Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

An instruction. Of Asaph.

78 Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

² I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter riddles from of old,

³ Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us:

⁴ We will not hide [them] from their sons, shewing forth to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, and his strength, and his marvellous works which he hath done.

⁵ For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;

⁶ That the generation to come might know [them], the children that should be born; that they might rise up and tell [them] to their children,

⁷ And that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but observe his commandments;

⁸ And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that prepared not their heart, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

¹⁷ Yet they still went on sinning against him, provoking the Most High in the desert;

¹⁸ And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust;

¹⁹ And they spoke against God: they said, Is God able to prepare a table in the wilderness?

²⁰ Behold, he smote the rock, and waters gushed out, and streams overflowed; is he able to give bread also, or provide flesh for his people?

²¹ Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; and fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also went up against Israel:

²² Because they believed not in God, and confided not in his salvation;

²³ Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of the heavens,

²⁴ And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the corn of the heavens.

²⁵ Man did eat the bread of the mighty; he sent them provision to the full.

²⁶ He caused the east wind to rise in the heavens, and by his strength he brought the south wind;

²⁷ And he rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowl as the sand of the seas,

²⁸ And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations:

²⁹ And they did eat, and were well filled; for that they lusted after, he brought to them.

26 And it shall be when thou comest into the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein,

² that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring of thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place that Jehovah thy God will choose to cause his name to dwell there;

³ and thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto Jehovah thy God, that I am come unto the land that Jehovah swore unto our fathers to give us.

⁴ And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of Jehovah thy God.

⁵ And thou shalt speak and say before Jehovah thy God, A perishing Aramean was my father, and he went down to Egypt with a few, and sojourned there, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.

⁶ And the Egyptians evil-entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage;

⁷ and we cried to Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression;

⁸ and Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a powerful hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders;

⁹ and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey!

¹⁰ And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruits of the land, which thou, Jehovah, hast given me. And thou shalt set it down before Jehovah thy God, and worship before Jehovah thy God.

¹¹ And thou shalt rejoice in all the good that Jehovah thy God hath given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in thy midst.

¹² When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thy produce in the third year, the year of tithing, thou shalt give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat in thy gates, and be filled;

¹³ and thou shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of the house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed nor forgotten [any] of thy commandments:

¹⁴ I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I brought away thereof in uncleanness, nor given thereof for a dead person; I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.

¹⁵ Look down from thy holy habitation, from the heavens, and bless thy people Israel, and the land that thou hast given us as thou didst swear unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey!

³⁷ And having heard [it] they were pricked in heart, and said to Peter and the other apostles, What shall we do, brethren?

³⁸ And Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹ For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who [are] afar off, as many as [the] Lord our God may call.

⁴⁰ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation.

⁴¹ Those then who had accepted his word were baptised; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls.

⁴² And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers.

⁴³ And fear was upon every soul, and many wonders and signs took place through the apostles' means.

⁴⁴ And all that believed were together, and had all things common,

⁴⁵ and sold their possessions and substance, and distributed them to all, according as any one might have need.

⁴⁶ And every day, being constantly in the temple with one accord, and breaking bread in [the] house, they received their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,

⁴⁷ praising God, and having favour with all the people; and the Lord added [to the assembly] daily those that were to be saved.