Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
33 [a]He turns rivers into wasteland,
springs of water into parched ground,[b]
34 and fertile land into a salt waste,
because of the wickedness of those who live there.[c]
35 He turns the wasteland into pools of water
and the parched ground into bubbling springs.
36 [d]There he provides the hungry with a home,
and they build a city where they can settle.
37 They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield crops for the harvest.
38 He blesses them and they greatly increase in number,
and he does not let their cattle decrease.
39 Eventually their numbers diminish and they are humbled
because of oppression, adversity, and affliction;
40 he who pours forth his contempt on princes
makes them wander in trackless wastes,
41 while he raises the needy from their misery
and increases their families like flocks.
42 The upright see and exult,
while the wicked[e] are reduced to silence.
43 Let whoever is wise reflect on these things
and understand the merciful love of the Lord.[f]
Chapter 55
An Everlasting Covenant
1 All you who are thirsty,
come to the water;
all you who have no money,
come forward, buy, and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk,
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money for that which is not bread,
your wages for that which fails to satisfy.
Listen carefully to me, and you will eat well
and delight in rich food.
3 Come to me and pay close attention;
listen so that you may have life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you
to love you with the faithful love promised to David.
4 I appointed him to be a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of nations.
5 You in turn will summon nations unknown to you,
and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
6 Seek the Lord while he still may be found;
call to him when he is close at hand.
7 Let the wicked abandon their ways
and those who are evil their thoughts.
Let them return to the Lord
so that he may have mercy upon them;
and to our God,
for he is rich in forgiveness.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
9 As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts above your thoughts.
Chapter 8
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand.[a] 1 In those days, a great crowd had again assembled, and they had nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I am moved with compassion for these people, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way—and some of them have come from far off.”
4 His disciples replied, “How can anyone find enough bread here in this deserted place to feed these men?” 5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.”
6 Jesus ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the people. 7 There were also a few small fish, and after blessing them he commanded that these too should be distributed. 8 They ate and were satisfied. Afterward, the disciples picked up the fragments left over—seven full baskets. 9 The people there numbered about four thousand. And when he had sent them away, 10 he immediately got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.[b]
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