Aaron to Speak for Moses

²⁸ Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, ²⁹ he said to him, “I am the Lord.^(A) Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”

³⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Since I speak with faltering lips,^(B) why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God^(C) to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.^{(D) 2} You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. ³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,^(E) and though I multiply my signs and wonders^(F) in Egypt, ⁴ he will not listen^(G) to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment^(H) I will bring out my divisions,^(I) my people the Israelites. ⁵ And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord^(J) when I stretch out my hand^(K) against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

⁶ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded^(L) them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old^(M) and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

⁸ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,^(N)’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”^(O)

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. ¹¹ Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers,^(P) and the Egyptian magicians^(Q) also did the same things by their secret arts:^{(R) 12} Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart^(S) became hard and he would not listen^(T) to them, just as the Lord had said.

David, Nabal and Abigail

25 Now Samuel died,^(A) and all Israel assembled and mourned^(B) for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.^(C) Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.^[a]

² A certain man in Maon,^(D) who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy.^(E) He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing^(F) in Carmel. ³ His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail.^(G) She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.^(H)

⁴ While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. ⁵ So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. ⁶ Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health^(I) to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!^(J)

⁷ “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat^(K) them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. ⁸ Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever^(L) you can find for them.’”

⁹ When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.

¹⁰ Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who^(M) is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. ¹¹ Why should I take my bread^(N) and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

¹² David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. ¹³ David said to his men^(O), “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went^(P) up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.^(Q)

¹⁴ One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings,^(R) but he hurled insults at them. ¹⁵ Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat^(S) us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.^{(T) 16} Night and day they were a wall^(U) around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. ¹⁷ Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked^(V) man that no one can talk to him.”

¹⁸ Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs^[b] of roasted grain,^(W) a hundred cakes of raisins^(X) and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.^{(Y) 19} Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead;^(Z) I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell^(AA) her husband Nabal.

Plot Against Jeremiah

¹⁸ Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. ¹⁹ I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;^(A) I did not realize that they had plotted^(B) against me, saying,

²¹ Therefore this is what the Lord says about the people of Anathoth^(I) who are threatening to kill you,^(J) saying, “Do not prophesy^(K) in the name of the Lord or you will die^(L) by our hands”— ²² therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men^(M) will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. ²³ Not even a remnant^(N) will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.^(O)”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

Psalm 25^[a]

Of David.