Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God Is Good to His People

78 O my people, hear my teaching. Listen to the words of my mouth. ² I will open my mouth in picture-stories. I will tell things which have been kept secret from long ago, ³ which we have heard and known because our fathers have told us. ⁴ We will not hide them from their children. But we will tell the children-to-come the praises of the Lord, and of His power and the great things He has done.

⁵ For He has made His will known to Jacob. He made the Law in Israel, which He told our fathers to teach their children. ⁶ So the children-to-come might know, even the children yet to be born. So they may rise up and tell it to their children. ⁷ Then they would put their trust in God and not forget the works of God. And they would keep His Law. ⁸ They would not be like their fathers, who were not right with God and would not obey Him or be faithful to Him.

¹⁷ But they still kept on sinning against Him. They did not obey the Most High in the desert. ¹⁸ They tested God in their hearts by asking for the food they wanted. ¹⁹ Then they spoke against God, saying, “Can God set a table in the desert? ²⁰ See, He hit the rock and water poured out and rivers flowed over. Can He give bread also? Will He give meat to His people?”

²¹ The Lord was full of anger when He heard them. And a fire was set against Jacob. His anger went up against Israel, ²² because they did not believe in God. They did not trust in Him to save them. ²³ Yet He spoke to the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven. ²⁴ He sent down bread from heaven for them to eat. He gave them food from heaven. ²⁵ Men ate the bread of angels. He sent them all the food they could eat. ²⁶ He made the east wind blow in the heavens. And He brought in the south wind by His power. ²⁷ He sent meat down on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the sea. ²⁸ He let them fall in the place where they were staying, all around their tents. ²⁹ So they ate until they were full. He gave them what they wanted.

The Promised Land to Be Taken

8 “Be careful to do all that I am telling you today. Then you will live and have many children, and go in to own the land the Lord promised to give to your fathers. ² You will remember all the way the Lord your God led you in the desert these forty years, so you would not have pride, and how He tested you to know what was in your heart to see if you would obey His Laws or not. ³ He let you be hungry which helped you to not have pride. Then He fed you with bread from heaven which you and your fathers had not known. He did this to make you understand that man does not live by bread alone. But man lives by everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out, and your feet did not get sore during these forty years. ⁵ So know in your heart that the Lord your God was punishing you just as a man punishes his son. ⁶ Keep the Laws of the Lord your God. Walk in His ways, and fear Him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of rivers and wells of water, flowing into valleys from hills. ⁸ It is a land of grains, vines, fig trees, fruit, olive oil and honey. ⁹ It is a land where you will have enough food to eat and not have to do without, a land where stones are iron. And you can make brass from what you dig out of its hills. ¹⁰ When you have eaten and are filled, you will honor and thank the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.

⁸ First of all, I keep thanking my God, through Jesus Christ, for all of you. This is because the whole world knows of your faith in Christ. ⁹ God knows how I work for Him. He knows how I preach with all my heart the Good News about His Son. He knows how I always pray for you. ¹⁰ I pray that I might be able to visit you, if God wants me to. ¹¹ I want to see you so I can share some special gift of the Holy Spirit with you. It will make you strong. ¹² Both of us need help. I can help make your faith strong and you can do the same for me. We need each other.

¹³ Christian brothers, many times I have wanted to visit you. Something has kept me from going until now. I have wanted to lead some of you to Christ also, as I have done in other places where they did not know God. ¹⁴ I must help the people who have had a chance to hear the Good News and those who have not. I must help those with much learning and those who have never learned from books. ¹⁵ So I want to preach the Good News to you who live in Rome also.