Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
78 (A)Listen, my people, to my [b]instruction;
(B)Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will (C)open my mouth in a parable;
I will tell (D)riddles of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
And (E)our fathers have told us.
4 We will (F)not conceal them from their children,
But we will (G)tell the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His power and His (H)wondrous works that He has done.
5 For He established a (I)testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a (J)law in Israel,
Which He (K)commanded our fathers
That they were to [c](L)teach them to their children,
6 (M)So that the generation to come would know, (N)the children yet to be born,
That they would arise and (O)tell them to their children,
7 So that they would put their confidence in God
And (P)not forget the works of God,
But (Q)comply with His commandments,
8 And (R)not be like their fathers,
A (S)stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that (T)did not [d]prepare its heart
And whose spirit was not (U)faithful to God.
17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him,
To (A)rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 And in their heart they (B)put God to the test
By asking for (C)food [a]that suited their taste.
19 Then they spoke against God;
They said, “(D)Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, He (E)struck the rock so that waters gushed out,
And streams were overflowing;
Can He also provide bread?
Will He prepare (F)meat for His people?”
21 Therefore the Lord heard and [b]was (G)full of wrath;
And a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also mounted against Israel,
22 Because they (H)did not believe in God
And did not trust in His salvation.
23 Yet He commanded the clouds above
And (I)opened the doors of heaven;
24 He (J)rained down manna upon them to eat,
And gave them [c](K)food from heaven.
25 Man ate the bread of [d]angels;
He sent them [e]food [f](L)in abundance.
26 He (M)made the east wind blow in the sky
And by His [g]power He directed the south wind.
27 When He rained meat upon them like the dust,
Even (N)winged fowl like the sand of the seas,
28 He let them fall in the midst of [h]their camp,
All around their dwellings.
29 So they (O)ate and were well filled,
And He [i]satisfied their longing.
2 But the whole congregation of the sons of Israel (A)grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The sons of Israel said to them, “(B)If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, (C)when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger!”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, (D)I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, so that I may (E)test them, whether or not they will walk in My [a]instruction. 5 (F)On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening [b](G)you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt; 7 and in the morning [c]you will see (H)the glory of the Lord, for (I)He hears your grumblings against the Lord; and (J)what are we, that you grumble against us?”
The Lord Provides Meat
8 And Moses said, “This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are (K)not against us but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘(L)Come forward before the Lord, for He has heard your grumblings.’” 10 And it came about, as Aaron spoke to the entire congregation of the sons of Israel, that they [d]looked toward the wilderness, and behold, (M)the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “(N)I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘[e]At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and (O)you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”
13 So it came about at evening that (P)the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning (Q)there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 (R)When the layer of dew [f]evaporated, behold, on the [g]surface of the wilderness (S)there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. 15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “[h]What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “(T)It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
31 And the house of (A)Israel named the bread [a]manna, and it was like (B)coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey. 32 Then Moses said, “This is [b]what the Lord has commanded: ‘A [c]full omer of it is to be kept safe throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “(C)Take a jar and put a [d]full omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept safe throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before (D)the Testimony, to be kept. 35 And (E)the sons of Israel ate the manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
Four Thousand Men Fed
32 (A)Now Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “(B)I feel compassion for the [a]people, because they [b]have remained with Me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” 33 The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” 34 And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” 35 And He directed the [c]people to [d]sit down on the ground; 36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after (C)giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large (D)baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
39 And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into (E)the boat and came to the region of (F)Magadan.
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