Readings for Lent and Easter

⁶ You are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. He chose you to be his own special possession out of all the nations on earth.

⁷ The Lord set his heart on you and chose you, even though you didn’t outnumber all the other people. You were the smallest of all nations. ⁸ You were chosen because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors. So he used his mighty hand to bring you out. He freed you from slavery under Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). ⁹ Keep in mind that the Lord your God is ⌞the only⌟ God. He is a faithful God, who keeps his promise ^[a] and is merciful to thousands of generations of those who love him and obey his commands. ¹⁰ But he sends destruction to pay back everyone who hates him. He never takes long to pay back anyone who hates him.

¹¹ So obey the commands, laws, and rules I’m giving you today.