The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

^29 (A)At midnight the ^(B)Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, ^(C)from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. ³⁰ And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was ^(D)a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. ³¹ Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, ^(E)both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. ^32 (F)Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

The Exodus

^33 (G)The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. ³⁵ The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had ^(H)asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ^36 (I)And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that ^(J)they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ And the ^(K)people of Israel journeyed from ^(L)Rameses to Succoth, ^(M)about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸ A ^(N)mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because ^(O)they were thrust out of Egypt and ^(P)could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of ^(Q)430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a ^(R)night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

The Battle of Gibeon

¹² Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³ And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at ^(A)the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴ And Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.” ¹⁵ Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶ And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim,^[a] which is at Gibeon. ¹⁷ And the battle was very fierce that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

¹⁸ And the ^(B)three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was ^(C)as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. ¹⁹ And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. ²⁰ Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” ²¹ Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. ²² And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” ²³ But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him ^(D)in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵ And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?” ²⁷ And Joab said, “As God lives, if ^(E)you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.” ²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore.

²⁹ And Abner and his men went all that night through ^(F)the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to ^(G)Mahanaim. ³⁰ Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel. ³¹ But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men. ³² And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.

Keep the Sabbath Holy

¹⁹ Thus said the Lord to me: “Go and stand in the People's Gate, by which ^(A)the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, ²⁰ and say: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ^(B)you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. ²¹ Thus says the Lord: Take care for the sake of your lives, and ^(C)do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. ²² And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath ^(D)or do any work, but ^(E)keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. ²³ Yet ^(F)they did not listen or incline their ear, ^(G)but stiffened their neck, that they ^(H)might not hear and receive instruction.

²⁴ “‘But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and ^(I)bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but ^(J)keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, ²⁵ then ^(K)there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. ²⁶ And people shall come from ^(L)the cities of Judah ^(M)and the places around Jerusalem, ^(N)from the land of Benjamin, ^(O)from the Shephelah, from the hill country, ^(P)and from ^(Q)the Negeb, bringing ^(R)burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and ^(S)bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. ²⁷ But if you do not listen to me, to ^(T)keep the Sabbath day holy, ^(U)and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will ^(V)kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall ^(W)devour the palaces of Jerusalem and ^(X)shall not be quenched.’”

The Steadfast Love of the Lord

A Lamp Under a Basket

^21 (A)And he said to them, ^(B)“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ^22 (C)For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ^23 (D)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: ^(E)with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ^25 (F)For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶ And he said, ^(G)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^(H)he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once ^(I)he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Love One Another

¹¹ For ^(A)this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, ^(B)that we should love one another. ¹² We should not be like ^(C)Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? ^(D)Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers,^{[a] (E)}that the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that ^(F)we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ^15 (G)Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ^(H)no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶ By this we know love, that ^(I)he laid down his life for us, and ^(J)we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷ But ^(K)if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet ^(L)closes his heart against him, ^(M)how does God's love abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not ^(N)love in word or talk but in deed and ^(O)in truth.

¹⁹ By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰ for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. ²¹ Beloved, ^(P)if our heart does not condemn us, ^(Q)we have confidence before God; ²² and ^(R)whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and ^(S)do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his commandment, ^(T)that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and ^(U)love one another, ^(V)just as he has commanded us. ^24 (W)Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God,^[b] and God^[c] in him. And ^(X)by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.