Israel Oppressed in Egypt

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family:^(A)

⁵ The total number of Jacob’s descendants^[a] was seventy;^[b](B) Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶ Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation eventually died.^{(C) 7} But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous^(D) so that the land was filled with them.

⁸ A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are.^{(E) 10} Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”^{(F) 11} So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor.^(G) They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities^(H) for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread^[c] the Israelites. ¹³ They worked the Israelites ruthlessly^{(I) 14} and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.^(J)

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives—the first, whose name was Shiphrah, and the second, whose name was Puah— ¹⁶ “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.” ¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God^(K) and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them;^(L) they let the boys live. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.”^(M)

²⁰ So God was good to the midwives,^(N) and the people multiplied and became very numerous. ²¹ Since the midwives feared God, he gave them families.^{(O) 22} Pharaoh then commanded all his people, “You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live.”^(P)

A Sabbath Controversy

14 One Sabbath, when he went in to eat^[a] at the house of one of the leading Pharisees,^(A) they were watching him closely.^{(B) 2} There in front of him was a man whose body was swollen with fluid. ³ In response, Jesus asked the law experts^(C) and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”^{(D) 4} But they kept silent. He took the man, healed him, and sent him away. ⁵ And to them, he said, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”^{(E) 6} They could find no answer to these things.

Teachings on Humility

⁷ He told a parable^(F) to those who were invited, when he noticed how they would choose the best places^(G) for themselves: ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don’t sit in the place of honor, because a more distinguished person^(H) than you may have been invited by your host. ⁹ The one who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place.

¹⁰ “But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ You will then be honored^(I) in the presence of all the other guests.^{(J) 11} For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”^(K)

¹² He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid. ¹³ On the contrary, when you host a banquet,^(L) invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind.^{(M) 14} And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid^(N) at the resurrection of the righteous.”^(O)

The Parable of the Large Banquet

¹⁵ When^(P) one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” ^(Q)

¹⁶ Then he told him, “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’

¹⁸ “But without exception^[b] they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’

²⁰ “And another said, ‘I just got married,^(R) and therefore I’m unable to come.’

²¹ “So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’^(S)

²² “‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’

²³ “Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet.’”

The Cost of Following Jesus

²⁵ Now^(T) great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me^(U) and does not hate^(V) his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross^(W) and come after me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost^(X) to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce^[c] all his possessions^(Y) cannot be my disciple.

³⁴ “Now,^(Z) salt^(AA) is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty? ³⁵ It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”^(AB)

Psalm 99

The King Is Holy