Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 81
If Only
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For the choir director. According to gittith.[a] By Asaph.
Invitation to Worship
1 Sing a loud song to God, our strength.
Shout to the God of Jacob!
2 Begin the music, and play the hand drum.
Play the sweet-sounding lyre along with the harp.
3 Sound the ram’s horn at the new moon
and at the full moon for our festival day.
4 Yes, this is an order for Israel,
a regulation from the God of Jacob.
5 God established it as a testimony for Joseph
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
There I heard a language I did not know.[b]
A Warning From the Lord
6 The Lord says:
I relieved Israel’s shoulders from the burden.
His hands were set free from carrying buckets.
7 In distress you called and I rescued you.
I answered you from the hiding place of thunder. Interlude
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 Listen, my people, and I will warn you.
If only you would listen to me, Israel!
9 There shall be no foreign god among you!
You shall not bow down to a strange god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 But my people would not listen to my voice,
and Israel was not willing to obey me.
12 So I sent them off in the stubbornness of their hearts.
They walked according to their own plans.
13 If only my people would listen to me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways,
14 I would subdue their enemies quickly.
I would turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cower before him,
and their time of punishment would last forever.
16 But he would feed Israel with the best wheat.
With honey from the rock I would satisfy you.
Elijah Stops the Rain
17 Elijah from Tishbe, one of the settlers in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the Lord lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand, there will be no dew or rain during the coming years, except at my word.”
2 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 3 “Leave this place and turn east. Hide yourself by the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the stream, and I will command the ravens to provide for you there.”
5 So Elijah went and did just as the Lord had said. He lived in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the stream.
Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath
7 After some time the stream dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Get up! Go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a woman there, a widow, to provide for you.”
10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. He came to the city gate, and there he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please give me a little water in a jar, so that I can have something to drink.”
11 When she went to get it, he called to her, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”
12 She said, “As surely as the Lord your God lives, I have no food except a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a pitcher. See, I am gathering a couple of sticks so that I can go and prepare it for myself and my son, so that we can eat it and then die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do just as you said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from the flour and bring it out to me. Then go and make another for you and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. The jar of flour will not run out and the pitcher of oil will not become empty until the day the Lord sends rain to water the surface of the ground.”
15 So she went and did exactly as Elijah said. He and she, as well as her household, were able to eat for many days. 16 The jar of flour did not run out, and the pitcher of oil did not become empty, just as the Lord had said through Elijah.
5 Therefore, be imitators of God as his dearly loved children. 2 And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But do not let sexual immorality, any kind of impurity, or greed even be mentioned among you, as is proper for saints. 4 Obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking are also out of place. Instead, give thanks. 5 Certainly you are aware of this: No immoral, impure, or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, who is God.[a] 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words. It is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 7 So do not share in what they do.
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. 10 Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, 11 and do not participate in fruitless deeds of darkness. Instead, expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention the things that are done by people in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes things visible. 14 Therefore it is said, “Awake, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.