Book of Common Prayer

³⁰ And forty years having been fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of fire of a bush. ³¹ And having seen it, Moses was marveling-at the sight. And while he was approaching to look-closely, the voice of the Lord came: ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob’. And having become trembling, Moses was not daring to look-closely. ³³ And the Lord said to him, ‘Untie the sandal from your feet, for the place upon which you stand is holy ground. ³⁴ Having seen, I saw^[a] the mistreatment of My people in Egypt, and I heard their groaning, and I came down to rescue them. And now, come, I will^[b] send you forth to Egypt’.

This Moses Whom Israel Denied, God Sent To Be Both Ruler And Deliverer

³⁵ “This Moses whom they denied, having said, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge?’ [Ex 2:14]— this one God has sent-forth to be both ruler and deliverer^[c], with^[d] the hand of the angel having appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ This one led them out, having done wonders and signs in Egypt land, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

This Moses Said That God Would Raise Up a Prophet Like Him

³⁷ “This one is the Moses having said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise-up a prophet like me for you from your brothers’ [Deut 18:15].

This Moses Brought Israel God’s Word, Which They Rejected

³⁸ “This one is the one having been in the congregation in the wilderness, with the angel speaking to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles^[e] to give to us— ³⁹ to whom our fathers were not willing to become obedient, but they rejected him and turned-away in their hearts to Egypt, ⁴⁰ having said to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will go before us. For this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what happened to him’ [Ex 32:1]. ⁴¹ And they made-a-calf in those days, and brought-up a sacrifice to the idol. And they were celebrating in the works of their hands.

So God Turned Away From Them And Handed Them Over To Idolatry

⁴² “And God turned-away, and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, just as it has been written in the book of the prophets [in Amos 5:25-27]: ‘House of Israel, you did not offer victims^[f] and sacrifices to Me for forty years in the wilderness, did you? ⁴³ Indeed you took-up the tabernacle of Moloch^[g] and the star of your god Rephan^[h]— the images which you made to give-worship to them. Indeed I will remove^[i] you beyond Babylon!’

Jesus Goes To Jerusalem For a Feast, And Heals a Man On The Sabbath

5 After these things there was a Feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now in Jerusalem near the Sheep gate, there is a pool— the one being called Bethzatha in Hebrew, having five porticos^[a]. ³ In these porticos, a multitude of the ones being sick were lying-down— blind ones, lame ones, withered ones. ^{4 [b] 5} And there was a certain man there having thirty and eight years in his sickness. ⁶ Jesus— having seen this one lying down, and having known^[c] that he already had a long time [in his sickness]— says to him, “Do you want to become healthy?” ⁷ The one being sick answered Him, “Sir, I do not have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred-up. But while I am going, another goes down before me”. ⁸ Jesus says to him, “Arise, pick up your cot and walk!” ⁹ And immediately the man became healthy, and picked up his cot and was walking.

They Want To Kill Jesus Because He Breaks The Sabbath And Makes Himself Equal To God

Now it was a Sabbath on that day. ¹⁰ So the Jews were saying to the one having been cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to pick up your cot”. ¹¹ But the one answered them, “The One having made me healthy, that One said to me, ‘Pick up your cot and walk’”. ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man having said to you, ‘Pick up and walk’?” ¹³ But the one having been healed did not know who He was. For Jesus withdrew, a crowd being in the place. ¹⁴ After these things, Jesus finds him in the temple. And He said to him, “See— you have become healthy! Do not be sinning any longer in order that something worse may not happen to you”. ¹⁵ The man went away and reported to the Jews that Jesus was the One having made him healthy. ¹⁶ And for this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus— because He was doing these things on a Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and^[d] I am working”. ¹⁸ Therefore, for this reason the Jews were seeking more to kill Him: because He was not only breaking^[e] the Sabbath, but He was also calling God His own Father, making Himself equal^[f] to God!