Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
81 Sing joyfully to God our strength! Sing loud to the God of Jacob!
2 Take the song and bring forth the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the viol.
3 Blow the trumpet on the New Moon, in the time appointed at our Feast day.
4 For this is a statute for Israel, a Law of the God of Jacob.
5 He set this in Joseph for a testimony. When He came out of the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I did not understand.
6 “I have withdrawn his shoulder from the burden. His hands have left the pots.
7 “You called in affliction and I delivered you, answered you in the secret of the thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
8 “Hear, O My people, and I will testify to you, O Israel, if you will listen to me
9 “and will have no strange god in you or worship any strange god
10 “(for I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt). Open your mouth wide and I will fill it!
11 “But My people would not hear My voice, and Israel would have none of Me.
12 “So, I gave them up to the hardness of their heart, and they have walked in their own counsels.
13 “Oh that My people had listened to me, and Israel had walked in My ways!
14 “I would soon have humbled their enemies and turned My hand against their adversaries.
15 “The haters of the LORD will feign subjection to Him, but their time would endure forever.
16 “And I would have fed them with the fat of wheat, and with honey out of the rock would I have sufficed you.” A Psalm committed to Asaph
17 And Elijah the Tishbite, one of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before Whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, but according to my Word.”
2 And the Word of the LORD came to him, saying:
3 “Go, and turn eastward, and hide yourself near the river, Cherith, that faces Jordan.
4 “And you shall drink from the river. And I have Commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the Word of the LORD. For he went and remained by the river, Cherith, that faces 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 river.
7 And after a while, the river dried up, because no rain fell upon the Earth.
8 And the Word of the LORD came to him, saying:
9 “Up! Get to Zarephath, which is in Sidon, and remain there. Behold, I have Commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
10 So, he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow was there, gathering sticks. And he called her, and said, “Please bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.”
11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 And she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have a cake, but only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a jar. And behold, I am gathering a few sticks with which to go in and prepare it for me and my son, so that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear. Come, do as you have said. But make me a little cake from it first and bring it to me. And afterward make some for you and your son.
14 “For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The meal in the barrel shall not be finished, nor shall the oil in the jar be depleted, until the time that the LORD sends rain upon the Earth.’”
15 So she went and did as Elijah said. And she ate. So did he and her house for a certain time.
16 The barrel of the meal was not used up, nor was the oil in the jar finished, according to the Word of the LORD which He spoke by the hand of Elijah.
5 Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children.
2 And walk in love, just as Christ has loved us and has given Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savor to God.
3 But do not let fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness even be named among you (as is also becoming to saints),
4 nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse joking (which are not fitting); but rather the giving of thanks.
5 For this you know: that no fornicator, nor impure or covetous person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, and of God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words. For the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience.
7 Therefore, do not be companions with them.
8 For you were once darkness but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
9 For the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
10 approving that which is pleasing to the Lord.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. But rather, even expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
13 But all things, when they are exposed by the light, are made visible. For it is light that makes all things visible.
14 Therefore it says, “Awake, you who sleep. And stand up from the dead. And Christ shall shine upon you.”
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