Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B

¹ Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. ² The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy.” ⁴ Someone went in, and told his lord, saying, “The maiden who is from the land of Israel said this.” ⁵ The king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” He departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. ⁶ He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “Now when this letter has come to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.” ⁷ When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes, and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.” ⁸ It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” ⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean.” ¹¹ But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.’ ¹² Aren’t Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them, and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’ ” ¹⁴ Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

¹ I will extol you, O LORD, for you have raised me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me. ² The LORD my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me. ³ O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. ⁴ Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of his. Give thanks to his holy name. ⁵ For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. ⁶ As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” ⁷ You, O LORD, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled. ⁸ I cried to you, the LORD. I made supplication to the Lord: ⁹ “What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth? ¹⁰ Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me. O LORD, be my helper.” ¹¹ You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness, ¹² to the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. The LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

²⁴ Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win. ²⁵ Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. ²⁶ I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air, ²⁷ but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.