Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
78 (A)Listen, O 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 utter (D)dark sayings 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 (G)tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His (H)wondrous works that He has done.
52 But He (A)led forth His own people like sheep
And guided them in the wilderness (B)like a flock;
53 He led them (C)safely, so that they did not fear;
But (D)the sea engulfed their enemies.
54 So (E)He brought them to His holy [a]land,
To this [b](F)hill country (G)which His right hand had gained.
55 He also (H)drove out the nations before them
And (I)apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they [c](J)tempted and (K)rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies,
57 But turned back and (L)acted treacherously like their fathers;
They (M)turned aside like a treacherous bow.
58 For they (N)provoked Him with their (O)high places
And (P)aroused His jealousy with their (Q)graven images.
59 When God heard, He [d]was filled with (R)wrath
And greatly (S)abhorred Israel;
60 So that He (T)abandoned the (U)dwelling place at Shiloh,
The tent [e]which He had pitched among men,
61 And gave up His (V)strength to captivity
And His glory (W)into the hand of the adversary.
62 He also (X)delivered His people to the sword,
And [f]was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
63 (Y)Fire devoured [g]His young men,
And [h]His (Z)virgins had no wedding songs.
64 [i]His (AA)priests fell by the sword,
And [j]His (AB)widows could not weep.
65 Then the Lord (AC)awoke as if from sleep,
Like a (AD)warrior [k]overcome by wine.
66 He [l](AE)drove His adversaries backward;
He put on them an everlasting reproach.
67 He also (AF)rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount (AG)Zion which He loved.
69 And He (AH)built His sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has founded forever.
70 He also (AI)chose David His servant
And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 From [m](AJ)the care of the [n]ewes (AK)with suckling lambs He brought him
To (AL)shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel (AM)His inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them according to the (AN)integrity of his heart,
And guided them with his skillful hands.
13 So it came about at evening that (A)the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning (B)there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 (C)When the layer of dew [a]evaporated, behold, on the [b]surface of the wilderness (D)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, “[c]What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “(E)It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is [d]what the Lord has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man [e]as much as he should eat; you shall take [f](F)an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’” 17 The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little. 18 When they measured it with an omer, (G)he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered [g]as much as he should eat. 19 Moses said to them, “(H)Let no man leave any of it until morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. 21 They gathered it morning by morning, every man [h]as much as he should eat; but when the sun grew hot, it would melt.
The Sabbath Observed
22 (I)Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the (J)leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 then he said to them, “This is what the Lord [i]meant: (K)Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and (L)all that is left over [j]put aside to be kept until morning.” 24 So they [k]put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and (M)it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 (N)Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be [l]none.”
19 (A)You will say to me then, “(B)Why does He still find fault? For (C)who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, (D)O man, who (E)answers back to God? (F)The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel [a]for honorable use and another [b]for common use? 22 [c]What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much (G)patience vessels of wrath (H)prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known (I)the riches of His glory upon (J)vessels of mercy, which He (K)prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also (L)called, (M)not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. 25 As He says also in Hosea,
“(N)I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’
And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’”
26 “(O)And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of (P)the living God.”
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “(Q)Though the number of the sons of Israel be (R)like the sand of the sea, it is (S)the remnant that will be saved; 28 (T)for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, [d]thoroughly and [e]quickly.” 29 And just as Isaiah foretold,
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