He came to a cave there and stayed the night there. And there, Yahweh’s word came to him. He said to him, ‘What is there for you here, Eliyyahu?’

He said, ‘I’ve been very passionate for Yahweh, the God of Armies, because the Yisra’elites have abandoned your pact. Your altars they’ve torn down; your prophets they’ve killed with the sword. I alone am left, and they’ve been seeking my life, to take it.’ He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.’

There was Yahweh passing, and a great, strong wind, splitting mountains and breaking up cliffs before Yahweh (Yahweh was not in the wind), after the wind an earthquake (Yahweh was not in the earthquake), after the earthquake a fire (Yahweh was not in the fire) and after the fire a low murmuring sound.

When Eliyyahu heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat, went out and stood at the cave’s entrance. And there, a voice came to him and said, ‘What is there for you here, Eliyyahu?’

He said, ‘I’ve been very passionate for Yahweh, the God of Armies, because the Yisra’elites have abandoned your pact. Your altars they’ve torn down, your prophets they’ve killed with the sword. I alone am left, and they’ve been seeking my life, to take it.’

Yahweh said to him, ‘Go, turn back on your way, to the Dammeseq wilderness. You’re to come and anoint Haza’el as king over Aram. And Yehu ben Nimshi you’re to anoint as king over Yisra’el, and Elisha ben Shaphat, from Meholah Meadow, you’re to anoint as prophet in place of you. The person who escapes from Haza’el’s sword, Yehu will put to death. The person who escapes from Yehu’s sword, Elisha will put to death. But I will leave in Yisra’el 7,000, all the knees that have not bent down to the Master and every mouth that has not kissed him.’

Goldingay, John The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

So Eliyyahu said to the Master’s prophets, ‘Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, because you’re the majority. Call on your god’s name but don’t set fire.’ They took the bull that someone gave them, prepared it and called on the Master’s name from morning until midday, saying ‘Master, answer us’, but there was no sound, no one answering. They jumped round the altar that people had made.

At midday Eliyyahu played about with them: ‘Call in a loud voice, because he’s a god, but it’s because he’s talking or he’s moving or he’s on a journey. Perhaps he’s asleep and he’ll wake up.’ So they called in a loud voice and slashed themselves in accordance with their ruling with swords and with spears until blood flowed over them. After midday passed they prophesied until the time for presenting the offering, but there was no sound, no one answering, no heeding.

Goldingay, John. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

After much time, Yahweh’s word came to Eliyyahu, in the third year: ‘Go appear to Ah’ab, and I will give rain on the face of the ground.’ So Eliyyahu went to appear to Ah’ab. Now the famine was severe in Shomron, and Ah’ab had called for Obadyah, who was in charge of the household. Obadyah was someone who lived greatly in awe of Yahweh. When Izebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadyah had got a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty individuals to a cave, and provided them with bread and water. Ah’ab said to Obadyah, ‘Go through the country, to all the water springs and to all the wadis. Perhaps we’ll find grass so we can keep horse and mule alive so we don’t cut off some of the animals.’

They split the country for themselves so as to pass through it. While Ah’ab went one way alone and Obadyah went the other way alone, and Obadyah was on the way, there, Eliyyahu met him. He recognized him and fell on his face, and said, ‘Is this you, my lord Eliyyahu?’ He said to him, ‘It’s me. Go say to your lord, “There’s Eliyyahu.”’ He said, ‘What wrong have I done that you’re giving your servant into the hand of Ah’ab, to put me to death? As Yahweh your God lives, if there’s a nation or kingdom to which my lord has not sent to seek you out . . . They say, “He’s not here”, and he makes the kingdom or the nation swear that it can’t find you. And now you’re saying, “Go say to your lord, ‘There’s Eliyyahu’”, and I myself will go from being with you and Yahweh’s spirit will carry you to where I don’t know, and I’ll come to tell Ah’ab and he won’t find you and he’ll kill me, when your servant has lived in awe of Yahweh from my youth. It’s been told my lord, hasn’t it, what I did when Izebel killed Yahweh’s prophets and I hid a hundred of Yahweh’s prophets, fifty individuals to a cave, and fed them bread and water. And now you’re saying, “Go say to your lord, ‘There’s Eliyyahu’”, and he’ll kill me.’

Eliyyahu said, ‘As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I have stood, I will indeed appear to him today.’ So Obadyah went to meet Ah’ab and told him, and Ah’ab went to meet Eliyyahu. When Ah’ab saw Eliyyahu, Ah’ab said to him, ‘Is this you, troubler of Yisra’el?’ He said, ‘I haven’t troubled Yisra’el. Rather, you and your father’s household have, by abandoning Yahweh’s orders and following the Masters. So now, send to gather all Yisra’el to me to Mount Carmel, with the 450 prophets of the Master and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Izebel’s table.’

Goldingay, John The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

After these things, the son of the woman who was mistress of the household got ill. His illness grew very severe, until no breath remained in him. She said to Eliyyahu, ‘What is between you and me, supernatural man? You’ve come to me to bring my waywardness to mind and put my son to death.’ He said to her, ‘Give me your son.’

He took him out of her arms and brought him up to the upper floor where he was staying, laid him on his bed and called to Yahweh: ‘Yahweh my God, the woman with whom I am residing, are you really going to deal badly with her by putting her son to death?’

He measured himself out over the child three times and called to Yahweh, ‘Yahweh my God, please may this child’s breath come back inside him!’ Yahweh listened to the voice of Eliyyahu. The child’s breath came back inside him and he came alive. Eliyyahu got the child and took him down from the upper floor into the house, and gave him to his mother. Eliyyahu said, ‘Look, your son is alive.’

The woman said to Eliyyahu, ‘Now I do acknowledge that you are a supernatural man and Yahweh’s word in your mouth is truthful.’

Goldingay, John The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

After a time the wadi dried up because there was no rain in the country.

Yahweh’s word came to him: ‘Set off, go to Tsarephat which belongs to Tsidon and stay there. Here, I have ordered a woman there who is a widow to provide for you.’

He set off and went to Tsarephat, and came to the entrance to the town. There, a woman who was a widow was gathering wood there. He called to her, ‘Please get me a little water in a container so I can drink’, and she went to get it. He called to her, ‘Please get me a bit of bread in your hand.’ She said, ‘As Yahweh your God lives, if I have anything baked, only a fistful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug . . . So here I am, collecting a couple of pieces of wood and I shall come and make it for me and for my son, and we’ll eat it and die.’

Eliyyahu said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid. Come, act in accordance with your word, only make me a small loaf from there first and bring it out to me, and make one for you and for your son afterwards. Because Yahweh the God of Yisra’el has said this: “The jar of flour will not be finished and the jug of oil will not lack until the day Yahweh gives rain on the face of the ground.”’ She went and acted in accordance with Eliyyahu’s word, and she ate, she and he and her household for some time. The jar of flour was not finished and the jug of oil did not lack, in accordance with Yahweh’s word which he spoke by means of Eliyyahu.

Goldingay, John; The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

Omri lay down with his ancestors and was buried in Shomron, and Ah’ab his son began to reign in place of him. Ah’ab ben Omri began to reign over Yisra’el in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Yehudah. Ah’ab ben Omri reigned over Yisra’el in Shomron twenty-two years. Ah’ab ben Omri did what was bad in Yahweh’s eyes, more than all who were before him. Was it a slight thing, his walking in the wrongdoings of Yarob’am ben Nebat, that he took as wife Izebel bat Etba’al, king of the Tsidonites, and went and served the Master? He bowed low to him and set up an altar for the Master at the Master’s house which he built in Shomron, and Ah’ab made a totem pole. Ah’ab continued to act so as to provoke Yahweh the God of Yisra’el more than all the kings of Yisra’el who were before him.

Eliyyahu [Elijah] the Tishbite from the inhabitants of Gil’ad said to Ah’ab, ‘As Yahweh lives, the God of Yisra’el before whom I have stood, if during these years there will be dew or rain except at the bidding of my word . . .’ Yahweh’s word came to him: ‘Go from here. Turn your face east and hide in Wadi Kerit, which faces the Yarden. You will drink from the wadi and I have ordered the ravens to provide for you there.’ He went and acted in accordance with Yahweh’s word. He went and stayed in Wadi Kerit, which faces the Yarden, while the ravens were bringing him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi.

Goldingay, John The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

Yarob’am said to himself, ‘The kingship will now go back to the household of David: if this people go up to make sacrifices in Yahweh’s house in Yerushalaim, this people’s mind will turn back to their lord, to Rehab’am king of Yehudah. They’ll kill me and turn back to Rehab’am king of Yehudah.’

So the king took counsel and made two gold bullocks. He said to them, ‘It’s too much for you to go up to Yerushalaim. Yisra’el, here are your gods who brought you up from the country of Misrayim.’ He placed the one in Bet-el and the other he put in Dan, and this thing became a wrongdoing; the people went before the one as far as Dan. And he made the house at the shrines and made priests from the sections of the people who were not from the Levites.

Yarob’am made a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that was in Yehudah, and went up on to the altar. He acted in this way at Bet-el, sacrificing to the bullocks that he had made. So he put in place at Bet El the priests of the shrines that he had made.

After this thing Yarob’am did not turn back from his bad ways but again made priests for the shrines from all sections of the people. Anyone who wanted commissioned himself and became priests of the shrines. This thing was the wrongdoing of Yarob’am’s household so as both to efface and to annihilate it from upon the face of the ground.

Goldingay, John; The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

Then Shelomoh lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David his father’s town, and Rehab’am his son began to reign in place of him.

Rehab’am went to Shekem, because all Yisra’el had come to Shekem to make him king. When Yarob’am ben Nebat heard while he was still in Misrayim, where he had taken flight from before King Shelomoh (so Yarob’am lived in Misrayim), they sent and called for him. Yarob’am came with the entire congregation of Yisra’el and they spoke to Rehab’am: ;Your father – he made our yoke tough. So you, now, lighten something of your father’s tough servitude and of his heavy yoke that he put on us, and we’ll serve you.’

He said to them, ‘Go for three more days, and come back to me.’ The people went, and King Rehab’am took counsel with the elders who had been standing before Shelomoh his father when he was alive: ‘How do you counsel me to give back word to this people?’ They spoke to him, ‘If today you’ll be a servant to this people, and serve them, and answer them and speak good words to them, they’ll be your servants for all time.’

But he abandoned the elders’ counsel which they gave him and took counsel with the young men who grew up with him, who were standing before him. He said to them, ‘What are you going to counsel, so that we may give back word to this people who spoke to me, “Lighten something of the yoke that your father put on us”?’ The young men who grew up with him spoke with him: ‘You should say this to this people who spoke to you, “Whereas your father made our yoke heavy, you, lighten it from on us” – you should speak like this to them: “My little finger is thicker than my father’s hips. So now, whereas my father imposed a heavy yoke on you, I myself will add to your yoke. Whereas my father disciplined you with whips, I myself will discipline you with scorpions.”’

Yarob’am and the entire people came to Rehab’am on the third day as the king had spoken, ‘Come back to me on the third day’, and the king answered the people toughly. He abandoned the counsel of the elders that they had given him and spoke to them in accordance with the counsel of the young men: ‘Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I myself will add to your yoke. Whereas my father disciplined you with whips, I myself will discipline you with scorpions.’ The king didn’t listen to the people, because it was a turn of affairs from Yahweh in order to implement his word, which Yahweh had spoken by means of Ahiyyah the Shilonite to Yarob’am ben Nebat. All Yisra’el saw that the king had not listened to them, and the people gave word back to the king:

What share do we have in David?
– we have no domain in ben Yishay [Jesse].
To your tents, Yisra’el;
now see to your own household, David.

So Yisra’el went to its tents… So Yisra’el has rebelled against David’s household until this day.

Goldingay, John;The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen