Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Kindness to Rebellious Israel
A (A)Contemplation[a] 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 (B)parable;
I will utter [b]dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
4 (C)We will not hide them from their children,
(D)Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
52 But He (A)made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53 And He (B)led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea (C)overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And He brought them to His (D)holy border,
This mountain (E)which His right hand had acquired.
55 (F)He also drove out the nations before them,
(G)Allotted them an inheritance by [a]survey,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56 (H)Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
And did not keep His testimonies,
57 But (I)turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were turned aside (J)like a deceitful bow.
58 (K)For they provoked Him to anger with their (L)high places,
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
59 When God heard this, He was furious,
And greatly abhorred Israel,
60 (M)So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
The tent He had placed among men,
61 (N)And delivered His strength into captivity,
And His glory into the enemy’s hand.
62 (O)He also gave His people over to the sword,
And was furious with His inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men,
And (P)their maidens were not given in marriage.
64 (Q)Their priests fell by the sword,
And (R)their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
(S)Like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
66 And (T)He beat back His enemies;
He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion (U)which He loved.
69 And He built His (V)sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has established forever.
70 (W)He also chose David His servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 From following (X)the ewes that had young He brought him,
(Y)To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them according to the (Z)integrity of his heart,
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
13 So it was that (A)quail came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning (B)the dew lay all around the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was (C)a small round (D)substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
And Moses said to them, (E)“This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it (F)according to each one’s need, one (G)omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’ ”
17 Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. 18 So when they measured it by omers, (H)he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. 19 And Moses said, “Let no one (I)leave any of it till morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they did not [a]heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.
22 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is (J)a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” 24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not (K)stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 (L)Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For (A)who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? (B)Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the (C)potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make (D)one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering (E)the vessels of wrath (F)prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known (G)the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had (H)prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He (I)called, (J)not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As He says also in Hosea:
(K)“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
26 “And(L) it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
(M)“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
(N)The remnant will be saved.
28 For [a]He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
(O)Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”
29 And as Isaiah said before:
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.