Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
(A special psalm by Asaph.)
What God Has Done for His People
1 My friends, I beg you
to listen as I teach.
2 (A) I will give instruction
and explain the mystery
of what happened long ago.
3 These are things we learned
from our ancestors,
4 and we will tell them
to the next generation.
We won't keep secret
the glorious deeds
and the mighty miracles
of the Lord.
5 God gave his Law
to Jacob's descendants,
the people of Israel.
And he told our ancestors
to teach their children,
6 so that each new generation
would know his Law
and tell it to the next.
7 Then they would trust God
and obey his teachings,
without forgetting anything
God had done.
8 They would be different
from their ancestors,
who were stubborn, rebellious,
and unfaithful to God.
17 But in the desert,
the people of God Most High
kept sinning and rebelling.
18 (A) They stubbornly tested God
and demanded from him
what they wanted to eat.
19 They challenged God by saying,
“Can God provide food
out here in the desert?
20 It's true God struck the rock
and water gushed out
like a river,
but can he give his people
bread and meat?”
21 When the Lord heard this,
he was angry and furious
with Jacob's descendants,
the people of Israel.
22 They had refused to trust him,
and they had doubted
his saving power.
23 But God gave a command
to the clouds,
and he opened the doors
in the skies.
24 (B) From heaven he sent grain
that they called manna.[a]
25 He gave them more than enough,
and each one of them ate
this special food.
26 God's mighty power
sent a strong wind
from the southeast,
27 and it brought birds
that covered the ground,
like sand on the beach.
28 Then God made the birds fall
in the camp of his people
near their tents.
29 God gave his people
all they wanted,
and each of them ate
until they were full.
2 There in the desert they started complaining to Moses and Aaron, 3 “We wish the Lord had killed us in Egypt. When we lived there, we could at least sit down and eat all the bread and meat we wanted. But you have brought us out here into this desert, where we are going to starve.”
4 (A) The Lord said to Moses, “I will send bread[a] down from heaven like rain. Tell the people to go out each day and gather only enough for that day. That's how I will see if they obey me. 5 But on the sixth day of each week they must gather and cook twice as much.”
6 Moses and Aaron told the people, “This evening you will know that the Lord was the one who rescued you from Egypt. 7 And in the morning you will see his glorious power, because he has heard your complaints against him. Why should you grumble to us? Who are we?”
8 Then Moses continued, “You will know it is the Lord when he gives you meat each evening and more than enough bread each morning. He is really the one you are complaining about, not us—we are nobodies—but the Lord has heard your complaints.”
9 Moses turned to Aaron and said, “Bring the people together, because the Lord has heard their complaints.”
10 Aaron was speaking to them, when everyone looked out toward the desert and saw the bright glory of the Lord in a cloud. 11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard my people complain. Now tell them that each evening they will have meat and each morning they will have more than enough bread. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”
13 That evening a lot of quails came and landed everywhere in the camp, and the next morning dew covered the ground. 14 After the dew had gone, the desert was covered with thin flakes that looked like frost. 15 (B) The people had never seen anything like this, and they started asking each other, “What is it?”[b]
Moses answered, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
31 (A) The Israelites called the bread manna.[a] It was white like coriander seed and delicious as wafers made with honey. 32 Moses told the people that the Lord had said, “Store up two liters of this manna, because I want future generations to see the food I gave you during the time you were in the desert after I rescued you from Egypt.”
33 (B) Then Moses told Aaron, “Put some manna in a jar and store it in the place of worship for future generations to see.”
34 Aaron followed the Lord's instructions and put the manna in front of the sacred chest for safekeeping. 35-36 (C) The Israelites ate manna for 40 years, before they came to the border of Canaan that was a settled land.[b]
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand
(Mark 8.1-10)
32 Jesus called his disciples together and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don't have anything to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry. They might faint on their way home.”
33 His disciples said, “This place is like a desert. Where can we find enough food to feed such a crowd?”
34 Jesus asked them how much food they had. They replied, “Seven small loaves of bread[a] and a few little fish.”
35 After Jesus had told the people to sit down, 36 he took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks. He then broke them and handed them to his disciples, who passed them around to the crowds.
37 Everyone ate all they wanted, and the leftovers filled seven large baskets.
38 There were 4,000 men who ate, not counting the women and children.
39 After Jesus had sent the crowds away, he got into a boat and sailed across the lake. He came to shore near the town of Magadan.[b]
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