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21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. ²²For on the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices. ²³But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ ²⁴Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backwards rather than forwards. ²⁵From the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day; ²⁶yet they did not listen to me, or pay attention, but they stiffened their necks. They did worse than their ancestors did.

27 So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. ²⁸You shall say to them: This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
²⁹ Cut off your hair and throw it away;
   raise a lamentation on the bare heights,^*
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
   the generation that provoked his wrath.

30 For the people of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the Lord; they have set their abominations in the house that is called by my name, defiling it. ³¹And they go on building the high place^* of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire—which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. ³²Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth until there is no more room. ³³The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the animals of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. ³⁴And I will bring to an end the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of the bride and bridegroom in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for the land shall become a waste.

Psalm 78

God’s Goodness and Israel’s Ingratitude

A Maskil 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;
   I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³ things that we have heard and known,
   that our ancestors have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their children;
   we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
   and the wonders that he has done.

⁵ He established a decree in Jacob,
   and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
   to teach to their children;
⁶ that the next generation might know them,
   the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children,
⁷   so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
   but keep his commandments;
⁸ and that they should not be like their ancestors,
   a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
   whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹ The Ephraimites, armed with^* the bow,
   turned back on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant,
   but refused to walk according to his law.
¹¹ They forgot what he had done,
   and the miracles that he had shown them.
¹² In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels
   in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
¹³ He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
   and made the waters stand like a heap.
¹⁴ In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
   and all night long with a fiery light.
¹⁵ He split rocks open in the wilderness,
   and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
¹⁶ He made streams come out of the rock,
   and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ Yet they sinned still more against him,
   rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They tested God in their heart
   by demanding the food they craved.
¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying,
   ‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out
   and torrents overflowed,
can he also give bread,
   or provide meat for his people?’

²¹ Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;
   a fire was kindled against Jacob,
   his anger mounted against Israel,
²² because they had no faith in God,
   and did not trust his saving power.
²³ Yet he commanded the skies above,
   and opened the doors of heaven;
²⁴ he rained down on them manna to eat,
   and gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Mortals ate of the bread of angels;
   he sent them food in abundance.
²⁶ He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
   and by his power he led out the south wind;
²⁷ he rained flesh upon them like dust,
   winged birds like the sand of the seas;
²⁸ he let them fall within their camp,
   all around their dwellings.
²⁹ And they ate and were well filled,
   for he gave them what they craved.
³⁰ But before they had satisfied their craving,
   while the food was still in their mouths,
³¹ the anger of God rose against them
   and he killed the strongest of them,
   and laid low the flower of Israel.

³² In spite of all this they still sinned;
   they did not believe in his wonders.
³³ So he made their days vanish like a breath,
   and their years in terror.
³⁴ When he killed them, they sought for him;
   they repented and sought God earnestly.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock,
   the Most High God their redeemer.
³⁶ But they flattered him with their mouths;
   they lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their heart was not steadfast towards him;
   they were not true to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he, being compassionate,
   forgave their iniquity,
   and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
   and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,
   a wind that passes and does not come again.

Rivers of Living Water

37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, ³⁸and let the one who believes in me drink. As^* the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart^* shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ ³⁹Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit,^* because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division among the People

40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ ⁴¹Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’^* But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah^* does not come from Galilee, does he? ⁴²Has not the scripture said that the Messiah^* is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ ⁴³So there was a division in the crowd because of him. ⁴⁴Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The Unbelief of Those in Authority

45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ ⁴⁶The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ ⁴⁷Then the Pharisees replied, ‘Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? ⁴⁸Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.’ ⁵⁰Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus^* before, and who was one of them, asked, ⁵¹‘Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’ ⁵²They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’