Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 53

To the Chief Musician; in a mournful strain. A skillful song, or didactic or reflective poem of David.

¹ The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt and evil are they, and doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.

² God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who understood, who sought (inquired after and desperately required) God.

³ Every one of them has gone back [backslidden and fallen away]; they have altogether become filthy and corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.^(A)

⁴ Have those who work evil no knowledge (no understanding)? They eat up My people as they eat bread; they do not call upon God.

⁵ There they are, in terror and dread, where there was [and had been] no terror and dread! For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you; you have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.

⁶ Oh, that the salvation and deliverance of Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of His people, then will Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

4 Now the wife of a son of the prophets cried to Elisha, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves.

² Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you [of sale value] in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.

³ Then he said, Go around and borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels—and not a few.

⁴ And when you come in, shut the door upon you and your sons. Then pour out [the oil you have] into all those vessels, setting aside each one when it is full.

⁵ So she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons, who brought to her the vessels as she poured the oil.

⁶ When the vessels were all full, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not a one left. Then the oil stopped multiplying.

⁷ Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.

¹⁰ Upon their return, the apostles reported to Jesus all that they had done. And He took them [along with Him] and withdrew into privacy near a town called Bethsaida.

¹¹ But when the crowds learned of it, [they] followed Him; and He welcomed them and talked to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed restoration to health.

¹² Now the day began to decline, and the Twelve came and said to Him, Dismiss the crowds and send them away, so that they may go to the neighboring hamlets and villages and the surrounding country and find lodging and get a ^[a]supply of provisions, for we are here in an uninhabited (barren, solitary) place.

¹³ But He said to them, You [yourselves] give them [food] to eat. They said, We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all this crowd,^(A)

¹⁴ For there were about 5,000 men. And [Jesus] said to His disciples, Have them [sit down] reclining in table groups (companies) of about fifty each.

¹⁵ And they did so, and made them all recline.

¹⁶ And taking the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven and [praising God] gave thanks and asked Him to bless them [to their use]. Then He broke them and gave them to the disciples to place before the multitude.

¹⁷ And all the people ate and were satisfied. And they gathered up what remained over—twelve [^[b]small hand] baskets of broken pieces.