Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the chief Musician. On Mahalath: an instruction. Of David.

53 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God! They have corrupted themselves, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

² God looked down from the heavens upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.

³ Every one of them is gone back, they are together become corrupt: there is none that doeth good, not even one.

⁴ Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, eating up my people [as] they eat bread? they call not upon God.

⁵ There were they in great fear, where no fear was; for God scattereth the bones of him that encampeth against thee. Thou hast put [them] to shame, for God hath despised them.

⁶ Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God turneth again the captivity of his people, Jacob shall be glad, Israel shall rejoice.

4 And a woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant feared Jehovah; and the creditor is come to take my two children to be bondmen.

² And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid has not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil.

³ And he said, Go, borrow for thyself vessels abroad from all thy neighbours, empty vessels; let it not be few;

⁴ and go in, and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and set aside what is full.

⁵ And she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons: they brought [the vessels] to her, and she poured out.

⁶ And it came to pass when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said to her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.

⁷ And she came and told the man of God; and he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou [and] thy sons on the rest.

¹⁰ And the apostles having returned related to him whatever they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart into [a desert place of] a city called Bethsaida.

¹¹ But the crowds knowing [it] followed him; and he received them and spake to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those that had need of healing.

¹² But the day began to decline, and the twelve came and said to him, Send away the crowd that they may go into the villages around, and [into] the fields, and lodge and find victuals, for here we are in a desert place.

¹³ And he said to them, Give *ye them to eat. And they said, We have not more than five loaves and two fishes, unless *we* should go and buy food for all this people;

¹⁴ for they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down in companies by fifties.

¹⁵ And they did so, and made them all sit down.

¹⁶ And taking the five loaves and the two fishes, looking up to heaven he blessed them, and broke and gave to the disciples to set before the crowd.

¹⁷ And they all ate and were filled; and there was taken up of what had remained over and above to them in fragments twelve hand-baskets.