Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 78
God’s Goodness and Israel’s Ingratitude
A Maskil of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.(A)
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,(B)
3 things that we have heard and known,
that our ancestors have told us.(C)
4 We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might
and the wonders that he has done.(D)
52 Then he led out his people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.(A)
53 He led them in safety so that they were not afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.(B)
54 And he brought them to his holy hill,
to the mountain that his right hand had won.(C)
55 He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.(D)
56 Yet they tested the Most High God
and rebelled against him.
They did not observe his decrees(E)
57 but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors;
they twisted like a treacherous bow.(F)
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.(G)
59 When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60 He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mortals,(H)
61 and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.(I)
62 He gave his people to the sword
and vented his wrath on his heritage.(J)
63 Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no marriage song.(K)
64 Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.(L)
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a warrior shouting because of wine.(M)
66 He put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting disgrace.(N)
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.(O)
69 He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.(P)
70 He chose his servant David
and took him from the sheepfolds;(Q)
71 from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel, his inheritance.(R)
72 With upright heart he tended them
and guided them with skillful hand.(S)
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. 28 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions?(A) 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The Israelites called it manna; it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.(B) 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations in order that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord, to be kept throughout your generations.”(C) 34 Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the covenant, for safekeeping.(D) 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.(E) 36 (An omer is a tenth of an ephah.)
The Council at Jerusalem
15 Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”(A) 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.(B) 3 So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters.(C) 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.(D) 5 But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”
The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers
22 Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, 23 with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers and sisters of gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24 Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds,[a](A) 25 we have decided unanimously to choose men and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.(B) 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled[b] and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”(C)
30 So they were sent off and went down to Antioch. When they gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 When they read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation. 32 Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers and sisters. 33 After they had been there for some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers and sisters to those who had sent them.[c](D) 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, and there, with many others, they taught and proclaimed the word of the Lord.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.