Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

81 The Lord makes us strong! Sing praises! Sing to Israel’s God!

² Sing, accompanied by drums; pluck the sweet lyre and harp. ³ Sound the trumpet! Come to the joyous celebrations at full moon, new moon, and all the other holidays. ⁴ For God has given us these times of joy; they are scheduled in the laws of Israel. ⁵ He gave them as reminders of his war against Egypt where we were slaves on foreign soil.

I heard an unknown voice that said, ⁶ “Now I will relieve your shoulder of its burden; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.” ⁷ He said, “You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered from Mount Sinai^[a] where the thunder hides. I tested your faith at Meribah, when you complained there was no water. ⁸ Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you will only listen! ⁹ You must never worship any other god, nor ever have an idol in your home.^{[b] 10} For it was I, Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Only test me!^[c] Open your mouth wide and see if I won’t fill it. You will receive every blessing you can use!

¹¹ “But no, my people won’t listen. Israel doesn’t want me around. ¹² So I am letting them go their blind and stubborn way, living according to their own desires.

¹³ “But oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths! ¹⁴ How quickly then I would subdue her enemies! How soon my hands would be upon her foes! ¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him; their desolation would last forever. ¹⁶ But he would feed you with the choicest foods. He would satisfy you with honey for the taking.”^[d]

17 Then Elijah, the prophet^[a] from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord God of Israel lives—the God whom I worship and serve—there won’t be any dew or rain for several years until I say the word!”

² Then the Lord said to Elijah, ³ “Go to the east and hide by Cherith Brook at a place east of where it enters the Jordan River. ⁴ Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to feed you.”

⁵ So he did as the Lord had told him to and camped beside the brook. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook. ⁷ But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.

^8-9 Then the Lord said to him, “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. There is a widow there who will feed you. I have given her my instructions.”

¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the city he saw a widow gathering sticks; and he asked her for a cup of water.

¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread too.”

¹² But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I haven’t a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jar. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I must die of starvation.”

¹³ But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and cook that ‘last meal,’ but bake me a little loaf of bread first; and afterwards there will still be enough food for you and your son. ¹⁴ For the Lord God of Israel says that there will always be plenty of flour and oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”

¹⁵ So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat from her supply of flour and oil as long as it was needed. ¹⁶ For no matter how much they used, there was always plenty left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah!

5 Follow God’s example in everything you do just as a much loved child imitates his father. ² Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ’s love for you was like sweet perfume to him.

³ Let there be no sex sin, impurity or greed among you. Let no one be able to accuse you of any such things. ⁴ Dirty stories, foul talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, remind each other of God’s goodness, and be thankful.

⁵ You can be sure of this: The Kingdom of Christ and of God will never belong to anyone who is impure or greedy, for a greedy person is really an idol worshiper—he loves and worships the good things of this life more than God. ⁶ Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the terrible wrath of God is upon all those who do them. ⁷ Don’t even associate with such people. ⁸ For though once your heart was full of darkness, now it is full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! ⁹ Because of this light within you, you should do only what is good and right and true.

¹⁰ Learn as you go along what pleases the Lord.^{[a] 11} Take no part in the worthless pleasures of evil and darkness, but instead, rebuke and expose them. ¹² It would be shameful even to mention here those pleasures of darkness that the ungodly do. ¹³ But when you expose them, the light shines in upon their sin and shows it up, and when they see how wrong they really are, some of them may even become children of light! ¹⁴ That is why God says in the Scriptures, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise up from the dead; and Christ shall give you light.”