Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 78[a]
A well-written song[b] by Asaph.
78 Pay attention, my people, to my instruction.
Listen to the words I speak.[c]
2 I will sing a song that imparts wisdom;
I will make insightful observations about the past.[d]
3 What we have heard and learned[e]—
that which our ancestors[f] have told us—
4 we will not hide from their[g] descendants.
We will tell the next generation
about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts,[h]
about his strength and the amazing things he has done.
52 Yet he brought out his people like sheep;
he led them through the wilderness like a flock.
53 He guided them safely along, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.
54 He brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this mountainous land[a] that his right hand[b] acquired.
55 He drove the nations out from before them;
he assigned them their tribal allotments[c]
and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down.[d]
56 Yet they challenged and defied[e] God Most High,[f]
and did not obey[g] his commands.[h]
57 They were unfaithful[i] and acted as treacherously as[j] their ancestors;
they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow.[k]
58 They made him angry with their pagan shrines,[l]
and made him jealous with their idols.
59 God heard and was angry;
he completely rejected Israel.
60 He abandoned[m] the sanctuary at Shiloh,
the tent where he lived among men.
61 He allowed the symbol of his strong presence to be captured;[n]
he gave the symbol of his splendor[o] into the hand of the enemy.[p]
62 He delivered his people over to the sword,
and was angry with his chosen nation.[q]
63 Fire consumed their[r] young men,
and their[s] virgins remained unmarried.[t]
64 Their[u] priests fell by the sword,
but their[v] widows did not weep.[w]
65 But then the Lord awoke from his sleep;[x]
he was like a warrior in a drunken rage.[y]
66 He drove his enemies back;
he made them a permanent target for insults.[z]
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 He chose the tribe of Judah
and Mount Zion, which he loves.
69 He made his sanctuary as enduring as the heavens above,[aa]
as secure as the earth, which he established permanently.[ab]
70 He chose David, his servant,
and took him from the sheepfolds.
71 He took him away from following the mother sheep,[ac]
and made him the shepherd of Jacob, his people,
and of Israel, his chosen nation.[ad]
72 David[ae] cared for them with pure motives;[af]
he led them with skill.[ag]
13 In the evening the quail[a] came up and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew was all around the camp. 14 When[b] the layer of dew had evaporated,[c] there on the surface of the wilderness was a thin flaky substance,[d] thin like frost on the earth. 15 When[e] the Israelites saw it, they said to one another,[f] “What is it?” because they did not know what it was.[g] Moses said to them, “It is the bread[h] that the Lord has given you for food.[i]
16 “This is what[j] the Lord has commanded:[k] ‘Each person is to gather[l] from it what he can eat, an omer[m] per person[n] according to the number[o] of your people;[p] each one will pick it up[q] for whoever lives[r] in his tent.’” 17 The Israelites did so, and they gathered—some more, some less. 18 When[s] they measured with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little lacked nothing; each one had gathered what he could eat.
19 Moses said to them, “No one[t] is to keep any of it[u] until morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses; some[v] kept part of it until morning, and it was full[w] of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them. 21 So they gathered it each morning,[x] each person according to what he could eat, and when the sun got hot, it would melt.[y] 22 And[z] on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers[aa] per person;[ab] and all the leaders[ac] of the community[ad] came and told[ae] Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work,[af] a holy Sabbath[ag] to the Lord. Whatever you want to[ah] bake, bake today;[ai] whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”
24 So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the area.[aj] 26 Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 20 But who indeed are you—a mere human being[a]—to talk back to God?[b] Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”[c] 21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay[d] one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?[e] 22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects[f] of wrath[g] prepared for destruction?[h] 23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects[i] of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he also says in Hosea:
“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved,[j] ‘My beloved.’”[k]
26 “And in the very place[l] where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”[m]
27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children[n] of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, 28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.”[o] 29 Just[p] as Isaiah predicted,
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