The Birth of Moses

2 Now a ^(A)man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. ² The woman conceived and bore a son, and ^(B)when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. ³ When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes^[a] and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the ^(C)reeds by the river bank. ⁴ And ^(D)his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. ⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. ⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.” ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” ⁸ And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child's mother. ⁹ And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became ^(E)her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I ^(F)drew him out of the water.”^[b]

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, ^(G)when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their ^(H)burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.^{[c] 12} He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he ^(I)struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ When ^(J)he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” ¹⁴ He answered, ^(K)“Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” ¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But ^(L)Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by ^(M)a well.

¹⁶ Now the ^(N)priest of Midian had seven daughters, and ^(O)they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. ¹⁷ The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and ^(P)watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came home to their father ^(Q)Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” ¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and ^(R)watered the flock.” ²⁰ He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may ^(S)eat bread.” ²¹ And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter ^(T)Zipporah. ²² She gave birth to a son, and he called his name ^(U)Gershom, for he said, “I have been a ^(V)sojourner^[d] in a foreign land.”

Let Us Sing Songs of Praise

²⁷ Now ^(A)you are the body of Christ and individually ^(B)members of it. ²⁸ And ^(C)God has appointed in the church first ^(D)apostles, second ^(E)prophets, third teachers, then ^(F)miracles, then ^(G)gifts of healing, ^(H)helping, ^(I)administrating, and ^(J)various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But ^(K)earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have ^(L)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^(M)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ^3 (N)If I give away all I have, and ^(O)if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

The Transfiguration

^2 (A)And after six days Jesus took with him ^(B)Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was ^(C)transfigured before them, ³ and ^(D)his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one^[a] on earth could bleach them. ⁴ And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ And Peter said to Jesus, ^(E)“Rabbi,^[b] it is good that we are here. Let us make three ^(F)tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For ^(G)he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷ And ^(H)a cloud overshadowed them, and ^(I)a voice came out of the cloud, ^(J)“This is my beloved Son;^{[c] (K)}listen to him.” ⁸ And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

^9 (L)And as they were coming down the mountain, ^(M)he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, ^(N)until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ^10 (O)So they kept the matter to themselves, ^(P)questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. ¹¹ And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say ^(Q)that first Elijah must come?” ¹² And he said to them, “Elijah does come first ^(R)to restore all things. And ^(S)how is it written of the Son of Man that he should ^(T)suffer many things and ^(U)be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I tell you that Elijah has come, and ^(V)they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”