Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the director: To the tune “The Dove in the Distant Oak.” A miktam of David written when the Philistines captured him in Gath.
56 God, people have attacked me, so be merciful to me.
They have been chasing me all day, closing in to attack me.
2 My enemies come at me constantly.
There are too many fighters to count.[a]
3 When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 I trust God, so I am not afraid of what people can do to me!
I praise God for his promise to me.
5 My enemies are always twisting my words.
They are always making plans against me.
6 They hide together and watch every move I make,
hoping for some way to kill me.
7 God, send them away because of the bad things they did.
Show your anger and defeat those people.
8 You know I am very upset.
You know how much I have cried.
Surely you have kept an account of all my tears.
9 I know that when l call for help, my enemies will turn and run.
I know that because God is with me!
10 I praise God for his promise.
I praise the Lord for his promise to me.
11 I trust God, so I am not afraid
of what people can do to me!
12 God, I will keep the special promises I made to you.
I will give you my thank offering.
13 You saved me from death.
You kept me from being defeated.
So I will serve you in the light
that only the living can see.
8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 “Go to Zarephath in Sidon and stay there. There is a widow there that I commanded to take care of you.”
10 So Elijah went to Zarephath. He went to the town gate and saw a woman there gathering wood for a fire. She was a widow. Elijah said to her, “Would you bring me a small cup of water to drink?” 11 As she was going to get the water, Elijah said, “Bring me a piece of bread too, please.”
12 The woman answered, “I promise you, before the Lord your God, that I have nothing but a handful of flour in a jar and a little bit of olive oil in a jug. I came here to gather a few pieces of wood for a fire to cook our last meal. My son and I will eat it and then die from hunger.”
13 Elijah said to the woman, “Don’t worry. Go home and cook your food as you said. But first make a small piece of bread from the flour that you have and bring it to me. Then cook some for yourself and your son. 14 The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘That jar of flour will never be empty and the jug will always have oil in it. This will continue until the day the Lord sends rain to the land.’”
15 So the woman went home and did what Elijah told her to do. And Elijah, the woman, and her son had enough food for a long time. 16 The jar of flour and the jug of oil were never empty. This happened just as the Lord said through Elijah.
God’s Wisdom
6 We teach wisdom to people who are mature, but the wisdom we teach is not from this world. It is not the wisdom of the rulers of this world, who are losing their power. 7 But we speak God’s secret wisdom that has been hidden from everyone until now. God planned this wisdom for our glory. He planned it before the world began. 8 None of the rulers of this world understood this wisdom. If they had understood it, they would not have killed our great and glorious Lord on a cross. 9 But as the Scriptures say,
“No one has ever seen,
no one has ever heard,
no one has ever imagined
what God has prepared for those who love him.” (A)
10 But God has shown us these things through the Spirit.
The Spirit knows all things. The Spirit even knows the deep secrets of God. 11 It is like this: No one knows the thoughts that another person has. Only the person’s spirit that lives inside knows those thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows God’s thoughts except God’s Spirit. 12 We received the Spirit that is from God, not the spirit of the world. We received God’s Spirit so that we can know all that God has given us.
13 When we say this, we don’t use words taught to us by human wisdom. We use words taught to us by the Spirit. We use the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14 People who do not have God’s Spirit do not accept the things that come from his Spirit. They think these things are foolish. They cannot understand them, because they can only be understood with the Spirit’s help. 15 We who have the Spirit are able to make judgments about all these things. But anyone without the Spirit is not able to make proper judgments about us. 16 As the Scriptures say,
“Who can know what is on the Lord’s mind?
Who is able to give him advice?” (B)
But we have been given Christ’s way of thinking.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International