Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 78
Lessons from Israel’s Past
A Maskil of Asaph.(A)
1 My people, hear my instruction;
listen to what I say.(B)
2 I will declare wise sayings;
I will speak mysteries from the past(C)—
3 things we have heard and known
and that our fathers have passed down to us.(D)
4 We must not hide them from their children,
but must tell a future generation
the praises of the Lord,
His might, and the wonderful works
He has performed.(E)
5 He established a testimony in Jacob
and set up a law in Israel,
which He commanded our fathers
to teach to their children(F)
6 so that a future generation—
children yet to be born—might know.
They were to rise and tell their children(G)
7 so that they might put their confidence in God
and not forget God’s works,
but keep His commands.(H)
8 Then they would not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not loyal
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.(I)
9 The Ephraimite archers turned back
on the day of battle.(J)
10 They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by His law.(K)
11 They forgot what He had done,
the wonderful works He had shown them.(L)
12 He worked wonders in the sight of their fathers
in the land of Egypt, the region of Zoan.(M)
13 He split the sea and brought them across;
the water stood firm like a wall.(N)
14 He led them with a cloud by day
and with a fiery light throughout the night.(O)
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.(P)
16 He brought streams out of the stone
and made water flow down like rivers.(Q)
17 But they continued to sin against Him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.(R)
18 They deliberately[a] tested God,
demanding the food they craved.(S)
19 They spoke against God, saying,
“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?
20 Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out;
torrents overflowed.(T)
But can He also provide bread
or furnish meat for His people?”(U)
21 Therefore, the Lord heard and became furious;
then fire broke out against Jacob,
and anger flared up against Israel(V)
22 because they did not believe God
or rely on His salvation.(W)
23 He gave a command to the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.(X)
24 He rained manna for them to eat;
He gave them grain from heaven.(Y)
25 People[b] ate the bread of angels.[c]
He sent them an abundant supply of food.(Z)
26 He made the east wind blow in the skies
and drove the south wind by His might.(AA)
27 He rained meat on them like dust,
and winged birds like the sand of the seas.
28 He made them fall in His camp,
all around His tent.[d][e](AB)
29 They ate and were completely satisfied,
for He gave them what they craved.(AC)
30 Before they had satisfied their desire,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger flared up against them,
and He killed some of their best men.
He struck down Israel’s choice young men.(AD)
32 Despite all this, they kept sinning
and did not believe His wonderful works.(AE)
33 He made their days end in futility,
their years in sudden disaster.(AF)
34 When He killed some of them,
the rest began to seek Him;
they repented and searched for God.(AG)
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God, their Redeemer.(AH)
36 But they deceived Him with their mouths,
they lied to Him with their tongues,(AI)
37 their hearts were insincere toward Him,
and they were unfaithful to His covenant.(AJ)
38 Yet He was compassionate;
He atoned for[f] their guilt
and did not destroy them.
He often turned His anger aside
and did not unleash[g] all His wrath.(AK)
39 He remembered that they were only flesh,
a wind that passes and does not return.(AL)
40 How often they rebelled against Him
in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert.
41 They constantly tested God(AM)
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.(AN)
42 They did not remember His power shown
on the day He redeemed them from the foe,(AO)
43 when He performed His miraculous signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the region of Zoan.(AP)
44 He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.(AQ)
45 He sent among them swarms of flies,(AR)
which fed on them,
and frogs, which devastated them.(AS)
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.(AT)
47 He killed their vines with hail
and their sycamore fig trees with a flood.
48 He handed over their livestock to hail
and their cattle to lightning bolts.(AU)
49 He sent His burning anger against them:
fury, indignation, and calamity—
a band of deadly messengers.[h](AV)
50 He cleared a path for His anger.
He did not spare them from death
but delivered their lives to the plague.(AW)
51 He struck all the firstborn(AX) in Egypt,
the first progeny of the tents of Ham.[i](AY)
52 He led His people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.(AZ)
53 He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.(BA)
54 He brought them to His holy land,
to the mountain His right hand acquired.(BB)
55 He drove out nations before them.(BC)
He apportioned their inheritance by lot
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.(BD)
56 But they rebelliously tested the Most High God,
for they did not keep His decrees.(BE)
57 They treacherously turned away like their fathers;
they became warped like a faulty bow.(BF)
58 They enraged Him with their high places
and provoked His jealousy with their carved images.(BG)
59 God heard and became furious;
He completely rejected Israel.(BH)
60 He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where He resided among men.[j](BI)
61 He gave up His strength[k] to captivity
and His splendor to the hand of a foe.(BJ)
62 He surrendered His people to the sword
because He was enraged with His heritage.(BK)
63 Fire consumed His chosen young men,
and His young women had no wedding songs.[l](BL)
64 His priests fell by the sword,
but the[m] widows could not lament.[n](BM)
65 Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep,
like a warrior from the effects of wine.(BN)
66 He beat back His foes;
He gave them lasting shame.(BO)
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph
and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which He loved.(BP)
69 He built His sanctuary like the heights,[o]
like the earth that He established forever.(BQ)
70 He chose David His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;(BR)
71 He brought him from tending ewes
to be shepherd over His people Jacob—
over Israel, His inheritance.(BS)
72 He shepherded them with a pure heart
and guided them with his skillful hands.(BT)
Obedience Over Sacrifice
21 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,(A) 22 for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them(B) or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice. 23 However, I did give them this command: Obey Me, and then I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.(C) 24 Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention(D) but followed their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.(E) 25 Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent all My servants the prophets(F) to you time and time again.[a](G) 26 However, they wouldn’t listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate;[b](H) they did more evil than their ancestors.(I)
A Lament for Disobedient Judah
27 “When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. 28 You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth[c] has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths. 29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vow[d](J) and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,(K) for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath.(L)
30 “For the Judeans have done what is evil in My sight.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “They have set up their detestable things(M) in the house that is called by My name and defiled it.(N) 31 They have built the high places of Topheth[e](O) in the Valley of Hinnom[f](P) in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire,(Q) a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.[g]
32 “Therefore, take note! Days are coming”(R)—the Lord’s declaration—“when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.(S) Topheth will become a cemetery,[h] because there will be no other burial place. 33 The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.(T) 34 I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride,(U) for the land will become a desolate waste.(V)
The Promise Granted through Faith
13 For the promise to Abraham(A) or to his descendants that he would inherit the world(B) was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.[a] 14 If those who are of the law are heirs,(C) faith is made empty and the promise is canceled. 15 For the law produces wrath.(D) And where there is no law,(E) there is no transgression.
16 This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace,(F) to guarantee it to all the descendants(G)—not only to those who are of the law[b] but also to those who are of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all 17 in God’s sight. As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations.(H)[c] He believed in God, who gives life to the dead(I) and calls(J) things into existence that do not exist.(K) 18 He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations(L)[d] according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be.(M)[e] 19 He considered[f] his own body to be already dead(N) (since he was about 100 years old)(O) and also considered the deadness of Sarah’s womb,(P) without weakening in the faith. 20 He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,(Q) 21 because he was fully convinced(R) that what He had promised He was also able to perform.(S) 22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.(T)[g] 23 Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone,(U) 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in Him(V) who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.(W) 25 He was delivered up for[h] our trespasses(X) and raised for[i] our justification.[j](Y)
The Promise of the Spirit
37 On the last and most important day of the festival,(A) Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me[a](B) and drink!(C) 38 The one who believes in Me,(D) as the Scripture(E) has said,[b] will have streams of living water(F) flow(G) from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit.(H) Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit,(I) for the Spirit[c] had not yet been received[d][e] because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
The People Are Divided over Jesus
40 When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This really is the Prophet!”[f](J) 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah!” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does He? 42 Doesn’t the Scripture(K) say that the Messiah comes from David’s(L) offspring[g] and from the town of Bethlehem,(M) where David once lived?” 43 So a division(N) occurred among the crowd because of Him. 44 Some of them wanted to seize Him,(O) but no one laid hands on Him.
Debate over Jesus’ Claims
45 Then the temple police(P) came to the chief priests(Q) and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why haven’t you brought Him?”
46 The police answered, “No man ever spoke like this!”[h](R)
47 Then the Pharisees responded to them: “Are you fooled(S) too? 48 Have any of the rulers(T) or Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd, which doesn’t know the law, is accursed!”
50 Nicodemus(U)—the one who came to Him previously, being one of them—said to them, 51 “Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”(V)
52 “You aren’t from Galilee(W) too, are you?” they replied. “Investigate and you will see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”[i](X)
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