The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday February 2, 2022 (NIV)

¹⁹ When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and cavalry went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

Miriam’s victory song

²⁰ Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand. All the women followed her playing tambourines and dancing. ²¹ Miriam sang the refrain back to them:

Turning bitter water sweet

²² Then Moses had Israel leave the Reed Sea^[a] and go out into the Shur desert. They traveled for three days in the desert and found no water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink Marah’s water because it was bitter. That’s why it was called Marah.^{[b] 24} The people complained against Moses, “What will we drink?” ²⁵ Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord pointed out a tree to him. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

The Lord made a regulation and a ruling there, and there he tested them. ²⁶ The Lord said, “If you are careful to obey the Lord your God, do what God thinks is right, pay attention to his commandments, and keep all of his regulations, then I won’t bring on you any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the Lord who heals you.”

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

Wilderness food: manna and quail

16 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Sin desert, which is located between Elim and Sinai. They set out on the fifteenth day of the second month^[c] after they had left the land of Egypt. ² The whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. ³ The Israelites said to them, “Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I’m going to make bread rain down from the sky for you. The people will go out each day and gather just enough for that day. In this way, I’ll test them to see whether or not they follow my Instruction. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they measure out what they have collected, it will be twice as much as they collected on other days.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ And in the morning you will see the Lord’s glorious presence, because your complaints against the Lord have been heard. Who are we? Why blame us?” ⁸ Moses continued, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning because the Lord heard the complaints you made against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren’t against us but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole Israelite community, ‘Come near to the Lord, because he’s heard your complaints.’” ¹⁰ As Aaron spoke to the whole Israelite community, they turned to look toward the desert, and just then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹² “I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat. And in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ In the evening a flock of quail flew down and covered the camp. And in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. ¹⁴ When the layer of dew lifted, there on the desert surface were thin flakes, as thin as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What^[d] is it?” They didn’t know what it was.

Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Collect as much of it as each of you can eat, one omer^[e] per person. You may collect for the number of people in your household.’” ¹⁷ The Israelites did as Moses said, some collecting more, some less. ¹⁸ But when they measured it out by the omer, the ones who had collected more had nothing left over, and the ones who had collected less had no shortage. Everyone collected just as much as they could eat. ¹⁹ Moses said to them, “Don’t keep any of it until morning.” ²⁰ But they didn’t listen to Moses. Some kept part of it until morning, but it became infested with worms and stank. Moses got angry with them. ²¹ Every morning they gathered it, as much as each person could eat. But when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

²² On the sixth day the people collected twice as much food as usual, two omers per person. All the chiefs of the community came and told Moses. ²³ He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. But you can set aside and keep all the leftovers until the next morning.’” ²⁴ So they set the leftovers aside until morning, as Moses had commanded. They didn’t stink or become infested with worms. ²⁵ The next day Moses said, “Eat it today, because today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you won’t find it out in the field. ²⁶ Six days you will gather it. But on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be nothing to gather.”

²⁷ On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather bread, but they found nothing. ²⁸ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to obey my commandments and instructions? ²⁹ Look! The Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day he gives you enough food for two days. Each of you should stay where you are and not leave your place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The Israelite people called it manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and tasted like honey wafers. ³² Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept safe for future generations so that they can see the food that I used to feed you in the desert when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

³³ Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put one full omer of manna in it. Then set it in the Lord’s presence, where it should be kept safe for future generations.” ³⁴ Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses, and he put it in front of the covenant document for safekeeping. ³⁵ The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to a livable land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (³⁶ An omer^[f] is one-tenth of an ephah.)

Water from a rock

17 The whole Israelite community broke camp and set out from the Sin desert to continue their journey, as the Lord commanded. They set up their camp at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² The people argued with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses said to them, “Why are you arguing with me? Why are you testing the Lord?”

³ But the people were very thirsty for water there, and they complained to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴ So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with this people? They are getting ready to stone me.”

⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of Israel’s elders with you. Take in your hand the shepherd’s rod that you used to strike the Nile River, and go. ⁶ I’ll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Hit the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will be able to drink.” Moses did so while Israel’s elders watched. ⁷ He called the place Massah^[g] and Meribah,^[h] because the Israelites argued with and tested the Lord, asking, “Is the Lord really with us or not?”

Parable of the wedding party

22 Jesus responded by speaking again in parables: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding party for his son. ³ He sent his servants to call those invited to the wedding party. But they didn’t want to come. ⁴ Again he sent other servants and said to them, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look, the meal is all prepared. I’ve butchered the oxen and the fattened cattle. Now everything’s ready. Come to the wedding party!”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went away—some to their fields, others to their businesses. ⁶ The rest of them grabbed his servants, abused them, and killed them.

⁷ “The king was angry. He sent his soldiers to destroy those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding party is prepared, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. ⁹ Therefore, go to the roads on the edge of town and invite everyone you find to the wedding party.’

¹⁰ “Then those servants went to the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding party was full of guests. ¹¹ Now when the king came in and saw the guests, he spotted a man who wasn’t wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet and throw him out into the farthest darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.’

¹⁴ “Many people are invited, but few people are chosen.”

Question about taxes

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees met together to find a way to trap Jesus in his words. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are genuine and that you teach God’s way as it really is. We know that you are not swayed by people’s opinions, because you don’t show favoritism. ¹⁷ So tell us what you think: Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ Knowing their evil motives, Jesus replied, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used to pay the tax.” And they brought him a denarion. ²⁰ “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked.

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” ²² When they heard this they were astonished, and they departed.

Question about resurrection

²³ That same day Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus. ²⁴ They asked, “Teacher, Moses said, If a man who doesn’t have children dies, his brother must marry his wife and produce children for his brother.^{[a] 25} Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married, then died. Because he had no children he left his widow to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened with the second brother and the third, and in fact with all seven brothers. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ At the resurrection, which of the seven brothers will be her husband? They were all married to her.”

²⁹ Jesus responded, “You are wrong because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power. ³⁰ At the resurrection people won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like angels from God. ³¹ As for the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what God told you, ³² I’m the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?^[b] He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living.” ³³ Now when the crowd heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Psalm 27

Of David.

Danger of adultery