Book of Common Prayer
God Saved Israel from Egypt
A maskil of Asaph.
78 My people, listen to my teaching.
Listen to what I say.
2 I will speak using stories.
I will tell things that have been secret since long ago.
3 We have heard them and know them.
Our fathers told them to us.
4 We will not keep them from our children.
We will tell those who come later
about the praises of the Lord.
We will tell about his power
and the miracles he has done.
5 The Lord made an agreement with Jacob.
He gave the teachings to Israel.
And he commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children.
6 Then their children would know them,
even their children not yet born.
And they would tell their children.
7 So they would all trust God.
They would not forget what God had done.
Instead, they would obey his commands.
8 They would not be like their ancestors
who were stubborn and disobedient.
Their hearts were not loyal to God.
They were not true to him.
9 The men of Ephraim had bows for weapons.
But they ran away on the day of battle.
10 They didn’t keep their agreement with God.
They refused to live by his teachings.
11 They forgot what he had done
and the miracles he had shown them.
12 He did miracles while their ancestors watched,
in the fields of Zoan in Egypt.
13 He divided the Red Sea and led them through.
He made the water stand up like a wall.
14 He led them with a cloud by day.
And he led them at night by the light of a fire.
15 He split the rocks in the desert.
And he gave them much water, as if it were from the deep ocean.
16 He brought streams out of the rock.
The water flowed down like rivers.
17 But the people continued to sin against him.
In the desert they turned against God Most High.
18 They decided to test God
by asking for the food they wanted.
19 Then they spoke against God.
They said, “Can God prepare food in the desert?
20 When he hit the rock, water poured out.
Rivers flowed down.
But can he give us bread also?
Will he provide his people with meat?”
21 When the Lord heard them, he was very angry.
His anger was like fire to the people of Jacob.
His anger grew against the people of Israel.
22 They had not believed God.
They had not trusted him to save them.
23 But he gave a command to the clouds above.
The doors of heaven opened.
24 He rained manna down on them to eat.
He gave them grain from heaven.
25 So they ate the bread of angels.
He sent them all the food they could eat.
26 He sent the east wind from heaven.
He led the south wind by his power.
27 He rained meat on them like dust.
The birds were as many as the sand of the sea.
28 He made the birds fall inside the camp,
all around the tents.
29 So the people ate and became very full.
God had given them what they wanted.
30 While they were still eating,
and while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God became angry with them.
He killed some of the healthiest of them.
He struck down the best young men of Israel.
32 But they kept on sinning.
They did not believe even with the miracles.
33 So he ended their days without meaning
and their years in terror.
34 Anytime he killed them, some would look to him for help.
They would come back to God and follow him.
35 They would remember that God was their Rock,
that God Most High had saved them.
36 But their words were false.
Their tongues lied to him.
37 Their hearts were not really loyal to God.
They did not keep his agreement.
38 Still God was merciful.
He forgave their sins.
He did not destroy them.
Many times he held back his anger.
He did not stir up all his anger.
39 He remembered that they were only human.
They were like a wind that blows and does not come back.
40 They turned against God so often in the desert!
There they made him very sad.
41 Again and again they tested God.
They brought pain to the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power
or the time he saved them from the enemy.
43 They forgot the signs he did in Egypt
and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44 He turned the rivers to blood.
So no one could drink the water.
45 He sent flies that bit the people.
He sent frogs that destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to grasshoppers
and what they worked for to locusts.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore trees with sleet.
48 He killed their animals with hail
and their cattle with lightning.
49 He showed them his hot anger.
He sent his strong anger against them.
He sent his destroying angels.
50 He found a way to show his anger.
He did not keep them from dying.
He let them die by a terrible disease.
51 God killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt,
the oldest son of each family of Ham.[a]
52 But God led out his people like sheep.
He guided them like a flock through the desert.
53 He led them to safety. They had nothing to fear.
But their enemies drowned in the sea.
54 So God brought them to his holy land.
He brought them to the mountain country he took with his own power.
55 He forced out the other nations.
And he had his people inherit the land.
He let the tribes of Israel settle there in tents.
56 But they tested God
and turned against the Most High.
They did not keep his rules.
57 They turned away and sinned just like their ancestors.
They were like a crooked bow that does not shoot straight.
58 They made God angry by building places to worship false gods.
They made him jealous with their idols.
59 When God heard them, he became very angry.
And he rejected the people of Israel completely.
60 He left his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he lived among men.
61 He let his Ark of the Covenant be captured.
He let the Ark of the Covenant, which was his glory, be taken by enemies.
62 He let his people be killed.
He was very angry with his children.
63 The young men died by fire.
The young women had no one to marry.
64 Their priests fell by the sword.
But their widows were not allowed to cry.
65 Then the Lord got up as if he had been asleep.
He awoke like a man who was drunk with wine.
66 He struck down his enemies.
He disgraced them forever.
67 But God rejected the family of Joseph.
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah
and Mount Zion, which he loves.
69 And he built his Temple high like the mountains.
Like the earth, he built it to last forever.
70 He chose David to be his servant.
He took him from the sheep pens.
71 He brought him from tending the sheep
so he could lead the flock, the people of Jacob.
This flock was his own people, the people of Israel.
72 And David led them with an innocent heart.
He guided them with skillful hands.
Fire from the Lord
11 The people complained to the Lord about their troubles. When he heard them, he became angry. Fire from the Lord burned among the people. It burned the edge of the camp. 2 So the people cried out to Moses. He prayed to the Lord, and the fire stopped burning. 3 So that place was called Taberah.[a] The people named it that because the Lord’s fire had burned among them.
The 70 Older Leaders
4 Some troublemakers among them wanted better food. Soon all the Israelites began complaining. They said, “We want meat! 5 We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt. We also had cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite. We never see anything but this manna!”
7 The manna was like small white seeds. 8 The people would go to gather it. Then they ground it in handmills. Or they crushed it between stones. They cooked it in a pot or made cakes with it. It tasted like bread baked with olive oil. 9 When the dew fell on the camp each night, so did the manna.
10 Moses heard every family crying. They stood in the entrances of their tents. The Lord became very angry. And Moses got upset. 11 He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought me this trouble? I’m your servant. What have I done wrong? Why did you make me responsible for all these people? 12 I am not the father of all these people. I didn’t give birth to them. Why do you make me carry them to the land you promised to our ancestors? Must I carry them in my arms as a nurse carries a baby? 13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying to me, ‘We want meat!’ 14 I can’t take care of all these people alone. It is too much for me. 15 If you are going to continue doing this to me, then kill me now. If you like me, put me to death. Then I won’t have any more troubles.”
16 The Lord said to Moses, “Bring me 70 of Israel’s elders. Pick men you know are leaders among the people. Bring them to the Meeting Tent. Have them stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is in you. And I will give it to them. They will help you care for the people. Then you will not have to care for them alone.
18 “Tell the people this: ‘Make yourselves holy. Tomorrow you will eat meat. The Lord heard you cry, “We want meat! We were better off in Egypt!” So now the Lord will give you meat to eat. 19 You will not eat it for just 1, 2, 5, 10 or even 20 days. 20 You will eat that meat for a whole month. You will eat it until it comes out your nose. You will hate it. This is because you have rejected the Lord. He is here with you. But you have cried to him. You said, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”
21 Moses said, “Lord, here are 600,000 men standing around me. And you say, ‘I will give them enough meat to eat for a month!’ 22 If we killed all the sheep and cattle, that would not be enough. If we caught all the fish in the sea, that would not be enough.”
23 But the Lord said to Moses, “Do you think I’m weak? You will see if I can do what I say.”
16 I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is the power God uses to save everyone who believes—to save the Jews first, and then to save the non-Jews. 17 The Good News shows how God makes people right with himself. God’s way of making people right with him begins and ends with faith. As the Scripture says, “The person who is made right with God by faith will live forever.”[a]
All People Have Done Wrong
18 God’s anger is shown from heaven against all the evil and wrong things that people do. By their own evil lives they hide the truth. 19 God shows his anger because everything that may be known about God has been made clear. Yes, God has clearly shown them everything that may be known about him. 20 There are things about God that people cannot see—his eternal power and all the things that make him God. But since the beginning of the world those things have been easy to understand. They are made clear by what God has made. So people have no excuse for the bad things they do. 21 They knew God. But they did not give glory to God, and they did not thank him. Their thinking became useless. Their foolish minds were filled with darkness. 22 They said they were wise, but they became fools. 23 They gave up the glory of God who lives forever. They traded that glory for the worship of idols made to look like earthly people. They traded God’s glory for things that look like birds, animals, and snakes.
24 People were full of sin, wanting only to do evil. So God left them to follow their evil desires, and they made one another’s bodies impure by what they did. 25 They traded the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served things that were made by man. But they did not worship and serve the God who made those things. God should be praised forever. Amen.
Jesus Talks About His Death
22 Later, the followers met together in Galilee. Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man will be given into the control of some men. 23 They will kill him, but on the third day he will be raised from death.” And the followers were filled with sadness.
Jesus Talks About Paying Taxes
24 Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum. There some men came to Peter. They were the men who collected the Temple tax. They asked, “Does your teacher pay the Temple tax?”
25 Peter answered, “Yes, Jesus pays the tax.”
Peter went into the house where Jesus was. Before Peter could speak, Jesus said to him, “The kings on the earth collect different kinds of taxes. But who are the people who pay the taxes? Are they the king’s children? Or do others pay the taxes? What do you think?”
26 Peter answered, “Other people pay the taxes.”
Jesus said to Peter, “Then the children of the king don’t have to pay taxes. 27 But we don’t want to make these tax collectors angry. So go to the lake and fish. After you catch the first fish, open its mouth. Inside its mouth you will find a coin. Take that coin and give it to the tax collectors. That will pay the tax for you and me.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.