfulness will come from it.” ²² So the waters have been healthy until this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

¹⁷ “Now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸ But what God foretold through all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He thus fulfilled. ¹⁹ Therefore repent and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰ and that He may send the One who previously was preached to you, Jesus Christ, ²¹ whom the heavens must receive until the time of restoring what God spoke through all His holy prophets since the world began. ²² For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall hear whatever He may say to you. ²³ And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly eliminated from the people.’^[a]

²⁴ “Indeed, all the prophets since Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold these days. ²⁵ You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’^{[b] 26} God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to you first, to bless you in turning every one of you from your iniquities.”

Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin

4 As they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, ² being greatly troubled because they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³ And they seized them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴ But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men grew to about five thousand.