Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the Overcomer upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ Sing aloud unto God our strength; make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Take the song and play the timbrel, the harp of joy with the psaltery.
3 Blow the shofar in the new moon in the time appointed on our solemn feast day.
4 For this is a statute of Israel and an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt where I heard a language that I did not understand.
6 I removed his shoulder from the burden; his hands were delivered from working with clay.
7 Thou didst call in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
8 ¶ Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee; O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me,
9 no strange god shall be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
10 I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt; open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 But my people did not hearken to my voice, and Israel did not love me.
12 So I gave them up unto the hardness of their heart, and they walked in their own counsels.
13 Oh, if my people would hearken unto me and Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries.
15 The haters of the LORD would have submitted themselves unto him, and their time would endure for ever.
16 And God would have fed them also the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock I would have satisfied thee.
17 ¶ Then Elijah, the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
2 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
3 Leave this place and turn to the east and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan,
4 and thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
5 So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD; for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
7 And it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
8 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
9 Arise, go to Zarephath of Zidon, and thou shalt dwell there; behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks; and he called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her again and said, Bring me also, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand.
12 And she said, As the LORD thy God lives, I have no baked bread, but only a handful of meal in a pitcher and a little oil in a cruse; and now I was gathering two sticks that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.
13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said; but first make me a little cake of bread baked under the ashes and bring it unto me, and afterwards thou shalt make for thee and for thy son.
14 For thus hath said the LORD God of Israel, The pitcher of meal shall not be consumed, neither shall the cruse of oil fail until that day when the LORD shall send rain upon the earth.
15 And she went and did as Elijah told her; and he and she and her house ate for many days.
16 And the pitcher of meal was not consumed, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD which he spoke by Elijah.
5 ¶ Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children
2 and walk in charity even as the Christ also has loved us and has given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
3 ¶ But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becomes saints,
4 neither dishonest words nor foolishness nor low jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this ye know, that no fornicator nor unclean person nor covetous man, who is also an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6 Let no one deceive you with vain words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
7 Be not ye, therefore, partakers with them.
8 For in another time ye were darkness, but now ye are light in the Lord: walk as children of light;
9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
10 approving what is well pleasing unto the Lord.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which they do in secret.
13 But all these things when they are reproved by the light are made manifest, for the light is that which manifests everything.
14 Therefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee.
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