Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 53
The Fool
(Psalm 14)
Heading
For the choir director. According to mahalath.[a] A maskil by David.
A Description of the Fool
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt. They commit horrible evil.
There is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven on all the children of Adam
to see if there is anyone who understands,
anyone who seeks God.
3 Every single one has turned back.
Altogether they have become rotten.
There is no one who does good.
There is not even one.
The Final Fate of the Fool
4 Don’t they know, all those evildoers,
who devour my people as if they were eating bread?
They do not call on God.
5 There they are, terrified, where there was nothing to fear.
For God scattered the bones of those who camped against you.
You put them to shame, because God despised them.
Closing Prayer
6 Who will provide salvation for Israel from Zion?[b]
When God restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Elisha Multiplies the Widow’s Oil
4 The wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead. You know that your servant feared the Lord. But now the moneylender is coming to take my two sons as slaves.”
2 Then Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
She said, “Your servant has nothing at all in the house except a jar of olive oil.”
3 He told her, “Go and ask all your neighbors for jars—empty jars. Don’t ask for only a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Then pour oil into all the jars. When each one is full, set it aside.”
5 So she went and shut the door to her house behind her and her sons. They brought the jars, and she poured. 6 When a jar was filled, she said to her son, “Bring me another jar.”
Finally he said, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped.
7 So she went and told the man of God. He said, “Go and sell the oil and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live off what’s left.”
Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand
10 The apostles returned and told Jesus what they had done. He took them and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida. 11 But when the crowds found out, they followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God. He also healed those who needed healing. 12 As the day began to draw to a close, the Twelve came and said to him, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms to find lodging and food, because we are in a deserted place here.”
13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
“We have no more than five loaves and two fish,” they replied, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 (There were about five thousand men.)
He said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did so and got them all to sit down. 16 Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke them. Then he kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve basketfuls of the broken pieces that were left over.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.