Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Serve Yahweh with Gladness

A Psalm of ^[a]Thanksgiving.

Aaron Will Speak for Moses

²⁸ Now it happened on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “^(A)I am Yahweh; ^(B)speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you.” ³⁰ But Moses said before Yahweh, “Behold, I am of ^(C)uncircumcised lips; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?”

7 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “^(D)See, I ^[a]set you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. ² You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother ^(E)Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. ³ But ^(F)I will harden Pharaoh’s heart with stiffness that I may ^(G)multiply My signs and My ^[b]wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ But ^(H)Pharaoh will not listen to you. And I will ^[c]set My hand upon Egypt and ^(I)bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by ^(J)great judgments. ^5 (K)Then the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I ^(L)stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron did it; ^(M)as Yahweh commanded them, thus they did. ⁷ Now Moses was ^(N)eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Serpent

⁸ And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ⁹ “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘^[d](O)Work a miraculous wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘^(P)Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a ^[e]serpent.’” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as Yahweh had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and ^[f]his ^[g]servants, and it ^(Q)became a ^[h]serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh also ^(R)called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the ^[i](S)magicians of Egypt, did ^[j]the same with ^(T)their secret arts. ¹² And each one threw down his staff, and they became ^[k]serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet ^(U)Pharaoh’s heart was ^[l]hardened with strength, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions

7 ^(A)And the Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered around Him when they had come ^(B)from Jerusalem, ² and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^(C)defiled hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they ^[a]carefully wash their hands, thus observing the ^(D)tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[b]wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of ^(E)cups and pitchers and copper pots.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^(F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(G)defiled hands?” ⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(J)tradition of men.”

⁹ And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(K)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(L)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(M)He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ^[c]be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is ^(N)Corban (that is to say, ^[d]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thus invalidating the word of God by your ^(O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”