Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁷ [Gimel]. Yield to thy servant; quicken thou me, and I shall keep thy words. (Grant this to thy servant; that thou let me live, and that I obey thy commands.)

¹⁸ Lighten thou mine eyes; and I shall behold the marvels of thy law. (Open thou my eyes; and I shall see the marvels, or the wonders, that come forth from thy Law.)

¹⁹ I am a comeling in earth; hide thou not thy behests from me. (I am a newcomer, or a stranger, here on earth; hide thou not thy commandments from me.)

²⁰ My soul coveted to desire thy justifyings; in all time. (My soul desireth to know thy judgements; at all times.)

²¹ Thou blamedest the proud; they be cursed, that bow away from thy behests. (Thou hast rebuked the proud; cursed be they who turn away from thy commandments.)

²² Do thou away from me shame and despising; for I sought thy witnessings. (Do thou away from me all shame and despising; for I have kept thy commands/for I have obeyed thy laws/for I have followed thy teachings.)

²³ For why princes sat, and spake against me; but thy servant was exercised in thy justifyings. (For the rulers sit, and speak against me; but thy servant studied, and thought about, thy statutes/but thy servant shall study, and shall think about, thy statutes.)

²⁴ For why and thy witnessings is my thinking; and my counsel is thy justifyings. (For thy teachings, or thy commands, be my delight; and they be my counsellors.)

4 Moses answered, and said, The commons shall not believe to me, neither they shall hear my voice; but they shall say, The Lord appeared not to thee.

² Therefore the Lord said to him, What is that that thou holdest in thine hand? Moses answered, A rod, that is, a shepherd’s staff.

³ And the Lord said, Cast it forth into the earth (Throw it down onto the ground); and he cast it forth, and it was turned into a serpent, so that Moses fled.

⁴ And the Lord said, Hold forth thine hand, and take the tail thereof; he stretched forth his hand, and held it, and it was turned again into a rod. (And the Lord said, Stretch forth thy hand, and take its tail; and he stretched forth his hand, and took hold of it, and it turned back into a staff.)

⁵ And the Lord said, (So) That they (shall) believe, that the Lord God of thy fathers appeared to thee, (yea, the) God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob.

⁶ And the Lord said again to Moses, Put thine hand into thy bosom; and when he had put it into his bosom, he brought forth it leprous, at the likeness of snow. (And the Lord said to Moses, Put thy hand inside thy cloak; and after he had put it inside his cloak, when he took it out again, he brought it forth leprous, and as white as snow.)

⁷ The Lord said, Again draw thine hand into thy bosom; Moses again drew (in) his hand, and brought it forth again, and it was like to the tother flesh. (And the Lord said, Put thy hand inside thy cloak again; and Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, once more it was like his other flesh.)

⁸ The Lord said, If they shall not believe to thee, neither shall hear the word of the former sign, either miracle, they shall believe to the word of the sign following; (And the Lord said, If they do not believe thee, nor accept the proof of the first sign, or the first miracle, then they may believe the proof of the sign that followeth;)

⁹ that if they believe not to these two signs, neither hear thy voice, take thou water of the flood, and shedded out it on the dry land, and whatever thing thou shalt draw up of the flood, it shall be turned into blood. (but if they do not believe these two signs, nor will listen to thy voice, then take some water from the River, and pour it out onto the dry land; and whatever water thou shalt draw up out of the River, it shall be turned into blood, when it falleth onto the ground.)

¹⁰ Moses said, Lord, I beseech (thee), I am not eloquent, that is, a fair speaker, from yesterday and the third day ago; and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I am of more hindered, and of slower tongue.

¹¹ The Lord said to him, Who made the mouth of [a] man, or who made a dumb man, and deaf, seeing, and blind? whether not I? (And the Lord said to him, Who gave speech to people, or who made anyone dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? was it not I?)

¹² Therefore go thou, and I shall be in thy mouth, and I shall teach thee what thou shalt speak.

¹³ And Moses said, Lord, I beseech thee, send whom thou shalt.

¹⁴ And the Lord was wroth against Moses, and said, I know, that Aaron, thy brother, of the lineage of Levi, is eloquent, that is, a fair speaker; lo! he shall go out into thy coming, and he shall see thee, and he shall be glad in heart. (And the Lord was angry against Moses, and said, I know, that thy brother Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, is eloquent, that is, a fair speaker; lo! he is coming to meet thee, and he shall see thee, and he shall be glad in his heart.)

¹⁵ Speak thou to him, and put thou my words in his mouth, and I shall be in thy mouth, and in his mouth; and I shall show to you what ye ought to do.

¹⁶ He shall speak for thee to the people, and he shall be thy mouth; forsooth thou shalt be to him in these things, that pertain to God.

¹⁷ Also take thou this rod in thine hand, in which thou shalt do miracles. (And take thou this staff in thy hand, with which thou shalt do miracles.)

2 Therefore put ye away all malice, and all guile, and feignings, and envies, and all backbitings; [Therefore putting away all malice, and all guile, and simulations, or feignings, and envies, and all detractions;]

² as now born young children, reasonable, without guile, covet ye milk [of full teaching], that in it ye wax into health;

³ if nevertheless ye have tasted, that the Lord is sweet.

⁴ And approach ye to him, that is a living stone, and reproved of men [To whom ye going nigh, a quick stone, reproved soothly of men], but chosen of God, and honoured;

⁵ and yourselves as quick stones be ye above builded [and yourselves as quick stones be above builded] into spiritual houses, and an holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

⁶ For which thing the scripture saith, Lo! I shall set in Sion the highest corner stone, chosen and precious [For which thing the scripture holdeth, Lo! I shall put in Sion the highest stone, a corner stone, chosen, precious]; and he that shall believe in him, shall not be confounded.

⁷ Therefore honour to you that believe; but to men that believe not, the stone whom the builders reproved, this is made into the head of the corner;

⁸ and the stone of hurting, and the stone of stumbling, to them that offend to the word, neither believe it, in which they be set.^[a]

⁹ But ye be a chosen kin, a kingly priesthood, holy folk, a people of purchasing, that ye tell the virtues of him, that called you from darknesses into his wonderful light.

¹⁰ Which sometime were not a people of God, but now ye be the people of God; which had not mercy, but now ye have mercy.