Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Elijah runs away

19 King Ahab told Jezebel about everything that Elijah had done. He told her how Elijah had killed all Baal's prophets with a sword. ² So Jezebel sent someone with this message to Elijah: ‘By this time tomorrow, I will make sure that you are dead, the same as Baal's prophets! If I do not do that, I pray that the gods will kill me instead.’

³ Elijah became very afraid. He ran away to save his life. He arrived at Beersheba in Judah.^[a] He left his servant there. ⁴ Then Elijah went into the desert by himself. He travelled for about a day. He found a small tree there and he sat down under it. He prayed that he might die. He said, ‘Lord, I have had enough trouble! Take my life from me. It is no better for me here than to be with my dead ancestors.’

⁵ Then he lay down under the tree and he slept. Suddenly, an angel came and touched him. The angel said, ‘Get up and eat something.’ ⁶ When Elijah looked, he saw some bread near his head. Someone had baked it on a fire. There was also a jar of water. So he ate the bread and he drank the water. Then he lay down again to sleep. ⁷ The angel of the Lord came back a second time. He touched Elijah and he said, ‘Get up and eat more food. Then you will be strong enough to go on a long journey.’

⁸ So Elijah got up. He ate the food and he drank the water. The meal made him strong enough to travel for 40 days and 40 nights. He travelled to Sinai, the mountain of God.^[a]

The Lord appears to Elijah

⁹ Elijah went into a cave on Sinai mountain and he stayed there all night. Suddenly, the Lord spoke to Elijah. He asked Elijah, ‘Elijah, why have you come here?’ ¹⁰ Elijah replied, ‘The Israelites have turned away from the covenant that you made with them. They have destroyed your altars.^[b] They have killed your prophets with swords. But I have always served the Lord God Almighty faithfully. Now I am the only prophet that is still alive and they are trying to kill me too.’ ¹¹ The Lord said, ‘Go out from the cave and stand on the mountain, in front of me. I, the Lord, will pass in front of you.’

Then a very strong wind broke the mountain apart. It broke the rocks into pieces as the Lord came near. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake, there was a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a very quiet voice. ¹³ When Elijah heard that, he covered his face with his robe. He went out and he stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘Elijah, why have you come here?’^{[c] 14} Elijah said, ‘The Israelites have turned away from the covenant that you made with them. They have destroyed your altars. They have killed your prophets with swords. But I have always served the Lord God Almighty faithfully. Now I am the only prophet that is still alive and they are trying to kill me too.’

¹⁵ The Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go back again along the way that you came. Go to the desert which is near Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to make him king of Syria.

This is a special song for the music leader. The sons of Korah wrote it.

A prayer when you are away from home^[a]

A prayer when you are in trouble^[a]

²³ But before God showed us the way of faith, the Law had authority over us. God's Law kept us safe, until God showed us that we must believe in Christ. ²⁴ In that way, God's Law was like our guide. It kept us safe until Christ came. Then God could accept us as right because we trusted Christ. ²⁵ But now that the way of faith in Christ has come, we do not need God's Law to keep us safe any longer.

²⁶ All of you are God's children because you believe in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ They baptized you as believers in Christ. That means that you have put on Christ, like someone who puts on new clothes. ²⁸ It does not matter whether you are a Jew or a Gentile. It does not matter whether you are a slave or a free person. It does not matter whether you are a man or a woman. You all belong together because you all belong to Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are descendants of Abraham. Because of that, you will receive all the good things that God promised to Abraham.

Jesus makes a man well

²⁶ Jesus and his disciples went to the place where the Gerasene people lived. This place is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus got out of the boat there, a man from the town came towards him. Bad spirits were living inside him. He had not worn any clothes for a long time. He did not live in a house. Instead, he lived outside, among some graves. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he screamed. Then he went down on his knees in front of Jesus and said in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, you are the Son of the powerful God who is over all! What are you doing here? Please do not hurt me.’ ²⁹ He said that because Jesus had already said to the bad spirit, ‘Come out of this man.’

The bad spirit had often taken hold of the man, so people watched him carefully. They held his feet with metal chains. But when the bad spirit took hold of him, he often broke the chains. The bad spirit then caused him to go into the wilderness.

³⁰ Jesus asked the man, ‘What is your name?’ The man replied, ‘My name is Army.’ He said this because very many bad spirits had gone into him.^{[a] 31} These bad spirits asked Jesus not to send them away to the world below.^[b]

³² There was a large group of pigs there and they were eating on the hill. The bad spirits asked Jesus, ‘Let us go into the pigs.’ Jesus replied, ‘You can go into them.’ ³³ So the bad spirits came out of the man and they went into the pigs. All the pigs rushed together down the hill into the lake. They all died there in the water.

³⁴ The men who were taking care of the pigs saw this happen. They ran away. They told the people in the town and in the villages what had happened. ³⁵ So the people went out from these places to see what had happened. They came to Jesus. The man that the bad spirits had come out of was sitting there, beside Jesus' feet. Now he was wearing clothes and his mind was well again. When the people saw this, they were afraid. ³⁶ Some people had seen Jesus make the man well. They told the other people how he had done this. ³⁷ Then all the Gerasene people who lived in that place said to Jesus, ‘Please go away and leave us.’ They said this because they were very afraid. So Jesus got back into the boat to leave that place. ³⁸ Then the man that the bad spirits had gone out from said to Jesus, ‘Please let me come with you.’ But Jesus replied, ‘No. ³⁹ You must return to your home. Tell everyone about all that God has done for you.’

So the man went away. He went everywhere in the town and told all the people, ‘Jesus has done very good things for me.’