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6 For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. ⁷Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ ¹⁰Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. ¹¹I will rebuke the locust^* for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. ¹²Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Psalm 66

Praise for God’s Goodness to Israel

To the leader. A Song. A Psalm.
¹ Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
²   sing the glory of his name;
   give to him glorious praise.
³ Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!
   Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
⁴ All the earth worships you;
   they sing praises to you,
   sing praises to your name.’
          Selah

⁵ Come and see what God has done:
   he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
⁶ He turned the sea into dry land;
   they passed through the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in him,
⁷   who rules by his might for ever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
   let the rebellious not exalt themselves.
          Selah

⁸ Bless our God, O peoples,
   let the sound of his praise be heard,
⁹ who has kept us among the living,
   and has not let our feet slip.
¹⁰ For you, O God, have tested us;
   you have tried us as silver is tried.
¹¹ You brought us into the net;
   you laid burdens on our backs;
¹² you let people ride over our heads;
   we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.^*

¹³ I will come into your house with burnt-offerings;
   I will pay you my vows,
¹⁴ those that my lips uttered
   and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
¹⁵ I will offer to you burnt-offerings of fatlings,
   with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats.
          Selah

¹⁶ Come and hear, all you who fear God,
   and I will tell what he has done for me.
¹⁷ I cried aloud to him,
   and he was extolled with my tongue.
¹⁸ If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
   the Lord would not have listened.
¹⁹ But truly God has listened;
   he has given heed to the words of my prayer.

²⁰ Blessed be God,
   because he has not rejected my prayer
   or removed his steadfast love from me.

Feeding the Five Thousand

10 On their return the apostles told Jesus^* all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. ¹¹When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.

12 The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.’ ¹³But he said to them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.’ ¹⁴For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, ‘Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ ¹⁵They did so and made them all sit down. ¹⁶And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. ¹⁷And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.