The Song of Moses

1 Then Moses and the people of Israel ^fsang this song to the Lord, saying,

19 For when ^tthe horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, ^uthe Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then ^vMiriam ^wthe prophetess, the ^xsister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and ^yall the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:

Bitter Water Made Sweet

22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of ^aShur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to ^bMarah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.² 24 And the people ^cgrumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he ^dcried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log,³ and he ^ethrew it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord⁴ made for them a statute and a rule, and there he ^ftested them, 26 saying, ^g“If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the ^hdiseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, ⁱyour healer.”

27 Then ^jthey came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

Bread from Heaven

1 They ^kset out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel ^lgrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, ^m“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, ⁿwhen we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain ^obread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may ^ptest them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, ^qit will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, ^r“At evening ^syou shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the ^tglory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For ^uwhat are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—^vwhat are we? Your grumbling is not ^wagainst us but against the Lord.”

9 Then Moses ^xsaid to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ^y‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the ^tglory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I ^zhave heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At ^atwilight you shall eat meat, and ^bin the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 In the evening ^cquail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^ddew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ^e“What is it?”⁵ For they ^fdid not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ^g“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an ^homer,⁶ according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, ⁱwhoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and ^jit bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

22 On ^kthe sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of ^lsolemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and ^mit did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for ^ltoday is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, ⁿ“How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people ^orested on the seventh day.

31 Now the house of Israel called its name ^pmanna. It was ^qlike coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread 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 ^rjar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before ^sthe testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ^tate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till ^uthey came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is ^vthe tenth part of an ephah.)⁷

The Steadfast Love of the Lord

The Parable of the Tenants

1 ^bAnd he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted ^ca vineyard ^dand put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and ^eleased it to tenants and ^fwent into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant¹ to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 ^gAnd they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 ^gAgain ^hhe sent to them another servant, and ⁱthey struck him on the head and ^jtreated him shamefully. 5 ^gAnd he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, ^ka beloved son. ^lFinally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ^m‘This is the heir. Come, ⁿlet us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and ^othrew him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? ^pHe will ^qcome and destroy the tenants and ^rgive the vineyard to others. 10 ^sHave you not read ^tthis Scripture:

12 And ^vthey were seeking to arrest him ^wbut feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they ^xleft him and went away.

Paying Taxes to Caesar

13 ^yAnd they sent to him some of ^zthe Pharisees and some of ^zthe Herodians, to ^atrap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, ^bwe know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For ^cyou are not swayed by appearances,³ but truly teach ^dthe way of God. Is it lawful to pay ^etaxes to ^fCaesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing ^gtheir hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why ^hput me to the test? Bring me ⁱa denarius⁴ and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 Jesus said to them, ^j“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

18 And ^kSadducees came to him, ^lwho say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^mif a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man⁵ must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because ⁿyou know neither the Scriptures nor ^othe power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither ^pmarry nor ^pare given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, ^qhave you not read in ^rthe book of Moses, in ^sthe passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ^t‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

The Great Commandment

28 ^uAnd one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ^v‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, ^wthe Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 ^xThe second is this: ^y‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment ^zgreater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that ^whe is one, and ^athere is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all ^bthe understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, ^cis much more than all ^dwhole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^eAnd after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Whose Son Is the Christ?

35 ^fAnd as ^gJesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that ^hthe Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, ⁱin the Holy Spirit, declared,

37 David himself calls him Lord. So ^lhow is he his son?” And the great throng ^mheard him gladly.

Beware of the Scribes

38 ⁿAnd in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and ^othe places of honor at feasts, 40 ^pwho devour widows’ houses and ^qfor a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Offering

41 ^rAnd he sat down opposite ^sthe treasury and watched the people ^tputting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two ^usmall copper coins, which make a penny.⁶ 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, ^vthis poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her ^wpoverty has put in everything she had, all ^xshe had to live on.”