Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
One of Asaph’s maskils.
78 My people, listen to my teachings.
Listen to what I say.
2 I will tell you a story.
I will tell you about things from the past that are hard to understand.
3 We have heard the story, and we know it well.
Our fathers told it to us.
4 And we will not forget it.
Our people will be telling this story to the last generation.
We will all praise the Lord
and tell about the amazing things he did.
5 He made an agreement with Jacob.
He gave the law to Israel.
He gave the commands to our ancestors.
He told them to teach the law to their children.
6 Then the next generation, even the children not yet born, would learn the law.
And they would be able to teach it to their own children.
7 So they would all trust in God,
never forgetting what he had done
and always obeying his commands.
8 They would not be like their ancestors,
who were stubborn and refused to obey.
Their hearts were not devoted to God,
and they were not faithful to him.
17 But they continued sinning against him.
They rebelled against God Most High in the desert.
18 Then they decided to test God
by telling him to give them the food they wanted.
19 They complained about him and said,
“Can God give us food in the desert?
20 Yes, he struck the rock and a flood of water came out.
But can he give us bread and meat?”
21 The Lord heard what they said
and became angry with Jacob’s people.
He was angry with Israel,
22 because they did not trust in him.
They did not believe that God could save them.
23-24 But then God opened the clouds above,
and manna rained down on them for food.
It was as if doors in the sky opened,
and grain poured down from a storehouse in the sky.
25 These people ate the food of angels.
God sent plenty of food to satisfy them.
26 He sent a strong wind from the east,
and by his power he made the south wind blow.
27 He made quail fall like rain until they covered the ground.
There were so many birds that they were like sand on the seashore.
28 The birds fell in the middle of the camp,
all around their tents.
29 The people ate until they were full.
God had given them what they wanted.
Remember the Lord
8 “You must obey all the commands that I give you today, because then you will live and grow to become a great nation. You will get the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 2 And you must remember the entire trip that the Lord your God has led you through these 40 years in the desert. He was testing you. He wanted to make you humble. He wanted to know what is in your heart. He wanted to know if you would obey his commands. 3 He humbled you and let you be hungry. Then he fed you with manna—something you did not know about before. It was something your ancestors had never seen. Why did the Lord do this? Because he wanted you to know that it is not just bread that keeps people alive. People’s lives depend on what the Lord says. 4 These past 40 years, your clothes did not wear out, and your feet did not swell. 5 You must remember that the Lord your God teaches and corrects you as a father teaches and corrects his son.
6 “You must obey the commands of the Lord your God. Follow him and respect him. 7 The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with rivers and pools of water. Water flows out of the ground in the valleys and hills. 8 It is a land with wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. It is a land with olive oil and honey. 9 There you will have plenty of food and everything you need. It is a land where the rocks are iron. You can dig copper out of the hills. 10 You will have all you want to eat. Then you will praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
A Prayer of Thanks
8 First I want to say that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. I thank him because people everywhere in the world are talking about your great faith. 9-10 Every time I pray, I always remember you. God knows this is true. He is the one I serve with all my heart by telling people the Good News about his Son. I pray that I will be allowed to come to you. It will happen if God wants it. 11 I want very much to see you and give you some spiritual gift to make your faith stronger. 12 I mean that I want us to help each other with the faith that we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.
13 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I have planned many times to come to you, but something always happens to change my plans. I would like to see the same good result among you that I have had from my work among the other non-Jewish people.
14 I must serve all people—those who share in Greek culture and those who are less civilized,[a] the educated as well as the ignorant. 15 That is why I want so much to tell the Good News to you there in Rome.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International