Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Asaph wrote this special song.
God has been good to his people[a]
78 My people, listen to what I am teaching you.
Listen to the words that I speak.
2 I will tell you something to make you wise.
Then you will understand
things that happened long ago.
3 We have heard about these things
and we know them.
Our ancestors have told them to us,
4 and we will not hide them from our children.
We will tell our children and our grandchildren
why they should praise the Lord.
We will tell them about his strength,
and about the great things that he has done.
5 He gave his laws to Jacob's descendants,
the Israelite people.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children.
6 Then the children would know about them,
even the children still to be born.
When the time came,
they too would tell their children.
7 Then their family would trust in God.
They would not forget what God had done.
They would obey his commands.
8 So they would not be like their ancestors,
who turned against God.
Those people refused to obey God,
and they did not trust him to be their guide.
17 But his people continued to do bad things against him.
In the wilderness,
they turned against the Most High God.
18 They decided to test God,
to see what he would do.
They demanded to have the food that they liked best.
19 They spoke against God, and they said,
‘Can God give us food to eat here in the wilderness?
20 Yes, water did come out when he hit the rock.
There were streams of water that poured out like a river.
But can he also give us food to eat?
Can he supply meat for his people?’
21 When the Lord heard this,
he was very angry.
So he sent fire to punish his people.
He became very angry against the Israelites.
22 They did not trust God,
that he had the power to save them.
23 So God commanded the clouds high above
to give food to his people.
He caused the skies to open like a door.
24 He poured down manna like rain,
so that they could eat grain that came from heaven.[a]
25 In that way, people ate the special bread of angels!
God gave them all the food that they could eat.
26 Then God caused a wind to blow from the east.
He used his power to send a south wind too.
27 He caused meat to pour down on them,
like dust from the sky.
The birds covered all the ground
like sand on the shore of the sea.[b]
28 God made the birds fall near the tents
where his people were living.
29 They ate as much as they could eat.
Yes, God gave them what they had demanded!
The Lord takes care of his people
8 Be careful to obey all the commands that I am giving to you today. If you do that, you will continue to live, and you will have many children. You will go into the land that the Lord your God promised to your ancestors. It will become your home. 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way across the desert. He took care of you for 40 years. He caused many troubles to come and to test you. He did that to see if you would trust him. He wanted to know whether you would continue to obey his commands. 3 He caused you to become hungry and then he fed you with manna.[a] Neither you nor your ancestors had ever seen this food before. In this way, he taught you that food alone cannot cause people to live. They need to hear every word that the Lord speaks. That is what gives them true life.
4 During those 40 years in the desert, your clothes did not spoil. Your feet did not become big with pain. 5 You should realize that the Lord your God wants you to learn what is right. When he punishes you, he is warning you. That is what a parent does to teach his child. 6 So obey the Lord's commands. Live in a way that pleases him. Respect him with fear.
7 Remember that the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. It is a land that has many streams, pools and springs of water. There is water that runs in the valleys and in the hills. 8-9 It is a land where you will have plenty of food to eat. There is wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and honey. You will have everything that you need. The rocks have iron in them. You can dig copper out of the hills. 10 You can eat all the food that you want. Then remember to thank the Lord your God for the good land that he has given to you.
Paul wants to visit Rome
8 First, because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, I thank my God for all of you. Everywhere in the world, people are talking about how you trust in Jesus Christ. 9 God is the one that I serve with all my spirit. I tell people the message about his Son, which is good news. God himself knows that I pray for you all the time. 10 Every time that I pray for you, I ask God for a chance that I might visit you soon. I pray that he will make it possible if that is what he wants.
11 I want very much to come and see you. Then I can give some gift from God's Spirit to you. That will help you to be strong as you serve God. 12 We can help each other to be strong like that, because both you and I trust Christ. 13 My Christian friends, I want you to know that I have tried often to visit you. But until now, something has always stopped me. I want to help you to serve God well, in the way that I have already helped other Gentiles.
14 Because God has been kind to me, I must tell his message to all people. I must tell his good news to people who have learned many things, and to those who have never been to school. I must tell it to people who are wise as well as to those who are not very clever. 15 Because of that, I want very much to tell God's good news also to you people who live in Rome.[a]
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