Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Thanksgiving for God’s Deliverance
105 Give thanks to the Lord,
call on his name,
and make his deeds known among the people.
2 Sing to him! Praise him!
Declare all his awesome deeds!
3 Exult in his holy name;
let all[a] those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his face continually.
5 Remember his awesome deeds that he has done,
his wonders and the judgments he declared.
6 You descendants of Abraham, his servant,
You children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
37 Then he brought Israel[a] out with silver and gold,
and no one among his tribes stumbled.
38 The Egyptians rejoiced when they left,
because fear of Israel[b] descended on them.
39 He spread out a cloud for a cover,
and fire for light at night.
40 Israel[c] asked, and quail came;
food from heaven satisfied them.
41 He opened a rock, and water gushed out
flowing like a river in the desert.
42 Indeed, he remembered his sacred promise
to his servant Abraham.
43 He led his people out with gladness,
his chosen ones with shouts of joy.
44 He gave to them the land of nations;
they inherited the labor of other[d] people
45 so they might keep his statutes
and observe his laws.
Hallelujah!
Manna and Quail Provided
16 Later, they left Elim, and the whole congregation of the Israelis came to the desert[a] of Sin, which lay between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. 2 The whole congregation of the Israelis complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. 3 The Israelis told them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt when we sat by the cooking pots,[b] when we ate bread until we were filled—because you brought us to this desert to kill this entire congregation with hunger.”
4 The Lord told Moses, “Listen very carefully! I’ll cause food to rain down for you from heaven, and the people are to go out and gather each day’s portion on that day. In this way I’ll test them to demonstrate whether or not they’ll live according to my instructions. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be double what they gather on other days.”[c]
6 So Moses and Aaron addressed the entire congregation of the Israelis: “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 glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaints against him.[d] After all, who are we that you complain against us?” 8 Moses also said, “When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread in the morning to satisfy you, the Lord will hear your complaints directed[e] against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren’t against us, but rather against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses instructed Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelis, ‘Come near into the Lord’s presence, because he has heard your complaints.’”
10 While Aaron was speaking to all the congregation of the Israelis, they turned toward the desert, and there the glory of the Lord was seen in the cloud. 11 The Lord told Moses, 12 “I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelis. Tell them, ‘At twilight you are to eat meat and in the morning you are to be filled with bread, so you may know that I am the Lord your God.’”
13 Later that evening quail came up and covered the camp, and then in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew evaporated,[f] on the surface of the desert a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost, appeared on the ground. 15 When the Israelis saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?”,[g] because they did not know what it was.
Moses told them, “It’s the food that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘You are to gather from it what each person is to eat,[h] about one omer[i] per person according to the number of your people, and one person is to gather for everyone in his tent.’”
17 The Israelis did this, some gathering much, some little. 18 When they measured it with a vessel the capacity of which was one omer,[j] the one who gathered much did not have an excess, while the one who gathered little did not lack. They gathered exactly what each needed to eat.[k]
19 Then Moses told them, “No one is to leave any of it until morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses—some people left part of it until morning, and it produced maggots and smelled bad, so Moses got angry at them. 21 Every morning they gathered it, according to what each needed to eat; and when the sun became hot, it melted.
5 Keep examining yourselves to see whether you are continuing in the faith. Test yourselves! You know, don’t you, that Jesus the Messiah[a] lives in you? Could it be that you are failing the test? 6 I hope you will realize that we haven’t failed our test. 7 We pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not to show that we have not failed the test, but so that you may do what is right, even if we seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We are glad when we are weak and you are strong. That is what we are praying for—your maturity.
10 For this reason I am writing this while I am away from you: When I come I do not want to be severe in using the authority the Lord gave me to build you up and not to tear you down.
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