Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 78

A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Asaph.

¹ Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

² I will open my mouth in a parable (in instruction by numerous examples); I will utter dark sayings of old [that hide important truth]—^(A)

³ Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

⁴ We will not hide them from their children, but we will tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonderful works that He has performed.

¹² Marvelous things did He in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided].

¹³ He divided the [Red] Sea and caused them to pass through it, and He made the waters stand like a heap.^(A)

¹⁴ In the daytime also He led them with a [pillar of] cloud and all the night with a light of fire.^(B)

¹⁵ He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as out of the deep.

¹⁶ He brought streams also out of the rock [at Rephidim and Kadesh] and caused waters to run down like rivers.^(C)

¹² And the Lord said to Moses, Go up into this mountain of Abarim and behold the land I have given to the Israelites.

¹³ And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your [departed] people as Aaron your brother was gathered,

¹⁴ For you disobeyed My order in the Wilderness of Zin during the strife of the congregation to uphold My sanctity [by strict obedience to My authority] at the waters before their eyes. [These are the waters of Meribah in Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin].^(A)

²⁷ And they came again to Jerusalem. And when Jesus was walking about in the [^[a]courts and porches of the] temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him,

²⁸ And they kept saying to Him, By what [sort of] authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do them?

²⁹ Jesus told them, I will ask you a question. Answer Me, and then I will tell you by what [sort of] authority I do these things.

³⁰ Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer Me.

³¹ And they reasoned and argued with one another, If we say, From heaven, He will say, Why then did you not believe him?

³² But [on the other hand] can we say, From men? For they were afraid of the people, because everybody considered and held John actually to be a prophet.

³³ So they replied to Jesus, We do not know. And Jesus said to them, Neither am I going to tell you what [sort of] authority I have for doing these things.