Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Blessedness of Answered Prayer
A Psalm. A Song (A)at the dedication of the house of David.
30 I will extol You, O Lord, for You have (B)lifted me up,
And have not let my foes (C)rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried out to You,
And You (D)healed me.
3 O Lord, (E)You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, [a]that I should not go down to the pit.
4 (F)Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of [b]His holy name.
5 For (G)His anger is but for a moment,
(H)His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But [c]joy comes in the morning.
6 Now in my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be [d]moved.”
7 Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
(I)You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
8 I cried out to You, O Lord;
And to the Lord I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to the pit?
(J)Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?
10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;
Lord, be my helper!”
Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son(A)
8 Now it happened one day that Elisha went to (B)Shunem, where there was a [a]notable woman, and she [b]persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. 9 And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. 10 Please, let us make [c]a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”
11 And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there. 12 Then he said to (C)Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. 13 And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’ ”
She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”
14 So he said, “What then is to be done for her?”
And Gehazi answered, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 So he said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. 16 Then he said, [d]“About this time next year you shall embrace a son.”
And she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, (D)do not lie to your maidservant!”
17 But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, (A)sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. (B)For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that (C)in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I (D)delight in the law of God according to (E)the inward man. 23 But (F)I see another law in (G)my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me (H)from this body of death? 25 (I)I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.