Book of Common Prayer

Qoph

Resh

Shin

Taw

A song for going up to the Temple.

A song for going up to the Temple.

A song for going up to the Temple.

Moses’ Walking Stick Becomes a Snake

⁸ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “Pharaoh will ask you to prove your power. He will ask you to do a miracle. Tell Aaron to throw his walking stick on the ground. While Pharaoh is watching, the stick will become a snake.”

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and obeyed the Lord. Aaron threw his walking stick down. While Pharaoh and his officers watched, the stick became a snake.

¹¹ So Pharaoh called for his wise men and magicians. These men used their magic, and they were able to do the same thing as Aaron. ¹² They threw their walking sticks on the ground, and their sticks became snakes. But then Aaron’s walking stick ate theirs. ¹³ Pharaoh still refused to let the people go, just as the Lord had said. Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.

The Water Becomes Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh is being stubborn. He refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ In the morning Pharaoh will go out to the river. Go to him by the edge of the Nile River. Take the walking stick that became a snake. ¹⁶ Tell him this: ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you. He told me to tell you to let his people go worship him in the desert. Until now you have not listened to the Lord. ¹⁷ So the Lord says that he will do something to show you that he is the Lord. I will hit the water of the Nile River with this walking stick in my hand, and the river will turn into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the river will die, and the river will begin to stink. Then the Egyptians will not be able to drink the water from the river.’”

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron to hold the walking stick in his hand over the rivers, canals, lakes, and every place where they store water. When he does this, all the water will turn into blood. All the water, even the water stored in wood and stone jars, will turn into blood.”

²⁰ So Moses and Aaron did what the Lord commanded. Aaron raised the walking stick and hit the water in the Nile River. He did this in front of Pharaoh and his officials. So all the water in the river changed into blood. ²¹ The fish in the river died, and the river began to stink. So the Egyptians could not drink water from the river. The blood was everywhere in Egypt.

²² The magicians used their magic to do the same thing. So Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. This happened just as the Lord said. ²³ Pharaoh ignored what Moses and Aaron had done. He turned and went into his house.

²⁴ The Egyptians could not drink the water from the river, so they dug wells around the river for water to drink.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us in victory through Christ. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. ¹⁵ Our offering to God is to be the perfume of Christ that goes out to those who are being saved and to those who are being lost. ¹⁶ To those who are being lost, this perfume smells like death, and it brings them death. But to those who are being saved, it has the sweet smell of life, and it brings them life. So who is good enough to do this work? ¹⁷ Certainly not those who are out there selling God’s message for a profit! But we don’t do that. With Christ’s help we speak God’s truth honestly, knowing that we must answer to him.

Servants of God’s New Agreement

3 Why are we beginning again to tell you all these good things about ourselves? Do we need letters of introduction to you or from you, like some other people? ² No, you yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts. It is known and read by all people. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ that he sent through us. This letter is not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone^[a] tablets but on human hearts.

⁴ We can say this, because through Christ we feel sure before God. ⁵ I don’t mean that we are able to do anything good ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do. ⁶ He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. It is not an agreement of written laws, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

Jesus Teaches About Divorce^(A)

10 Then Jesus left there and went into the area of Judea and across the Jordan River. Again, many people came to him, and Jesus taught them as he always did.

² Some Pharisees came to Jesus and tried to make him say something wrong. They asked him, “Is it right for a man to divorce his wife?”

³ Jesus answered, “What did Moses command you to do?”

⁴ The Pharisees said, “Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife by writing a certificate of divorce.”^[a]

⁵ Jesus said, “Moses wrote that command for you because you refused to accept God’s teaching. ⁶ But when God made the world, ‘he made people male and female.’^{[b] 7} ‘That is why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. ⁸ And the two people will become one.’^[c] So they are no longer two, but one. ⁹ God has joined them together, so no one should separate them.”

¹⁰ Later, when the followers and Jesus were in the house, they asked him again about the question of divorce. ¹¹ He said, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman has sinned against his wife. He is guilty of adultery. ¹² And the woman who divorces her husband and marries another man is also guilty of adultery.”

Jesus Welcomes Children^(B)

¹³ People brought their small children to Jesus so that he could lay his hands on them to bless them. But the followers told the people to stop bringing their children to him. ¹⁴ Jesus saw what happened. He did not like his followers telling the children not to come. So he said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people who are like these little children. ¹⁵ The truth is, you must accept God’s kingdom like a little child accepts things, or you will never enter it.” ¹⁶ Then Jesus held the children in his arms. He laid his hands on them and blessed them.