Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A psalm of thanksgiving

Give Thanks to the Lord

Moses Doubts that Pharaoh will Listen

²⁸ And it happened when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt ²⁹ that the Lord told Moses, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, everything that I’m saying to you.”

³⁰ Moses said in the presence of the Lord, “Look, I’m not a persuasive speaker,^[a] so how will Pharaoh listen to me?”

God Appoints Aaron to Assist Moses

7 The Lord told Moses, “Listen! I’ve positioned you as God^[b] to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. ² You are to speak everything that I’ve commanded you, and then your brother Aaron will speak to Pharaoh, telling him to let the Israelis go out of his land. ³ I’ll harden Pharaoh’s heart and I’ll add more and more of my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ When Pharaoh won’t listen to you, I’ll let loose my power^[c] upon Egypt. I’ll bring out my tribal divisions—my people the Israelis—from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.^{[d] 5} The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand over Egypt to bring the Israelis out from among them.” ⁶ Moses and Aaron did what the Lord commanded them. ⁷ Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Moses’ Staff Becomes a Snake

⁸ Then the Lord told Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miraculous sign,’ then you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it in front of Pharaoh.’ It will become a serpent.”

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did what the Lord had commanded them. Aaron threw his staff in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and sorcerers, and they—along with the Egyptian magicians—did the same thing with their secret arts. ¹² So each one threw down his staff and it became a serpent, but Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn^[e] and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said would happen.

Jesus Challenges the Tradition of the Elders^(A)

7 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.^{[a] 2} They noticed that some of his disciples were eating^[b] with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. ³ (The Pharisees—and indeed all the Jewish people—don’t eat unless they wash their hands properly,^[c] following the tradition of their elders. ⁴ They don’t eat anything from the marketplace unless they dip it in water. They also observe many other traditions, such as the proper washing of washing cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.)^{[d] 5} So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus,^[e] “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat^[f] with unclean hands.”

⁶ He told them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written,

⁸ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

⁹ Then he told them, “You have such a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition! ¹⁰ Because Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[h] and, ‘Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death.’^{[i] 11} But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother, “Whatever support you might have received from me is Corban,”’ (that is, an offering to God) ¹² ‘you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.’ ¹³ You are destroying the word of God through your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other things like that.”