Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God’s Work with Israel

105 O give thanks to the Lord. Call on His name. Make His works known among the people. ² Sing to Him. Sing praises to Him. Tell of all His great works. ³ Honor His holy name. Let the heart of those who look to the Lord be glad. ⁴ Look for the Lord and His strength. Look for His face all the time. ⁵ Remember the great and powerful works that He has done. Keep in mind what He has decided and told us, ⁶ O children of His servant Abraham, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

³⁷ Then He brought Israel out with silver and gold. And there was not one weak person among their families. ³⁸ Egypt was glad when they left. For they had become afraid of Israel. ³⁹ He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light at night. ⁴⁰ They asked, and He brought them quails for meat. And He filled them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹ He opened the rock and water flowed out. It flowed in the desert like a river. ⁴² For He remembered His holy Word with Abraham His servant. ⁴³ And He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with singing. ⁴⁴ He gave them the lands of the nations. They were given what others had worked for, ⁴⁵ so that they might do what He told them and keep His Law. Praise the Lord!

Bread in the Morning, Meat in the Evening

16 All the people of Israel left Elim, and came to the Desert of Sin, between Elim and Sinai. It was the fifteenth day of the second month after they left the land of Egypt. ² And all the people of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert, ³ saying, “We should have died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. For you have brought us out into this desert to kill all of us with hunger.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I will rain bread from heaven for you. The people will go out and gather a day’s share every day, so I may test them to see if they will follow My Law or not. ⁵ On the sixth day they are to bring in twice as much as they gather each day.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to the people of Israel, “This evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ And in the morning you will see the greatness of the Lord. For He hears your complaining against the Lord. What are we, that you complain against us?” ⁸ Moses said, “The Lord is giving you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning. For He hears how you complain against Him. What are we? You complain not against us, but against the Lord.” ⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the people of Israel, ‘Come near to the Lord, for He has heard your complaining.’” ¹⁰ When Aaron spoke to all the people of Israel, they looked toward the desert. And they saw in the cloud the shining-greatness of the Lord. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the complaining of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘In the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ In the evening quails came and covered the place where the people were staying. And in the early morning a little water was around the tents. ¹⁴ When the water had gone, there were small white pieces all over the ground of the desert. ¹⁵ When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has told you to do: ‘Every man gather as much of it as he can eat. Take a jar for every person that each of you has in his tent.’” ¹⁷ The people did so. Some gathered much and some less. ¹⁸ When they saw how much they had, he who had gathered much had no more than what was needed. And he who had gathered less had enough. Every man gathered as much as he could eat. ¹⁹ Moses said to them, “Let no one save any of it until morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it until morning. And worms grew in it and it became bad to eat. So Moses was angry with them. ²¹ Morning after morning they gathered it, every man as much as he could eat. But when the sun became hot, it would melt.

⁵ Put yourselves through a test. See if you belong to Christ. Then you will know you belong to Christ, unless you do not pass the test. ⁶ I trust you see that we belong to Him and have passed the test. ⁷ We pray to God that you do no wrong. We do not pray this to show that our teaching is so great, but that you will keep on doing what is right, even if it looks as if we have done much wrong. ⁸ We cannot work against the truth of God. We only work for it. ⁹ We are glad when we are weak and you are strong. We pray that you will become strong Christians. ¹⁰ This is why I am writing these things while I am away from you. Then when I get there, I will not have to use strong words or punish you to show you that the Lord gives me this power. This power is to be used to make you stronger Christians, not to make you weak by hurting your faith.