Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 56[a]
Boundless Trust in God
1 For the director.[b] According to Yonath elem rehoqim. A miktam of David. When the Philistines seized him at Gath.
2 Be merciful to me, O God,
for people are trampling upon me;
all day long they keep up their attack.
3 My foes pursue me all day long,
with their forces too many to number.
4 When I am terrified,
I place my trust in you.
5 In God, whose word[c] I praise,
in God I place my trust and know no fear;
what can people do to me?
6 All day long they slander me;
their one thought is to bring evil upon me.
7 In groups they hide in ambush
and spy on my every step,
determined to take my life.
8 Shall they escape in their iniquity?
Strike down the nations, O God, in your anger.
9 You have kept count of my wanderings
and stored my tears in your flask,
recording all these in your book.[d]
10 My foes will turn back
when I call out to you.
Of this I am confident:
that God is on my side.
11 In God, whose word I praise—
in the Lord, whose word I praise—
12 in God I place my trust and know no fear;
what can people do to me?
13 I am bound, O God, by vows[e] to you,
and I will pay you my debt of gratitude.
14 For you have delivered my life from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk in the presence of God[f]
in the light of the living.
Chapter 5
Cure of Naaman.[a] 1 There was a certain Naaman, who was the commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was an honorable man, highly esteemed by his master, because it was through him that the Lord had delivered Aram. He was a brave soldier, but he had leprosy.
2 Aramean raiders had gone out into the land of Israel and had taken a young girl captive who served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my lord would present himself to the prophet who is in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy.”
4 He went to his lord and said, “This is what the young girl from the land of Israel said.”
5 The king of Aram said, “Go! I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”
He went on his way, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel which said, “With this letter I am sending you my servant Naaman so that you might cure him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, with the power to kill and give life, that he sends me a man to heal him of his leprosy? Think of it, see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
8 When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me so that he might know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9 So Naaman went with his horses and his chariot, and he stood at the door to Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash seven times in the Jordan, and your skin will be restored, and you will be clean.”
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord, his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. 12 Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the rivers of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be made clean?”
So he turned away and left in a rage. 13 His servants approached him and spoke to him saying, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more should you do it when he said, ‘Wash and be made clean.’ ”
14 He went down and he bathed himself in the Jordan seven times as the man of God had instructed him to do. His skin became like the skin of a little child, and he was clean.
13 Therefore, anyone who speaks in tongues should pray for the ability to interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit is at prayer but my mind derives no benefit. 15 What then should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.
16 If you are praising only with the spirit, how will the uninstructed person who is present be able to answer “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not comprehend what you are saying? 17 Your thanksgiving may be inspiring, but the other person has not been edified.
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you, 19 but when I am in the church I would prefer to speak five intelligible words to instruct others rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brethren, do not be childish in your thinking. Be like infants in regard to evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In the Law[a] it is written,
“By people speaking strange tongues
and by the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
and even so they will not listen to me,
says the Lord.”
22 Clearly, then, tongues are intended as a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is designed not for unbelievers but for believers.
23 Therefore, if the whole Church has assembled and everyone is speaking in tongues, would not any uninstructed person or any unbeliever on entering conclude that you are all out of your minds? 24 However, if everyone is prophesying and an unbeliever or uninstructed person should enter, he would be reproved by all and judged by all, 25 and the secrets of his heart would be revealed. Then he would fall down and worship God, declaring, “God is truly in your midst.”
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