²⁸ On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ the Lord said to Moses, ^(A)“I am the Lord; ^(B)tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” ³⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, ^(C)I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?”

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like ^(D)God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your ^(E)prophet. ^2 (F)You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. ³ But ^(G)I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I ^(H)multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. ⁵ The Egyptians ^(I)shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” ⁶ Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. ⁷ Now Moses was ^(J)eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ^(K)‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the ^(L)magicians of Egypt, also ^(M)did the same by their secret arts. ¹² For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Still ^(N)Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, ^(O)as the Lord had said.

The Death of Samuel

25 ^(A)Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled ^(B)and mourned for him, and they buried him ^(C)in his house at ^(D)Ramah.

David and Abigail

Then David rose and went down to ^(E)the wilderness of Paran. ² And there was a man in ^(F)Maon whose business was in ^(G)Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. ^(H)He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; ^(I)he was a Calebite. ⁴ David heard in the wilderness that Nabal ^(J)was shearing his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. ⁶ And thus you shall greet him: ^(K)‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷ I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, ^(L)and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come ^(M)on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁹ When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. ¹⁰ And Nabal answered David's servants, ^(N)“Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? ^(O)There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. ¹¹ Shall I take ^(P)my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to ^(Q)men who come from I do not know where?” ¹² So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this. ¹³ And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And ^(R)about four hundred men went up after David, ^(S)while two hundred ^(T)remained with the baggage.

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. ¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, ^(U)and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. ¹⁶ They were ^(V)a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, ^(W)for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such ^(X)a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs^[a] of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. ¹⁹ And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²¹ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of ^(H)Anathoth, ^(I)who seek your life, and say, ^(J)“Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”— ²² therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, ²³ and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of ^(K)Anathoth, ^(L)the year of their punishment.”

Jeremiah's Complaint

Teach Me Your Paths

^[a] Of David.

The Temptation of Jesus

^12 (A)The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ^13 (B)And he was in the wilderness forty days, being ^(C)tempted by ^(D)Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and ^(E)the angels were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

^14 (F)Now after John was arrested, Jesus ^(G)came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵ and saying, ^(H)“The time is fulfilled, and ^(I)the kingdom of God is at hand;^{[a] (J)}repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

^16 (K)Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become ^(L)fishers of men.”^{[b] 18} And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰ And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Shepherd the Flock of God

5 So I exhort the elders among you, ^(A)as a fellow elder and ^(B)a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: ^2 (C)shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,^{[a] (D)}not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;^{[b] (E)}not for shameful gain, but eagerly; ³ not ^(F)domineering over those in your charge, but ^(G)being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when ^(H)the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the ^(I)unfading ^(J)crown of glory. ⁵ Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. ^(K)Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ^(L)“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

^6 (M)Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ^7 (N)casting all your anxieties on him, because ^(O)he cares for you. ^8 (P)Be sober-minded; ^(Q)be watchful. Your ^(R)adversary the devil ^(S)prowls around ^(T)like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ^9 (U)Resist him, ^(V)firm in your faith, knowing that ^(W)the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰ And ^(X)after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, ^(Y)who has called you to his ^(Z)eternal glory in Christ, will himself ^(AA)restore, ^(AB)confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ^11 (AC)To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings

¹² By ^(AD)Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, ^(AE)I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is ^(AF)the true grace of God. ^(AG)Stand firm in it. ¹³ She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does ^(AH)Mark, my son. ^14 (AI)Greet one another with the kiss of love.

^(AJ)Peace to all of you who are in Christ.