Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
12 Merciless people make plots
against good people
and snarl like animals,
13 but the Lord laughs and knows
their time is coming soon.
14 The wicked kill with swords
and shoot arrows to murder
the poor and the needy
and all who do right.
15 But they will be killed
by their own swords,
and their arrows
will be broken.
16 It is better to live right
and be poor
than to be sinful and rich.
17 The wicked will lose all
of their power,
but the Lord gives strength
to everyone who is good.
18 Those who obey the Lord
are daily in his care,
and what he has given them
will be theirs forever.
19 They won't be in trouble
when times are bad,
and they will have plenty
when food is scarce.
20 Wicked people are enemies
of the Lord
and will vanish like smoke
from a field on fire.
21 An evil person borrows
and never pays back;
a good person is generous
and never stops giving.
22 Everyone the Lord blesses
will receive the land;
everyone the Lord curses
will be destroyed.
Solomon Dies
(1 Kings 11.41-43)
29 Everything else Solomon did while he was king is written in the records of Nathan the prophet, Ahijah the prophet from Shiloh, and Iddo the prophet who wrote about Jeroboam son of Nebat. 30 After Solomon had ruled 40 years from Jerusalem, 31 he died and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam then became king.
35 That evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This place is like a desert, and it's already late. 36 Let the crowds leave, so they can go to the farms and villages near here and buy something to eat.”
37 Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”
But they asked him, “Don't you know it would take almost a year's wages[a] to buy all of these people something to eat?”
38 Then Jesus said, “How much bread do you have? Go and see!”
They found out and answered, “We have five small loaves of bread[b] and two fish.” 39 Jesus told his disciples to tell the people to sit down on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of 100 and groups of 50.
41 Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food. Then he broke the bread and handed it to his disciples to give to the people. He also divided the two fish, so everyone could have some.
42 After everyone had eaten all they wanted, 43 Jesus' disciples picked up twelve large baskets of leftover bread and fish.
44 There were 5,000 men who ate the food.
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