Book of Common Prayer
A maskil by Asaph.
78 Open your ears to my teachings, my people.
Turn your ears to the words from my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth to illustrate points.
I will explain what has been hidden long ago,
3 things that we have heard and known about,
things that our parents have told us.
4 We will not hide them from our children.
We will tell the next generation
about the Lord’s power and great deeds
and the miraculous things he has done.
5 He established written instructions for Jacob’s people.
He gave his teachings to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors to make them known to their children
6 so that the next generation would know them.
Children yet to be born ⌞would learn them⌟.
They will grow up and tell their children
7 to trust God, to remember what he has done,
and to obey his commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation.
Their hearts were not loyal.
Their spirits were not faithful to God.
9 The men of Ephraim, well-equipped with bows ⌞and arrows⌟,
turned ⌞and ran⌟ on the day of battle.
10 They had not been faithful to God’s promise.[a]
They refused to follow his teachings.
11 They forgot what he had done—
the miracles that he had shown them.
12 In front of their ancestors he performed miracles
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and led them through it.
He made the waters stand up like a wall.
14 He guided them by a cloud during the day
and by a fiery light throughout the night.
15 He split rocks in the desert.
He gave them plenty to drink, an ocean of water.
16 He made streams come out of a rock.
He made the water flow like rivers.
17 They continued to sin against him,
to rebel in the desert against the Most High.
18 They deliberately tested God by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God by saying,
“Can God prepare a banquet in the desert?
20 True, he did strike a rock,
and water did gush out,
and the streams did overflow.
But can he also give us bread or provide us, his people, with meat?”
21 When the Lord heard this, he became furious.
His fire burned against Jacob
and his anger flared up at Israel
22 because they did not believe God
or trust him to save them.
23 In spite of that, he commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained manna down on them to eat
and gave them grain from heaven.
25 Humans ate the bread of the mighty ones,
and God sent them plenty of food.
26 He made the east wind blow in the heavens
and guided the south wind with his might.
27 He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds like the sand on the seashore.
28 He made the birds fall in the middle of his camp,
all around his dwelling place.
29 They ate more than enough.
He gave them what they wanted,
30 but they still wanted more.
While the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God flared up against them.
He killed their strongest men and slaughtered the best young men in Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they continued to sin,
and they no longer believed in his miracles.
33 He brought their days to an end like a whisper in the wind.
He brought their years to an end in terror.
34 When he killed ⌞some of⌟ them, ⌞the rest⌟ searched for him.
They turned from their sins and eagerly looked for God.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
that the Most High was their defender.
36 They flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their hearts were not loyal to him.
They were not faithful to his promise.
38 But he is compassionate.
He forgave their sin.
He did not destroy them.
He restrained his anger many times.
He did not display all of his fury.
39 He remembered that they were only flesh and blood,
a breeze that blows and does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness!
How often they caused him grief in the desert!
41 Again and again they tested God,
and they pushed the Holy One of Israel to the limit.
42 They did not remember his power—
the day he freed them from their oppressor,
43 when he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the fields of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood
so that they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent a swarm of flies that bit them
and frogs that ruined them.
46 He gave their crops to grasshoppers
and their produce to locusts.
47 He killed their vines with hail
and their fig trees with frost.
48 He let the hail strike their cattle
and bolts of lightning strike their livestock.
49 He sent his burning anger, rage, fury, and hostility against them.
He sent an army of destroying angels.
50 He cleared a path for his anger.
He did not spare them.
He let the plague take their lives.
51 He slaughtered every firstborn in Egypt,
the ones born in the tents of Ham when their fathers were young.
52 But he led his own people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock through the wilderness.
53 He led them safely.
They had no fear while the sea covered their enemies.
54 He brought them into his holy land,
to this mountain that his power had won.
55 He forced nations out of their way
and gave them the land of the nations as their inheritance.
He settled the tribes of Israel in their own tents.
56 They tested God Most High and rebelled against him.
They did not obey his written instructions.
57 They were disloyal and treacherous like their ancestors.
They were like arrows shot from a defective bow.
58 They made him angry because of their illegal worship sites.
They made him furious because they worshiped idols.
59 When God heard, he became furious.
He completely rejected Israel.
60 He abandoned his dwelling place in Shiloh,
the tent where he had lived among humans.
61 He allowed his power to be taken captive
and handed his glory over to an oppressor.
62 He let swords kill his people.
He was furious with those who belonged to him.
63 Fire consumed his best young men,
so his virgins heard no wedding songs.
64 His priests were cut down with swords.
The widows ⌞of his priests⌟ could not even weep ⌞for them⌟.
65 Then the Lord woke up like one who had been sleeping,
like a warrior sobering up from ⌞too much⌟ wine.
66 He struck his enemies from behind
and disgraced them forever.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph.
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which he loved.
69 He built his holy place to be like the high heavens,
like the earth which he made to last for a long time.
70 He chose his servant David.
He took him from the sheep pens.
71 He brought him from tending the ewes that had lambs
so that David could be the shepherd of the people of Jacob,
of Israel, the people who belonged to the Lord.
72 With unselfish devotion David became their shepherd.
With skill he guided them.
The People of Israel Demand Meat to Eat
11 The people began complaining out loud to the Lord about their troubles. When the Lord heard them, he became angry, and fire from the Lord began to burn among them. It destroyed some people on the outskirts of the camp. 2 The people cried out to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 That place was called Taberah [Fire] because fire from the Lord burned among them there.
4 Some foreigners among the Israelites had a strong craving for ⌞other kinds of⌟ food. Even the Israelites started crying again and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 Remember all the free fish we ate in Egypt and the cucumbers, watermelons, leeks, onions, and garlic we had? 6 But now we’ve lost our appetite! Everywhere we look there’s nothing but manna!”
7 (Manna was ⌞small⌟ like coriander seeds and looked like resin. 8 The people would go around and gather it, then grind it in a handmill or crush it in a mortar. They would cook it in a pot or make round loaves of bread out of it. It tasted like rich pastry made with olive oil. 9 When dew fell on the camp at night, manna fell with it.)
10 Moses heard people from every family crying at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became very angry, and Moses didn’t like it either. 11 So he asked, “Lord, why have you brought me this trouble? How have I displeased you that you put the burden of all these people on me? 12 Am I their mother? Did I give birth to them? Are you really asking me to carry them in my arms—as a nurse carries a baby—all the way to the land you promised their ancestors with an oath? 13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying for me to give them meat to eat. 14 I can’t take care of all these people by myself. This is too much work for me! 15 If this is how you’re going to treat me, why don’t you just kill me? I can’t face this trouble anymore.”
16 The Lord answered Moses, “Bring me 70 Israelite men who you know are leaders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting, and have them stand with you. 17 I’ll come down and speak with you there. I’ll take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will help you take care of the people. You won’t have to take care of the people alone. 18 Tell the people to get ready for tomorrow. They must be set apart as holy. Then they will eat meat. I, the Lord, heard them crying and saying, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!’ So I will give them meat. 19 They won’t eat it just for one or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of their ears and they’re sick of it. This is because they rejected the Lord who is here among them and cried in front of him, asking, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’ ”
21 But Moses said, “Here I am with 600,000 foot soldiers around me. Yet, you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ 22 Would they have enough if all the flocks and herds were butchered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”
23 The Lord asked Moses, “Is there a limit to the Lord’s power? Now you will see whether or not my words come true.”
16 I’m not ashamed of the Good News. It is God’s power to save everyone who believes, Jews first and Greeks as well. 17 God’s approval is revealed in this Good News. This approval begins and ends with faith as Scripture says, “The person who has God’s approval will live by faith.”
God’s Anger against Sinful Humanity
18 God’s anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living. 19 What can be known about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them. 20 From the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what he made. As a result, people have no excuse. 21 They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. 22 While claiming to be wise, they became fools. 23 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes.
24 For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other. 25 These people have exchanged God’s truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen!
Jesus Again Foretells That He Will Die and Come Back to Life(A)
22 While they were traveling together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man will be betrayed and handed over to people. 23 They will kill him, but on the third day he will be brought back to life.” Then the disciples became very sad.
Paying the Temple Tax
24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter. They asked him, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”
25 “Certainly,” he answered.
Peter went into the house. Before he could speak, Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the world collect fees or taxes? Is it from their family members or from other people?”
26 “From other people,” Peter answered.
Jesus said to him, “Then the family members are exempt. 27 However, so that we don’t create a scandal, go to the sea and throw in a hook. Take the first fish that you catch. Open its mouth, and you will find a coin. Give that coin to them for you and me.”
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