Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God is good, so thank him^[a]

¹⁰ When Pharaoh came nearer, the Israelites looked up. They saw that the Egyptian army had followed them. The Israelites became very afraid. They called loudly to the Lord to help them. ¹¹ They said to Moses, ‘Why have you brought us here, to die in the desert? Surely there were enough places in Egypt to bury dead people! You should never have brought us out of Egypt! ¹² We said to you in Egypt, “Leave us alone. Let us work for the Egyptians.” It would have been better for us to be their slaves than to die here in the desert!’

¹³ Then Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid! Be brave! You will see how the Lord will save you today. Look at the Egyptians over there. You will never see them again! ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you. You will only have to watch.’

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Do not continue to call to me for help! Tell the Israelites to move on. ¹⁶ You yourself must do this: Lift up your stick and hold your hand out over the sea. The water will become two separate parts. Then the Israelites can cross through the middle of the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷ This is what I, the Lord, will do: I will cause the minds of the Egyptians to become hard. They will follow the Israelites into the sea to catch them. I will show how great I am when I win against Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, his horses and their riders. ¹⁸ When I do that, the Egyptians will know that I really am the Lord. They will know that I am great.’

¹⁹ The angel of God had been leading the army of the Israelites. Now he moved and he went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved and it stood behind the army. ²⁰ It stood between the Egyptian army and the Israelite army. During the whole night, the Egyptians were in the dark, because of the cloud. But the cloud gave light to the Israelites. So the two armies did not come near to each other during the whole night.

²¹ Then Moses lifted up his hand over the sea. During that whole night, the Lord made a strong wind blow from the east. This caused the sea to become two separate parts. The ground between the water became dry land. ²² So the Israelites walked on the dry ground through the middle of the sea. The water was like a wall on their right side and on their left side.

²³ The Egyptians followed the Israelites into the middle of the sea to catch them. All Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and their riders did this. ²⁴ Just before dawn, the Lord looked down from the pillar of cloud with fire in it. He saw the Egyptian army and he made them become confused. ²⁵ He stopped the wheels of their chariots, so that the Egyptians could not drive them properly. So the Egyptians said, ‘Let us run away from the Israelite army! It is the Lord who fights for them against Egypt.’

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Lift up your hand over the sea. Then the water will return back. The sea will cover the Egyptians, their chariots, their horses and their riders.’ ²⁷ So Moses lifted up his hand over the sea. At dawn, the sea returned to its proper place. The Egyptians tried to run away from the water, but the Lord made them drown in the middle of the sea.

²⁸ The water returned to its proper place. It covered all of Pharaoh's army that had followed the Israelites into the sea. It covered all the chariots, the horses and their riders. Not one of Pharaoh's soldiers was still alive! ²⁹ But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the middle of the sea. The water was like a wall on their right side and on their left side. ³⁰ On that day, the Lord saved the Israelites from the Egyptian army. The Israelites saw the dead bodies of the Egyptians, which lay on the shore.

³¹ The Israelites saw the great power that the Lord had used against the Egyptians. As a result, they respected the Lord and his power. They trusted the Lord to help them, and they also trusted Moses, his servant.

²⁰ Then Miriam, Aaron's sister, who was a prophet, took a tambourine in her hand.^[a] All the other women followed her, with tambourines in their hands. They danced while Miriam sang to them.

²¹ This is the song that she sang:

⁵ Your old nature likes to do bad things that belong to this earth. But your old nature is dead, so do not do these bad things any more. Do not have sex with someone that you are not married to. Do not think bad, disgusting thoughts. Do not want to have sex in a wrong way. Do not want to do any kinds of bad things. Do not want to have many things for yourselves. That shows that you worship those things as your idol. ⁶ God will certainly punish people who do those kinds of bad things.

⁷ At one time, you lived like that. You did those kinds of bad things. ⁸ But now you must refuse to do all kinds of things like that. Do not become angry with people or shout at them. Do not do anything or say anything that will hurt other people. Do not speak any bad or disgusting words. ⁹ Do not deceive each other with lies. Remember that you have taken off your old nature, like an old coat. As a result, you can stop doing all the bad things that you liked to do before.

¹⁰ Now you have received a new nature. It is God who made it for you so that you can become more and more like him. You will learn to know him better and better. ¹¹ People have this new nature only because they belong to Christ. That is the important thing. Jews are not different from Gentiles. It does not matter whether someone has circumcised you or not. It does not matter which country you come from or how clever you are. It does not matter whether you are a slave or a free person. Christ is all that matters. He lives in every believer.