Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the director, Jeduthun.^[a] One of Asaph’s songs.

A Message for Ahaziah

1 After King Ahab died, Moab broke away from Israel’s rule.

² One day Ahaziah was on the roof of his house in Samaria. He fell down through the wooden bars on top of his house and was badly hurt. He called messengers and told them, “Go to the priests of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, and ask them if I will get well from my injuries.”

³ But the Lord’s angel said to Elijah the Tishbite, “King Ahaziah has sent some messengers from Samaria. Go meet those men and ask them, ‘There is a God in Israel, so why are you men going to ask questions of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? ⁴ Since you did this, the Lord says, You will not get up from your bed. You will die!’” Then Elijah left.

⁵ When messengers came back to Ahaziah, he asked them, “Why did you come back so soon?”

⁶ The messengers said to Ahaziah, “A man came up to meet us and told us to go back to the king who sent us and tell him what the Lord says: ‘There is a God in Israel, so why did you send messengers to ask questions of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Since you did this, you will not get up from your bed. You will die!’”

⁷ Ahaziah said to the messengers, “What did the man look like who met you and told you this?”

⁸ They answered Ahaziah, “This man was wearing a hairy coat^[a] with a leather belt around his waist.”

Then Ahaziah said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”

Ahaziah Calls for Elijah

⁹ Ahaziah sent a captain and 50 men to Elijah. The captain went to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill. The captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”

¹⁰ Elijah answered the captain of 50, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your 50 men!”

So fire came down from heaven and destroyed the captain and his 50 men.

¹¹ Ahaziah sent another captain with 50 men to Elijah. He said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down quickly!’”

¹² Elijah told the captain and his 50 men, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your 50 men!”

Then God’s fire came down from heaven and destroyed the captain and his 50 men.

Paul’s Love for the Galatian Believers

⁸ In the past you did not know God. You were slaves to gods that were not real. ⁹ But now you know the true God. Really, though, it is God who knows you. So why do you turn back to the same kind of weak and useless rules you followed before? Do you want to be slaves to those things again? ^10-11 It worries me that you follow teachings about special days, months, seasons, and years. I fear that my work for you has been wasted.

¹² Brothers and sisters, I became like you. So please become like me. You were very good to me before. ¹³ You know that I came to you the first time because I was sick. That was when I told the Good News to you. ¹⁴ My sickness was a burden to you, but you did not stop showing me respect or make me leave. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel from God. You accepted me as if I were Jesus Christ himself! ¹⁵ You were very happy then. Where is that joy now? I can say without a doubt that you would have done anything to help me. If it had been possible, you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶ Am I now your enemy because I tell you the truth?

¹⁷ Those people^[a] are working hard to persuade you, but this is not good for you. They want to persuade you to turn against us and work hard for them. ¹⁸ It is good for you to work hard, of course, if it is for something good. That’s something you should do whether I am there or not. ¹⁹ My little children, I am in pain again over you, like a mother giving birth. I will feel this pain until people can look at you and see Christ. ²⁰ I wish I could be with you now. Then maybe I could change the way I am talking to you. Now I don’t know what to do about you.