The Firstborn Consecrated

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (A)“Consecrate^[a] to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”

The Feast of Unleavened Bread^(B)

³ And Moses said to the people: ^(C)“Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of ^[b]bondage; for ^(D)by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. ^(E)No leavened bread shall be eaten. ^4 (F)On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. ⁵ And it shall be, when the Lord ^(G)brings you into the ^(H)land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He ^(I)swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, ^(J)that you shall keep this service in this month. ^6 (K)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And ^(L)no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. ⁸ And you shall ^(M)tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’ ⁹ It shall be as ^(N)a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ^10 (O)You shall therefore keep this ^[c]ordinance in its season from year to year.

The Law of the Firstborn

¹¹ “And it shall be, when the Lord ^(P)brings you into the land of the ^(Q)Canaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, ^12 (R)that you shall ^[d]set apart to the Lord all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the Lord’s. ¹³ But ^(S)every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons ^(T)you shall redeem. ^14 (U)So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ^(V)‘By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹⁵ And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that ^(W)the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ It shall be as ^(X)a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

The Wilderness Way^(Y)

¹⁷ Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people ^(Z)change their minds when they see war, and ^(AA)return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God ^(AB)led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁹ And Moses took the ^(AC)bones of ^(AD)Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, ^(AE)“God will surely ^[e]visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”

²⁰ So ^(AF)they took their journey from ^(AG)Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ And ^(AH)the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. ²² He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

The Red Sea Crossing

14 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² “Speak to the children of Israel, ^(AI)that they turn and camp before ^(AJ)Pi Hahiroth, between ^(AK)Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ^(AL)‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ ⁴ Then ^(AM)I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I ^(AN)will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, ^(AO)that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵ Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and ^(AP)the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” ⁶ So he ^[f]made ready his chariot and took his people with him. ⁷ Also, he took ^(AQ)six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. ⁸ And the Lord ^(AR)hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and ^(AS)the children of Israel went out with boldness. ⁹ So the ^(AT)Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon.

¹⁰ And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel ^(AU)cried out to the Lord. ^11 (AV)Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? ^12 (AW)Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

¹³ And Moses said to the people, ^(AX)“Do not be afraid. ^(AY)Stand still, and see the ^(AZ)salvation^[g] of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall ^(BA)see again no more forever. ^14 (BB)The Lord will fight for you, and you shall ^(BC)hold^[h] your peace.”

¹⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶ But ^(BD)lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. ¹⁷ And I indeed will ^(BE)harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will ^(BF)gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁸ Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹⁹ And the Angel of God, ^(BG)who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. ²⁰ So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and ^(BH)made the sea into dry land, and the waters were ^(BI)divided. ²² So ^(BJ)the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were ^(BK)a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ²³ And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

²⁴ Now it came to pass, in the morning ^(BL)watch, that ^(BM)the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He ^[i]troubled the army of the Egyptians. ²⁵ And He ^[j]took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord ^(BN)fights for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” ²⁷ And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea ^(BO)returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord ^(BP)overthrew^[k] the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. ²⁸ Then ^(BQ)the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. ²⁹ But ^(BR)the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰ So the Lord ^(BS)saved^[l] Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel ^(BT)saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹ Thus Israel saw the great ^[m]work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and ^(BU)believed the Lord and His servant Moses.

The Folly of Indolence

The Triumphal Entry^(A)

21 Now ^(B)when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to ^[a]Bethphage, at ^(C)the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. ³ And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

^4 [b]All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

^6 (E)So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, ^(F)laid their clothes on them, ^[c]and set Him on them. ⁸ And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; ^(G)others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

^10 (I)And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹ So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, ^(J)the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple^(K)

^12 (L)Then Jesus went into the temple ^[d]of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the ^(M)money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹³ And He said to them, “It is written, ^(N)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ^(O)‘den of thieves.’ ”

¹⁴ Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the ^(P)Son of David!” they were ^[e]indignant ¹⁶ and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”

And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,

¹⁷ Then He left them and ^(R)went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

The Fig Tree Withered^(S)

^18 (T)Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. ^19 (U)And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree^(V)

^20 (W)And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”

²¹ So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, ^(X)if you have faith and ^(Y)do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, ^(Z)but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. ²² And ^(AA)whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”