Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 78
How Often They Rebelled
Heading
A maskil by Asaph.
A Solemn Call to Hear
1 Give ear, O my people, to my instruction.
Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth to share a lesson.
I will speak about puzzling problems from long ago,
3 things we have heard and known,
things our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their descendants.
We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders that he has done.
52 But he led his people out like sheep.
He led them like a flock through the wilderness.
53 Then he guided them safely, so they were not afraid,
but the sea covered their enemies.
God’s Power Displayed in Canaan (Joshua)
54 Then he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this mountain which his right hand had taken.
55 He drove out nations before them.
He marked the boundaries of their inheritance,
and he settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
Rebellion in the Land (Judges)
56 But they tested him.
They rebelled against God Most High,
and they did not keep his testimonies.
57 Yes, they turned aside and were treacherous like their fathers.
They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
58 Then they angered him with their high places,
and they made him jealous with their idols.
Judgment in the Land
59 God heard, and he showed his anger.
He completely rejected Israel.
60 So he abandoned his dwelling in Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelled among people.
61 So he sent the symbol of his strength[a] away into captivity.
He gave his splendor into the hand of the foe.
62 He also handed over his people to the sword,
and he showed his anger against his possession.
63 Fire consumed their best young men,
so their virgins were not praised in wedding songs.
64 Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows did not weep.
Mercy in the Land
65 Then the Lord awoke like someone who has been sleeping,
like a warrior overcome by wine.
66 Then he drove back his foes.
He gave them everlasting shame.
67 Then he rejected the tent of Joseph,
and he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 But he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 Then he built up his sanctuary like the heights,
like the world that he established for all time.
70 Then he chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens.
71 He brought him from following the mother sheep
to shepherd his people Jacob
and his possession Israel.
72 So he shepherded them with a sincere heart,
and with skillful hands he led them.
13 So in the evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew surrounded the camp. 14 When the layer of dew was gone, there were thin flakes on the surface of the wilderness, thin as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”[a] because they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given to you as food to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: All of them are to gather as much of it as they need to eat. You are to take an omer[b] per person based on the number of people each of you has in your tents.”
17 The Israelites did this, and some gathered more, some less. 18 When they measured it with an omer, the one who gathered more did not have too much, and the one who gathered less did not have too little. All of them gathered as much as they needed to eat. 19 Moses said to them, “No one is to leave any of it until morning.” 20 However, they did not listen to Moses. Some of them left part of it until morning, and it became full of worms and stank. So Moses was angry with them.
21 They gathered it each morning. All of them gathered as much as they needed to eat. When the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers for each person, and all the leaders of the community came and reported to Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: Tomorrow is a complete rest, a holy sabbath[c] to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, but set aside for yourselves all the rest of it to be kept until morning.”
24 So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Today eat whatever is left over, for today is a sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find any around the camp.[d] 26 Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”
19 Then you will say to me, “Why does God still find fault? For who has ever succeeded in resisting his will?” 20 But who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Shall the thing that is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” No. 21 Doesn’t the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay one pot for special use and another for ordinary use?
22 What if God, although he wanted to demonstrate his wrath and make his power known, endured with great patience the objects of wrath—ripe for destruction?[a] 23 And what if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of mercy whom he prepared in advance for glory, 24 including us, whom he called—not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.
God Shows Mercy to Gentiles and the Remnant of Israel
25 This is also what God says in Hosea:
Those who were not my people, I will call my people,
and she who was not loved, I will call my loved one.[b]
26 And, it will be that in the place where they were told,
“You are not my people,”
there they will be called “sons of the living God.”[c]
27 And Isaiah cries out about Israel:
Although the number of the sons of Israel is as great as the sand
of the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
28 For the Lord, who carries out what he says without delay,[d]
will do what he said completely and decisively on the earth.[e]
29 Just as Isaiah said earlier:
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.