Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 53
A Portrait of Sinners
For the choir director: on Mahalath.[a](A) A Davidic Maskil.
1 The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.”
They are corrupt, and they do vile deeds.
There is no one who does good.(B)
2 God looks down from heaven on the human race
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.(C)
3 All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one.(D)
The Widow’s Oil Multiplied
4 One of the wives of the sons of the prophets(A) cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord.(B) Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves.”(C)
2 Elisha asked her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”(D)
3 Then he said, “Go and borrow empty containers from everyone—from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few.(E) 4 Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these containers. Set the full ones to one side.” 5 So she left.
After she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing her containers, and she kept pouring.(F) 6 When they were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.”
But he replied, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped.
7 She went and told the man of God,(G) and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest.”(H)
Feeding 5,000
10 When the apostles returned,(A) they reported to Jesus all that they had done.(B) He took them along and withdrew privately to a[a] town called Bethsaida.(C) 11 When the crowds found out, they followed Him. He welcomed them,(D) spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and cured[b] those who needed healing.
12 Late in the day,[c](E) the Twelve approached and said to Him, “Send the crowd away,(F) so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find food and lodging, because we are in a deserted place here.”
13 “You give them something to eat,” He told them.
“We have no more than five loaves(G) and two fish,” they said, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 (For about 5,000 men were there.)
Then He told His disciples, “Have them sit down[d] in groups of about 50 each.” 15 They did so, and had them all sit down. 16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,(H) He blessed and broke them.(I) He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 Everyone ate and was filled. Then they picked up[e] 12 baskets of leftover pieces.
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