Exodus 15

Living Bible

15 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord:

I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
He has thrown both horse and rider into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength, my song, and my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him.
He is my father’s God—I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a warrior—
Yes, Jehovah is his name.
4 He has overthrown Pharaoh’s chariots and armies,
Drowning them in the sea.
The famous Egyptian captains are dead beneath the waves.
5 The water covers them.
They went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power;
It dashes the enemy to pieces.
7 In the greatness of your majesty
You overthrew all those who rose against you.
You sent forth your anger, and it consumed them as fire consumes straw.
8 At the blast of your breath
The waters divided!
They stood as solid walls to hold the seas apart.
9 The enemy said, “I will chase after them,
Catch up with them, destroy them.
I will cut them apart with my sword
And divide the captured booty.”
10 But God blew with his wind, and the sea covered them.
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
11 Who else is like the Lord among the gods?
Who is glorious in holiness like him?
Who is so awesome in splendor,
A wonder-working God?
12 You reached out your hand and the earth swallowed them.
13 You have led the people you redeemed.
But in your loving-kindness
You have guided them wonderfully
To your holy land.
14 The nations heard what happened, and they trembled.
Fear has gripped the people of Philistia.
15 The leaders of Edom are appalled,
The mighty men of Moab tremble;
All the people of Canaan melt with fear.
16 Terror and dread have overcome them.
O Lord, because of your great power they won’t attack us!
Your people whom you purchased
Will pass by them in safety.
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your mountain,
Your own homeland, Lord—
The sanctuary you made for them to live in.
18 Jehovah shall reign forever and forever.
19 The horses of Pharaoh, his horsemen, and his chariots
Tried to follow through the sea;
But the Lord let down the walls of water on them
While the people of Israel walked through on dry land.

²⁰Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine and led the women in dances.

²¹And Miriam sang this song:

Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.

The horse and rider have been drowned in the sea.

²²Then Moses led the people of Israel on from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the wilderness of Shur and were there three days without water. ²³Arriving at Marah, they couldn’t drink the water because it was bitter (that is why the place was called Marah, meaning “bitter”).

²⁴Then the people turned against Moses. “Must we die of thirst?” they demanded.

²⁵Moses pleaded with the Lord to help them, and the Lord showed him a tree to throw into the water, and the water became sweet.

It was there at Marah that the Lord laid before them the following conditions, to test their commitment to him: ²⁶“If you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and obey it, and do what is right, then I will not make you suffer the diseases I sent on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.” ²⁷And they came to Elim where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees; and they camped there beside the springs.

2 Corinthians 6

Living Bible

6 As God’s partners, we beg you not to toss aside this marvelous message of God’s great kindness. ²For God says, “Your cry came to me at a favorable time, when the doors of welcome were wide open. I helped you on a day when salvation was being offered.” Right now God is ready to welcome you. Today he is ready to save you.

³We try to live in such a way that no one will ever be offended or kept back from finding the Lord by the way we act, so that no one can find fault with us and blame it on the Lord. ⁴In fact, in everything we do we try to show that we are true ministers of God.

We patiently endure suffering and hardship and trouble of every kind. ⁵We have been beaten, put in jail, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, stayed awake through sleepless nights of watching, and gone without food. ⁶We have proved ourselves to be what we claim by our wholesome lives and by our understanding of the Gospel and by our patience. We have been kind and truly loving and filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁷We have been truthful, with God’s power helping us in all we do. All of the godly man’s arsenal—weapons of defense, and weapons of attack—have been ours.

⁸We stand true to the Lord whether others honor us or despise us, whether they criticize us or commend us. We are honest, but they call us liars.

⁹The world ignores us, but we are known to God; we live close to death, but here we are, still very much alive. We have been injured but kept from death. ¹⁰Our hearts ache, but at the same time we have the joy of the Lord. We are poor, but we give rich spiritual gifts to others. We own nothing, and yet we enjoy everything.

¹¹Oh, my dear Corinthian friends! I have told you all my feelings; I love you with all my heart. ¹²Any coldness still between us is not because of any lack of love on my part but because your love is too small and does not reach out to me and draw me in. ¹³I am talking to you now as if you truly were my very own children. Open your hearts to us! Return our love!

¹⁴Don’t be teamed with those who do not love the Lord, for what do the people of God have in common with the people of sin? How can light live with darkness? ¹⁵And what harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a Christian be a partner with one who doesn’t believe? ¹⁶And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For you are God’s temple, the home of the living God, and God has said of you, “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” ¹⁷That is why the Lord has said, “Leave them; separate yourselves from them; don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you ¹⁸and be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.”