Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Overcomer upon: The silent dove in a distant land, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.
1 ¶ Be merciful unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up; he oppresses me fighting me daily.
2 My enemies would daily swallow me up, for they are many that fight against me, O thou most High.
3 When I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day my life is filled with sorrow; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 ¶ Thou tellest my wanderings; put my tears into thy bottle; are they not in thy book?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall my enemies be turned back; in this I know that God is for me.
10 In God I will praise his word; in the LORD I will praise his word.
11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid of what man can do unto me.
12 Thy promises are upon me, O God; I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my life from death; thou hast kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
5 ¶ Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high esteem because by him the LORD had given salvation unto Syria; he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.
2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
3 And she said unto her mistress, If my lord would ask the prophet that is in Samaria, he would remove his leprosy.
4 And Naaman went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
5 And the king of Syria said, Go, depart, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
6 And he also took the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman, my slave, to thee, that thou may remove his leprosy.
7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, Am I God, to kill and to give life, that this man sends unto me to remove the leprosy of this man? Therefore now consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.
8 And when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, Why hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
9 ¶ So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall be restored, and thou shalt be clean.
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD, his God, and strike his hand over the place and remove the leprosy.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 Then his slaves came near and spoke unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, would thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean?
14 Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
13 Therefore, let him that speaks in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.
15 ¶ What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupies the place of the ignorant say, Amen, at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understands not what thou sayest?
17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all;
19 yet in the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
20 Brothers, be not children in understanding, howbeit in malice be ye children; but in understanding be perfect.
21 ¶ In the law it is written, In other tongues and with other lips I will speak unto this people; and yet for all that, they will not hear me, saith the Lord.
22 Therefore, tongues are for a sign, not to those that believe, but to those that do not believe; but prophecy is not for those that do not believe, but for those who believe.
23 If, therefore, the whole congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} is come together into one place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that does not believe or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all;
25 for the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so falling down on his face, he will worship God, declaring that God is indeed in you.
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