Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁷ GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy servant [and] I shall live; and I will keep thy word.

¹⁸ Open mine eyes, and I shall behold wondrous things out of thy law.

¹⁹ I am a stranger in the land; hide not thy commandments from me.

²⁰ My soul breaketh for longing after thy judgments at all times.

²¹ Thou hast rebuked the proud [that are] cursed, who wander from thy commandments.

²² Roll off from me reproach and contempt; for I observe thy testimonies.

²³ Princes also did sit [and] talk together against me: thy servant doth meditate in thy statutes.

²⁴ Thy testimonies also are my delight [and] my counsellors.

4 And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, Jehovah has not appeared to thee.

² And Jehovah said to him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A staff.

³ And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

⁴ And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand and take it by the tail—and he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—

⁵ that they may believe that Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

⁶ And Jehovah said moreover to him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, and took it out, and behold, his hand was leprous, as snow.

⁷ And he said, Put thy hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and took it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his flesh.

⁸ And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the other sign.

⁹ And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also those two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour [it] on the dry [land]; and the water that thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry [land].

¹⁰ And Moses said to Jehovah, Ah Lord! I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant, for I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.

¹¹ And Jehovah said to him, Who gave man a mouth? or who maketh dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? [have] not I, Jehovah?

¹² And now go, and I will be with thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt say.

¹³ And he said, Ah Lord! send, I pray thee, by the hand [of him whom] thou wilt send.

¹⁴ Then the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also behold, he goeth out to meet thee; and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁵ And thou shalt speak unto him, and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.

¹⁶ And he shall speak for thee unto the people; and it shall come to pass that he shall be to thee for a mouth, and thou shalt be to him for God.

¹⁷ And thou shalt take this staff in thy hand, with which thou shalt do the signs.

2 Laying aside therefore all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings,

² as newborn babes desire earnestly the pure mental milk of the word, that by it ye may grow up to salvation,

³ if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord [is] good.

⁴ To whom coming, a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious,

⁵ yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

⁶ Because it is contained in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be put to shame.

⁷ To you therefore who believe [is] the preciousness; but to the disobedient, the stone which the builders cast away as worthless, this is become head of [the] corner,

⁸ and a stone of stumbling and rock of offence; [who] stumble at the word, being disobedient to which also they have been appointed.

⁹ But *ye* [are] a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light;

¹⁰ who once [were] not a people, but now God's people; who were not enjoying mercy, but now have found mercy.