Psalm 78

A maskil^[a] of Asaph.

¹³ That evening quail^(A) came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew^(B) around the camp. ¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost^(C) on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know^(D) what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread^(E) the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer^[a](F) for each person you have in your tent.’”

¹⁷ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.^(G) Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”^(H)

²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.^(I) So Moses was angry^(J) with them.

²¹ Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²² On the sixth day, they gathered twice^(K) as much—two omers^[b] for each person—and the leaders of the community^(L) came and reported this to Moses. ²³ He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath^(M) to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

²⁴ So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. ²⁵ “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. ²⁶ Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath,^(N) there will not be any.”

¹⁹ One of you will say to me:^(A) “Then why does God still blame us?^(B) For who is able to resist his will?”^{(C) 20} But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(D) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(E) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[a](F) 21} Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?^(G)

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^(H) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^{(I) 23} What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^(J) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^(K)— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called,^(L) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^{(M) 25} As he says in Hosea:

²⁶ and,

²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

²⁹ It is just as Isaiah said previously: