Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Hear O Israel
Psalm 81
1 For the music director, on the Gittite lyre, of Asaph.
2 Sing for joy to God our strength,
shout to the God of Jacob!
3 Lift up a song and sound a tambourine,
a sweet lyre with a harp.
4 Blow the shofar at the New Moon,
at the full moon for the day of our festival.
5 For it is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
6 He set it up as a testimony in Joseph,
when He went throughout the land of Egypt,
I heard a language I did not understand.
7 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden,
his hands were set free from the basket.
8 You called out in trouble, and I rescued you.
I answered you from the hiding place of thunder.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
9 Hear, My people, I will admonish you—
if you would listen to Me, O Israel!
10 Let there be no foreign god among you,
and you shall not worship any alien god.
11 I am Adonai your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
12 But My people did not listen to My voice.
Israel was not willing to be Mine.
13 So I gave them over
to the stubbornness of their heart,
to walk in their own counsels.
14 Oh that My people would listen to Me,
that Israel would walk in My ways!
15 I would soon subdue their enemies,
and turn My hand against their foes.
16 Those who hate Adonai would cringe before Him—
their time of doom would be forever.
17 But you would be fed with the finest wheat,
with honey out of a rock would I satisfy you.”
Elijah Proclaims Famine
17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab: “As Adonai God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be no dew or rain these years, except at my word.”[a]
2 Then the word of Adonai came to him saying: 3 “Leave this place, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4 It will come about that you will drink from the wadi. I have also commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of Adonai—he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens kept bringing him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi. 7 Then it came to pass after a while that the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of Adonai came to him saying: 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have just commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
Miracle of Flour and Oil
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. Now when he came to the town gate, to his surprise, a widow was there gathering sticks. So he called her and said, “Please bring a little water in a jar that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to fetch it, he called her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 So she said, “As Adonai your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in the jar, and a little oil in the jug. Now look, I am gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Fear not! Go and do as you said, but first make me a little cake from what you have there. Bring it out to me and afterwards, make some for you and for your son. 14 For thus says Adonai God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be exhausted nor shall the jug of oil be empty until the day Adonai sends rain on the land.’”
15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah—and she and he, and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not exhausted, nor did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of Adonai which He spoke through Elijah.
Walk in the Light
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as dearly loved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Messiah also loved us[a] and gave Himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a fragrant aroma. 3 But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed—don’t even let these be mentioned among you, as is proper for kedoshim. 4 Obscene, coarse, and stupid talk are also out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 Know for certain that no immoral, indecent, or greedy person—who is really an idol worshipper at heart—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah and God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s judgment comes on the children of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them. 8 For once you were darkness, but now in union with the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them— 12 for it is disgraceful even to mention the things that are done by them in secret. 13 Yet everything exposed by the light is being made visible, 14 for everything made visible is light. This is why it says,
“Wake up, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Messiah will shine on you.”[b]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.