Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
BOOK V (Psalms 107-150)
Gratitude for God’s Deliverance
33 He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into dry ground,
34 and a fruitful land into a salty waste,
due to the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.
36 There he settled the hungry,
where they built a city to live in.
37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards
that yielded a productive harvest.
38 Then he blessed them, and they became numerous;
he multiplied their cattle.[a]
39 But they became few in number, and humiliated
by continued oppression, agony, and sorrow.
40 Having poured contempt on their nobles,
causing them to err aimlessly in the way.
41 Yet he lifted the needy from affliction
and made them families like a flock.
42 The upright see it and rejoice,
but the mouth of an evil person is shut.
43 Let whoever is wise observe these things,
that they may comprehend the gracious love of the Lord.
An Invitation to Life
55 “Come, everyone who is thirsty,
come to the waters!
Also, you that have no money, come,
buy, and eat!
Come! Buy[a] wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why spend your money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?[b]
Listen carefully to me,
and eat what is good,
and let your soul delight itself in rich food.
3 Pay attention[c] to me,
come to me;
and[d] listen, so that you may live;
then I’ll make[e] an everlasting covenant with you,
as promised by[f] my faithful, sure love for David.
4 “Look! I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
5 “Look! You will call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that does[g] not know you will run[h] to you,
because of the Lord your God, even[i] the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.”
Steps to Reconciliation
6 “Seek the Lord while he[j] may be found,
call upon him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous person his thoughts.
Let him return to the Lord,
So he’ll have mercy upon him,
and to our God,
for he’ll pardon abundantly.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For just as[k] the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Jesus Feeds More than Four Thousand People(A)
8 At that time, after a large crowd again had gathered together with nothing to eat, Jesus[a] called his disciples and told them, 2 “I have compassion for the crowd, because they’ve already been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away to their homes hungry, they’ll faint on the road. Some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples answered him, “Where could anyone get enough bread to feed these people out here in the wilderness?”
5 He asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”
“Seven,” they said.
6 So he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and gave thanks. He broke them in pieces and kept giving them to his disciples to distribute. So they served them to the crowd. 7 They also had a few small fish. He blessed them and said that the fish[b] should also be distributed. 8 The people[c] ate and were filled. Then the disciples[d] picked up the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. 9 Now about 4,000 men were there. Then he sent them on their way. 10 Immediately he got into a boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.[e]
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