Follow the links below to find a selection of message illustrations for the first reading and psalm

• Exodus 16:2: “Wilderness” is translated in Mairasi (Papua New Guinea) as “a place where noisiness is cut off (or: stops),” in Wantoat (Papua New Guinea) as “cold windy place where no one lives,” in Amri Karbi (India) as a “waterless region/place,” in Pa’o Karen (Mynamar) as “jungle” (denoting a place without any towns, villages and tilled fields), and in Yakan (Philippines) as “the lonely place.” Note that the translations are very much influenced by the location of the language speakers. You can also find many other translations.
• Exodus 16:3: Complete verse in Kupsabiny (Uganda) “They were saying, ‘It would surely have been better for God to finish/kill us in Egypt. When we were there, there was a world of food, but you brought us here in this wilderness for hunger to finish us.’”
• Exodus 16:4 et al.: "Bread from Heaven" – Artwork from the Wiedmann Bible in abstract style; by Sister Marie Claire from Bengaluru in traditional Indian style; stained-glass window of the 14th century. (Note that stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity.)
• Exodus 16:5: "The text is ambiguous, and most translations follow it quite literally. But what does it mean? Does it mean that the usual amount they gather will suddenly become twice as much, or does it mean that there will be enough manna out on the ground for them to gather twice as much? Verse 22 suggests the latter, so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has 'they should gather as much as they find. When they prepare it they will discover that it is twice as much as they have usually gathered.' Good News Translation makes it a command: 'they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it.' Contemporary English Version is similar: 'they must gather and cook twice as much.' Since the ambiguity seems to be unintentional, this second meaning should be followed." (Source: "Translation commentary on Exodus 16:5")
• Exodus 16:7: Complete verse in Bariai (Papua New Guinea): “You complained to the CHIEF, and so he listened indeed. Therefore tomorrow you will see the CHIEF‘s great radiance. Why is it that you complained to us? The two of us are insignificant (lit. nothing) people.’”
• Exodus 16:10: Complete verse in Hiligaynon (Philippines): “While Aaron was-speaking to the entire community, they looked toward the desolate-place and they saw the powerful presence of the LORD in a cloud.”
• Exodus 16:13: "Quail" is translated in Elhomwe (Tanzania) Ayuurwe, small (like doves), wild birds which people catch to eat. Just like quails. These type of birds also rot very quickly.
• Exodus 16:13: "Dew" is translated in Thai as “water that clings [or, remains]." (See "Translation commentary on Exodus 16:13”)
• Exodus 16:14: "As delicate (thin) as frost" is translated in Dan (Liberia) where there is no frost as "as delicate as ashes."
• Exodus 16:14: Verses 13-15 in the Hebraized translation by Everett Fox (1995): "Now it was at sunset | a horde-of-quail came up and covered the camp. | And at daybreak | there was a layer of dew around the camp; | and when the layer of dew went up, | here, upon the surface of the wilderness, | something fine, | scaly, | fine as hoar-frost upon the land. | When the Children of Israel saw it | they said each-man to his brother: | Mahn hu / what is it? | For they did not know what it was. | Moshe said to them: | It is the bread that YHWH has given you for eating. "

• Psalm 105:1: This psalm uses many instances of masculine pronouns referring to God ("he" or "He" in its various forms in English). Many languages are not bound to having to choose a masculine pronoun for God. Mandarin Chinese, for instance can use a pronoun that is exclusively used for the persons of the Trinity; many other East Asian languages either use a pronoun that is reserved for royal or divine beings; or many languages in Africa don't differentiate between male and female human pronouns at all. The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by avoiding pronouns completely.

Follow the links below to find a selection of message illustrations for the second reading

• Philippians 1:21: "Dying" is translated in a German New Testament translation as “physical death.”
• Philippians 1:21: Complete verse is Yakan (Philippines): “Because as for me, the reason that I want to live here in the world is so that I can continue to praise Almasi ("Messiah"). But if I die, na (exclamatory particle) that is already better for me.”
• Philippians 1:22: Complete verse is Tenango Otomi (Mexico): “If I should continue to go on living here on earth, I will be able to win more people over to believing in Christ. Therefore now I don’t know what I want to choose. Is it good that I continue living, or is it good that I die?”
• Philippians 1:23: Complete verse is Kankanaey (Philippines): “because it’s true that these two produce-dizziness in my thinking. Because I want very-much that I might leave this earth to go stay-with Cristo, because that is far better.”
• Philippians 1:25: "Joy" is translated in Baoulé (Côte d'Ivoire) as “a song in the stomach,” in Bambara (Mali) as “the spirit is made sweet,” in Mískito (Honduras) as “the liver is wide open, and Chicahuaxtla Triqui (Mexico) as “refreshed heart.”
• Philippians 1:23: Complete verse in Tagbanwa (Philippines): “Well, isn’t it so that if I can get out of this prison, your thanksgiving and praising Cristo Jesus will greatly increase, and too, we will be able to see each other again ?” / Mairasi (Papua New Guinea): “This being the case, I will soon return to be among you, my dear friends, you who live in the palm of His Hand Great Above One’s King, you will be happy because of me in the Name of Yesus.”
• Philippians 1:27: "Gospel" is translated as “joyful telling” in Tausug (Philippines), as “message of God” in Shilluk (Sudan), and “voice of good spirit” in San Blas Kuna (Columbia). See also many other translations.
• Philippians 1:27: Complete verse in Mairasi (Papua New Guinea): “This is my most important command to you, my dear in-laws [brethren]: You all must keep on obeying the Good Message you heard from Yesus. So that I will hear about you that you are remaining in Great Above One’s one and only Spirit and that you have one throat [thought] and one sight pattern [meditation], and that your efforts and faith/obedience come from within your throat for Yesus’ Good Message.”
• Philippians 1:27: Complete verse in Yakan (Philippines): “Don’t be afraid of the ones who ‘enemy’ you. For if you are not afraid, they will understand that they are the ones who will be punished and you are the ones who will be given life without end because God is the one helping you.”

Follow the links below to find a selection of message illustrations for the Gospel

• Matthew 20:1 et al.: “The Late-Arriving Workers" -- a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings.
• Matthew 20:2: Complete verse in Yakan (Philippines): “Their-mutual-promising was that he would really pay them the wage for a day's work, then he told them to go and work on his land.” / Mairasi (Papua New Guinea) “Already the message straightened out [it was agreed] that the people who would work would each receive one silver money [coin] which they call ‘dinar’ for one day’s work, following their normal wage, and then he himself commanded them to work in his grape farm [and they did].”
• Matthew 20:3: Complete verse in Western Bukidnon Manobo (Philippines): “And when the sun had climbed up halfway in the sky in the morning, he returned to look for people. And there in the market, he saw there some people whom nobody had caused to work.” / Mairasi (Papua New Guinea) “Then when the clock struck nine in the morning then the farm owner again went, to his surprise a few people went to the ends by their thought-place [wandered around aimlessly] over there in the place for selling things.”
• Matthew 20:5: Complete verse in Western Bukidnon Manobo (Philippines): “And they worked. And when the sun reached the zenith then, this man returned again to the market. He did the same thing when the sun went half-way down.”
• Matthew 20:6 et al.: Complete verse in Kankanaey (Philippines): “When it was almost five o’clock, he went again to the marketplace and there were still others that he saw there who were just loafing. He said to them, ‘Why did you waste a day just visiting/playing-around?'”
• Matthew 20:8: Complete verse in Tagbanwa (Philippines): “When the sun was setting, that owner gave orders to his overseer. He said, ‘Call those casual-workers and pay them all. Start with those last ones I put to work. Those I put to work first, just pay them last.'”
• Matthew 20:12: "We have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat” is translated in Chichewa (Malawi) with the existing idiom “we have been broken off [like a twig] with respect to work, and the sun has spent its strength upon us.”
• Matthew 20:12: Most Spanish Bibles don't use the formal "usted" for "you." But the Dios Habla Hoy translation (third edition: 1996) uses it in a handful of cases where the translators felt that the informal "tu" was unnatural, including in this verse where the workers address the master with "usted."
• Matthew 20:13: Complete verse in Tagbanwa (Philippines): “That owner said to one person, ‘Friend, it’s not like I’m tricking you. Isn’t it so that we agreed that the (usual) wage for a whole day’s work is what I would pay you?”
• Matthew 20:15: "Envy” or "envious" here is the Greek ophthalmos ponēros or “evil eye” (not in the sense of casting a spell). A number of languages, including German and French can translate this directly and retain the meaning. One English translation that also does that well is by Sarah Ruden (2020) with "stare of envy."
• Matthew 20:15: Complete verse is Kankanaey (Philippines): "Is it not perhaps my right to do what I want with my money? Are you maybe resentful because I did not act-selfishly?’”