1 Corinthians 11:17-34; 2 Kings 5; Obadiah 1

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

17 Now in giving the following instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.

18 For, to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

19 There must, indeed, be factions among you, so that the approved among you may be recognized.

20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not really to eat the Lord's Supper.

21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others, and one person is hungry while another is drunk!

22 Don't you have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you look down on the church of God and embarrass those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you for this!

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: on the night when He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread,

24 gave thanks, broke it, and said, "This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me."

25 In the same way [He] also [took] the cup, after supper, and said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy way will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord.

28 So a man should examine himself; in this way he should eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep.

31 If we were properly evaluating ourselves, we would not be judged,

32 but when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned with the world.

33 Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that you can come together and not cause judgment. And I will give instructions about the other matters whenever I come.

2 Kings 5

1 Naaman, commander of the army for the king of Aram, was a great man in his master's sight and highly regarded because through him, the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man was a brave warrior, but he had a skin disease.

2 Aram had gone on raids and brought back from the land of Israel a young girl who served Naaman's wife.

3 She said to her mistress, "If only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his skin disease."

4 So Naaman went and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said.

5 Therefore, the king of Aram said, "Go and I will send a letter [with you] to the king of Israel." So he went and took with him 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and 10 changes of clothes.

6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, and it read: When this letter comes to you, note that I have sent you my servant Naaman for you to cure him of his skin disease.

7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, "Am I God, killing and giving life that this man expects me to cure a man of his skin disease? Think it over and you will see that he is only picking a fight with me."

8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel tore his clothes, he sent [a message] to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Have him come to me, and he will know there is a prophet in Israel."

9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house.

10 Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, "Go wash seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be clean."

11 But Naaman got angry and left, saying, "I was telling myself: He will surely come out, stand and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and will wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease.

12 Aren't Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and left in a rage.

13 But his servants approached and said to him, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more [should you do it] when he tells you, 'Wash and be clean'?"

14 So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the command of the man of God. Then his skin was restored [and became] like the skin of a small boy, and he was clean.

15 Then Naaman and his whole company went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, "I know there's no God in the whole world except in Israel. Therefore, please accept a gift from your servant."

16 But Elisha said, "As the Lord lives, I stand before Him. I will not accept it." Naaman urged him to accept it, but he refused.

17 Naaman responded, "If not, please let two mule-loads of dirt be given to your servant, for your servant will no longer offer a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any other god but Yahweh.

18 However, in a particular matter may the Lord pardon your servant: When my master, [the king of Aram], goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship and I, as his right-hand man, bow in the temple of Rimmon-when I bow in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant in this matter."

19 So he said to him, "Go in peace." After Naaman had traveled a short distance from Elisha,

20 Gehazi, the attendant of Elisha the man of God, thought: My master has let this Aramean Naaman off lightly by not accepting from him what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.

21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, "Is everything all right?"

22 Gehazi said, "It's all right. My master has sent me to say, 'I have just now discovered that two young men from the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them 75 pounds of silver and two changes of clothes.' "

23 But Naaman insisted, "Please, accept 150 pounds." He urged Gehazi and then packed 150 pounds of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes. Naaman gave them to two of his young men who carried them ahead of Gehazi.

24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from them and stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they left.

25 Gehazi came and stood by his master. "Where did you go, Gehazi?" Elisha asked him. "Your servant didn't go anywhere," he replied.

26 But Elisha questioned him, "Wasn't my spirit there when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to accept money and clothes, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves?

27 Therefore, Naaman's skin disease will cling to you and your descendants forever." So Gehazi went out from his presence diseased-[white] as snow.

Obadiah 1

1 This is what the Lord God has said about Edom: We have heard a message from the Lord; an envoy has been sent among the nations: Rise up, and let us go to war against her.

2 Look, I will make you insignificant among the nations; you will be deeply despised.

3 Your presumptuous heart has deceived you, you who live in clefts of the rock in your home on the heights, who say to yourself: Who can bring me down to the ground?

4 Though you seem to soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down. [This is]* the Lord's declaration.

5 If thieves came to you, if marauders by night- how ravaged you will be!- wouldn't they steal only what they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn't they leave some grapes?

6 How Esau will be pillaged, his hidden treasures searched out!

7 Everyone who has a treaty with you will drive you to the border; everyone at peace with you will deceive and conquer you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you. He will be unaware of it.

8 In that day- the Lord's declaration- will I not eliminate the wise ones of Edom and those who understand from the hill country of Esau?

9 Teman, your warriors will be terrified so that everyone from the hill country of Esau will be destroyed by slaughter.

10 You will be covered with shame and destroyed forever because of violence done to your brother Jacob.

11 On the day you stood aloof, on the day strangers captured his wealth, while foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them.

12 Do not gloat over your brother in the day of his calamity; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction; do not boastfully mock in the day of distress.

13 Do not enter the gate of My people in the day of their disaster. Yes, you-do not gloat over their misery in the day of their disaster and do not appropriate their possessions in the day of their disaster.

14 Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off their fugitives, and do not hand over their survivors in the day of distress.

15 For the Day of the Lord is near, against all the nations. As you have done, so it will be done to you; what you deserve will return on your own head.

16 For as you have drunk on My holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and gulp down and be as though they had never been.

17 But there will be a deliverance on Mount Zion, and it will be holy; the house of Jacob will dispossess those who dispossessed them.

18 Then the house of Jacob will be a [blazing] fire, and the house of Joseph a [burning] flame, but the house of Esau will be stubble; they will set them on fire and consume them. Therefore no survivor will remain of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.

19 [People from] the Negev will possess the hill country of Esau; [those from] the Judean foothills will possess [the land of] the Philistines. They will possess the territories of Ephraim and Samaria, while Benjamin will possess Gilead.

20 The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negev.

21 Saviors will ascend Mount Zion to rule over the hill country of Esau, but the kingdom will be the Lord's.