The Israelites Are Oppressed

⁸ Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.^{(A) 9} He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.^{(B) 10} Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.^{(C) 12} But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. ¹³ The Egyptians subjected the Israelites to hard servitude ¹⁴ and made their lives bitter with hard servitude in mortar and bricks and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.^(D)

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ¹⁶ “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”^{(E) 17} But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.^{(F) 18} So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and allowed the boys to live?” ¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” ²⁰ So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong.^{(G) 21} And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.^{(H) 22} Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews^[a] you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”^(I)

Birth and Youth of Moses

2 Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.^{(J) 2} The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months.^{(K) 3} When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. ⁴ His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.^(L)

⁵ The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. ⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” ⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. ¹⁰ When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses,^[b] “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”^(M)

Jacob Returns to Bethel

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”^{(A) 2} So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes;^{(B) 3} then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”^{(C) 4} So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak that was near Shechem.^(D)

⁵ As they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities all around them, so that no one pursued them.^{(E) 6} Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,^{(F) 7} and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,^[a] because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.^{(G) 8} And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So it was called Allon-bacuth.^[b](H)

⁹ God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.^{(I) 10} God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall you be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he was called Israel.^{(J) 11} God said to him, “I am God Almighty:^[c] be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you.^{(K) 12} The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”^{(L) 13} Then God went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him.^{(M) 14} Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.^{(N) 15} So Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.^(O)

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar Near Jericho

³⁵ As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶ When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. ³⁷ They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth^[a] is passing by.” ³⁸ Then he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”^{(A) 39} Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”^{(B) 40} Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him, and when he came near, he asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me see again.” ⁴² Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.”^{(C) 43} Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God, and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.^(D)

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19 He entered Jericho and was passing through it.^{(E) 2} A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.^{(F) 5} When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. ⁷ All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”^{(G) 8} Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”^{(H) 9} Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.^{(I) 10} For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

Service Well-Pleasing to God

13 Let mutual affection continue. ² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.^{(A) 3} Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them, those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.^{[a] 4} Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.^{(B) 5} Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”^{(C) 6} So we can say with confidence,

⁷ Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food,^[b] which have not benefited those who observe them.^{(D) 10} We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent^[c] have no right to eat.^{(E) 11} For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.^{(F) 12} Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood.^{(G) 13} Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. ¹⁴ For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.^{(H) 15} Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.^{(I) 16} Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

¹⁷ Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing, for that would be harmful to you.^(J)

¹⁸ Pray for us; we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.^{(K) 19} I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you very soon.

Benediction

²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,^{(L) 21} make you complete in everything good^[d] so that you may do his will, as he works among us^[e] that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever.^[f] Amen.^(M)