Book of Common Prayer

¹⁸ “Keep the festival of matzah by eating matzah, as I ordered you, for seven days during the month of Aviv; for it was in the month of Aviv that you came out from Egypt.

¹⁹ “Everything that is first from the womb is mine. Of all your livestock, you are to set aside for me the males, the firstborn of cattle and flock. ²⁰ The firstborn of a donkey you must redeem with a lamb; if you won’t redeem it, break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you are to redeem, and no one is to appear before me empty-handed.

²¹ “Six days you will work, but on the seventh day you are to rest — even in plowing time and harvest season you are to rest.

²² “Observe the festival of Shavu‘ot with the first-gathered produce of the wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year. ²³ Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord, Adonai, the God of Isra’el. ²⁴ For I am going to expel nations ahead of you and expand your territory, and no one will even covet your land when you go up to appear before Adonai your God three times a year. ²⁵ You are not to offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, and the sacrifice of the feast of Pesach is not to be left until morning. ²⁶ You are to bring the best firstfruits of your land into the house of Adonai your God.

“You are not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

(vii) ²⁷ Adonai said to Moshe, “Write these words down, because they are the terms of the covenant I have made with you and with Isra’el.” ²⁸ Moshe was there with Adonai forty days and forty nights, during which time he neither ate food nor drank water. [Adonai] wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.

²⁹ When Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, he didn’t realize that the skin of his face was sending out rays of light as a result of his talking with [Adonai]. ³⁰ When Aharon and the people of Isra’el saw Moshe, the skin of his face was shining; and they were afraid to approach him. ³¹ But Moshe called to them; then Aharon and all the community leaders came back to him, and Moshe spoke to them. ³² Afterwards, all the people of Isra’el came near; and he passed on to them all the orders that Adonai had told him on Mount Sinai.

(Maftir) ³³ Once Moshe had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. ³⁴ But when he went in before Adonai for him to speak, he would take the veil off until he came out; then, when he came out, he would tell the people of Isra’el what he had been ordered. ³⁵ But when the people of Isra’el saw Moshe’s face, that the skin of Moshe’s face shone, he would put the veil back over his face until he went in again to speak with [Adonai].

Haftarah Ki Tissa: M’lakhim Alef (1 Kings) 18:1–39 (A); 18:20–39 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Ki Tissa: Luke 11:14 –20; Acts 7:35–8:1; 1 Corinthians 10:1–13; 2 Corinthians 3:1–18

3 So when we could no longer stand it, we agreed to be left in Athens alone ² and sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker for the Good News of the Messiah, to make you solid and encourage you in your trust; ³ so that none of you would let these persecutions unsettle him. For you yourselves know that these are bound to come to us; ⁴ even when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were about to be persecuted; and indeed it has happened, as you know. ⁵ That is the reason why, after I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your trust. I was afraid that somehow the Tempter had tempted you, and our hard work had been wasted.

⁶ But now Timothy has come to us from you, bringing good news about your trust and love, and telling us that you remember us well and are always longing to see us, just as we long to see you. ⁷ Because of this, brothers, in spite of all our trouble and distress, we were comforted over you — because of your trust; ⁸ so that now we are alive; since you continue to stand fast, united with the Lord.

⁹ Indeed, how can we thank God enough for you or express to our God all the joy we feel because of you? ¹⁰ Night and day we pray as hard as we can that we will be able to see you face to face and supply whatever shortcomings there may be in your trust. ¹¹ May God our Father and our Lord Yeshua direct our way to you.

¹² And as for you, may the Lord make you increase and overflow in love toward each other, indeed, toward everyone, just as we do toward you; ¹³ so that he may give you the inner strength to be blameless, by reason of your holiness, when you stand before God our Father at the coming of our Lord Yeshua with all his angels.

²⁷ “You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Do not commit adultery.’^{[a] 28} But I tell you that a man who even looks at a woman with the purpose of lusting after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye makes you sin, gouge it out and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom. ³⁰ And if your right hand makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom.

³¹ “It was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a get.’^{[b] 32} But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of fornication, makes her an adulteress; and that anyone who marries a divorcee commits adultery.

³³ “Again, you have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Do not break your oath,’ and ‘Keep your vows to Adonai.’^{[c] 34} But I tell you not to swear at all — not ‘by heaven,’ because it is God’s throne; ³⁵ not ‘by the earth,’ because it is his footstool;^[d] and not ‘by Yerushalayim,’ because it is the city of the Great King.^{[e] 36} And don’t swear by your head, because you can’t make a single hair white or black. ³⁷ Just let your ‘Yes’ be a simple ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ a simple ‘No’; anything more than this has its origin in evil.