Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Folly of the Godless and Salvation for Israel
For the music director, according to Mahalath.
A maskil of David.[a]
53 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt and they have done abominable iniquity.
There is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of humankind
to see whether there is one who has insight,
one who seeks God.
3 All of them[b] have turned back.
They are altogether corrupt.
There is none who does good;
there is not even one.
4 Do not evildoers know,
they who eat my people as though they were eating bread?
They do not call on God.
5 There they are very fearful[c]
where no fear had been,
because 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 from Zion[d] would come salvation for Israel!
When God returns the fortunes[e] of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Elisha Answers a Widow’s Request
4 A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves. 2 Elisha asked her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” Then she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil.” 3 Then he said to her, “Go, ask for yourself some containers from the streets, from all your neighbors. You must collect as many empty containers as you can![a] 4 You must also go and shut the door behind you and your children, and you must pour out oil into all of these containers and set the filled ones aside.” 5 So she went from him, and she shut the door behind her and her children. They were bringing containers to her, and she kept pouring. 6 It happened that when the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring near me another container,” but he said to her, “There is not another container.” Then the olive oil stopped flowing. 7 So she came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the olive oil and repay your debt. You and your sons can live on what is left over.”
The Feeding of Five Thousand
10 And when they[a] returned, the apostles described to him all that they had done. And he took them along and[b] withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida. 11 But when[c] the crowds found out, they followed him, and welcoming them, he began to speak[d] to them about the kingdom of God, and he cured those who had need of healing. 12 Now the day began to be far spent, and the twelve came up and[e] said to him, “Send away the crowd so that they can go into the surrounding villages and farms to obtain lodging and find provisions, because we are here in a desolate place. 13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said, “We have no[f] more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and[g] purchase food for all these people.” 14 (For there were about five thousand men.) So he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 And they did so, and had them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, and[h] looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them and began giving[i] them[j] to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And they all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up by them—twelve baskets of broken pieces.
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