Longing for the Temple Worship.

For the music director; ^[a]on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

A Psalm of Praise.

¹⁶ Go and ^(A)gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘^(B)The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to me, saying, “^[a](C)I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ So ^(D)I said, I will bring you up out of the oppression of Egypt to the land of ^(E)the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land ^(F)flowing with milk and honey.”’ ¹⁸ Then ^(G)they will ^[b]pay attention to what you say; and ^(H)you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please let us go a ^(I)three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt ^(J)will not permit you to go, ^(K)except ^[c]under compulsion. ²⁰ So I will reach out with ^(L)My hand and strike Egypt with all My ^(M)miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and ^(N)after that he will let you go. ²¹ I will grant this people ^(O)favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. ²² But every woman ^(P)shall ask her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house for articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will ^(Q)plunder the Egyptians.”

Moses Given Signs

4 Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or ^(R)listen ^[d]to what I say? For they may say, ‘^(S)The Lord has not appeared to you.’” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “^(T)A staff.” ³ Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and ^(U)it turned into a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out with your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he reached out with his hand and caught it, and it turned into a staff in his ^[e]hand— ⁵ “so that ^(V)they may believe that ^(W)the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶ The Lord furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand inside the fold of your robe.” So he put his hand inside the fold, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was ^(X)leprous like snow. ⁷ Then He said, “Put your hand inside the fold of your robe again.” So he put his hand into the fold again, and when he took it out of the fold, behold, ^(Y)it was restored like the rest of his flesh. ⁸ “So if they will not believe you nor ^[f]pay attention to the ^[g]evidence of the first ^[h]sign, they may believe the ^[i]evidence of the last ^[j]sign. ⁹ But if they will not believe even these two ^[k]signs nor pay attention to what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile ^(Z)will turn into blood on the dry ground.”

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, ^(AA)I have never been ^[l]eloquent, neither ^[m]recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am ^[n]slow of speech and ^[o]slow of tongue.” ¹¹ But the Lord said to him, “Who has made the human mouth? Or ^(AB)who makes anyone unable to speak or deaf, or able to see or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now then go, and ^(AC)I Myself will be with your mouth, and ^(AD)instruct you in what you are to say.”

Dedicated Service

12 Therefore ^(A)I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to ^(B)present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, ^[a]acceptable to God, which is your ^[b]spiritual service of worship. ² And do not ^(C)be conformed to ^(D)this ^[c]world, but be transformed by the ^(E)renewing of your mind, so that you may ^[d](F)prove what the will of God is, that which is good and ^[e]acceptable and perfect.

³ For through ^(G)the grace given to me I say to everyone among you ^(H)not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to ^(I)each a measure of faith. ⁴ For ^(J)just as we have many parts in one body and all ^[f]the body’s parts do not have the same function, ⁵ so we, ^(K)who are many, are ^(L)one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another. ⁶ However, since we have gifts that ^(M)differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to use them properly: if ^(N)prophecy, ^[g]in proportion to one’s faith; ⁷ if ^[h](O)service, in the act of serving; or the one who ^(P)teaches, in the act of teaching; ⁸ or the one who ^[i](Q)exhorts, in the work of ^[j]exhortation; the one who gives, with ^[k](R)generosity; ^(S)the one who ^[l]is in leadership, with diligence; the one who shows mercy, with ^(T)cheerfulness.

^9 [m](U)Love must be free of hypocrisy. ^(V)Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be ^(W)devoted to one another in brotherly love; ^[n]give preference to one another ^(X)in honor, ¹¹ not lagging behind in diligence, ^(Y)fervent in spirit, ^(Z)serving the Lord; ^12 (AA)rejoicing in hope, ^(AB)persevering in tribulation, ^(AC)devoted to prayer, ^13 (AD)contributing to the needs of the ^[o]saints, ^[p](AE)practicing hospitality.

^14 (AF)Bless those who persecute ^[q]you; bless and do not curse. ^15 (AG)Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. ^16 (AH)Be of the same mind toward one another; ^(AI)do not be ^[r]haughty in mind, but ^[s]associate with the lowly. ^(AJ)Do not be wise in your own estimation. ^17 (AK)Never repay evil for evil to anyone. ^[t](AL)Respect what is right in the sight of all people. ¹⁸ If possible, ^(AM)so far as it depends on you, ^(AN)be at peace with all people. ^19 (AO)Never take your own revenge, beloved, but ^[u]leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: “^(AP)Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ “^(AQ)But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If ^(A)I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? ^47 (B)The one who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

^48 (C)The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not rightly say that You are a ^(D)Samaritan, and You ^(E)have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I do not ^(F)have a demon; on the contrary, I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. ⁵⁰ But ^(G)I am not seeking My glory; there is One who seeks it, and judges. ⁵¹ Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone ^(H)follows My word, he will never ^(I)see death.” ^52 (J)The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You ^(K)have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets as well; and yet You say, ‘If anyone ^(L)follows My word, he will never ^(M)taste of death.’ ⁵³ You ^(N)are not greater than our father Abraham, who died, are You? The prophets died too. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?” ⁵⁴ Jesus answered, “^(O)If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; ^(P)it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; ⁵⁵ and ^(Q)you have not come to know Him, ^(R)but I know Him. And if I say that I do not know Him, I will be ^(S)a liar like you; ^(T)but I do know Him, and I ^(U)follow His word. ^56 (V)Your father Abraham was ^(W)overjoyed that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” ^57 (X)So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham ^[a]was born, ^[b](Y)I am.” ⁵⁹ Therefore they ^(Z)picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus ^(AA)hid Himself and left the temple grounds.