A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.

For the music director; upon ^[a]Aijeleth Hashshahar. A Psalm of David.

The Whole Creation Invoked to Praise the Lord.

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man from ^(A)the house of Levi went and ^[a]married a daughter of Levi. ² And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when she saw ^[b]that he was ^[c](B)beautiful, she hid him for three months. ³ But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a ^(C)papyrus ^[d]basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the ^(D)reeds by the bank of the Nile. ^4 (E)And his sister stood at a distance to ^[e]find out what would ^[f]happen to him.

⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down ^(F)to bathe at the Nile, with her female attendants walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the ^[g]basket among the reeds and sent her slave woman, and she brought it to her. ⁶ When she opened it, she ^[h]saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had 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 a woman for you who is nursing from the Hebrew women, so that she may nurse the child for you?” ⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ Then 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 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and ^(G)he became her son. And she named him ^[i]Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹ Now it came about in those days, ^(H)when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his ^[j]fellow Hebrews and looked at their ^[k](I)hard labors; and ^(J)he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his ^[l]fellow Hebrews. ¹² So he ^[m]looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one around, he ^(K)struck and killed the Egyptian, and hid ^[n]his body in the sand. ¹³ Now he went out ^(L)the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were ^[o]fighting with each other; and he said to the ^[p]offender, “Why are you striking your companion?” ¹⁴ But he said, “^(M)Who made you a ^[q]ruler and a judge over us? Do you ^[r]intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known!”

Moses Escapes to Midian

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But ^(N)Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and ^[s]settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down ^(O)by a well.

¹⁶ Now ^(P)the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and ^(Q)they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but ^(R)Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came to their father ^(S)Reuel, he said, “Why have you come back so soon today?” ¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian saved us from ^[t]the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” ²⁰ So he said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him ^[u]to have something to eat.” ²¹ And ^(T)Moses was willing to live with the man. And he gave his daughter ^(U)Zipporah to Moses. ²² Then she gave birth to ^(V)a son, and he named him ^[v]Gershom, for he said, “I have been ^(W)a stranger in a foreign land.”

²⁷ Now you are ^(A)Christ’s body, and ^(B)individually parts of it. ²⁸ And God has ^[a](C)appointed in ^(D)the church, first ^(E)apostles, second ^(F)prophets, third ^(G)teachers, then ^[b](H)miracles, then ^(I)gifts of healings, helps, ^(J)administrations, and various ^(K)kinds of tongues. ²⁹ All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of ^[c]miracles, are they? ³⁰ All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not ^(L)interpret, do they? ³¹ But ^(M)earnestly desire the greater gifts.

And yet, I am going to show you a far better way.

The Excellence of Love

13 If I speak with the ^(N)tongues of mankind and of ^(O)angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a ^(P)clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of ^(Q)prophecy and know all ^(R)mysteries and all ^(S)knowledge, and if I have ^(T)all faith so as to ^(U)remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ And if I ^(V)give away all my possessions to charity, and if I ^(W)surrender my body so that I may ^[d]glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

^2 (A)And six days later Jesus *took with Him ^(B)Peter, ^[a]James, and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was ^[b]transfigured before them; ³ and ^(C)His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter responded and *said to Jesus, “^(D)Rabbi, it is good that we are here; ^(E)let’s make three ^[c]tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know how to reply; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud ^[d]formed, overshadowing them, and ^(F)a voice ^[e]came out of the cloud: “^(G)This is My beloved Son; ^[f]listen to Him!” ⁸ And suddenly they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

^9 (H)As they were coming down from the mountain, He ^(I)gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, ^[g]until the Son of Man rose from the dead. ¹⁰ They ^[h]seized upon ^[i]that statement, discussing with one another ^[j]what rising from the dead meant. ¹¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that ^(J)Elijah must come first?” ¹² And He said to them, “Elijah does come first and he restores all things. And yet how is it written of ^(K)the Son of Man that ^(L)He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has ^[k]indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”