Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Plea for Personal and National Help
A prayer of one afflicted, when he grows faint
and pours out his lament before Yahweh.[a]
102 O Yahweh, hear my prayer,
and let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my trouble.
Incline your ear to me.
In the day I call, answer me quickly,
3 for my days vanish in smoke,
and my bones are charred like a hearth.
4 My heart is struck like grass and withers.
Indeed, I forget to eat[b] my bread.
5 Because of the sound of my groaning
my bones[c] cling to my skin.[d]
6 I am like an owl[e] of the wilderness;
I am like a little owl of the ruins.
7 I lie awake and I am
like a lone bird on a roof.
8 All the day my enemies reproach me;
those who mock me swear oaths against me.
9 Indeed, I eat ashes like bread
and mix my drink with tears[f]
10 because of your indignation and anger,
for you have picked me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a lengthened shadow,
and I wither like grass.
12 But you, O Yahweh, abide[g] forever,
and your remembrance[h] from generation to generation.[i]
13 You rise up and take pity on Zion,
because it is time to favor it,
for the appointed time has come.
14 Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
and show favor to its dust.
15 Then the nations will fear the name of Yahweh,
and all the kings of the earth your glory.
16 For Yahweh will rebuild Zion;
he will appear in his glory.
17 He will turn his attention to the prayer of the destitute
and will not despise their prayer.
Summary of Travel
17 And when Pharaoh released the people, God did not lead them the way of the land of the Philistines, though it was nearer, because God said, “Lest the people change their mind when they see war and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea,[a] and the Israelites[b] went up in battle array from the land of Egypt. 19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph[c] had made the Israelites[d] solemnly swear an oath, saying, “God will surely attend to you, and you will take up my bones from here with you.” 20 And they set out from Succoth, and they encamped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 And Yahweh was going before them by day in a column of cloud to lead them on the way and by night in a column of fire to give light to them to go by day and night. 22 The column of cloud by day and the column of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
17 “But as the time of the promise that God had made to Abraham was drawing near, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 19 This man deceitfully took advantage of our[a] people and[b] mistreated our ancestors, causing them to abandon their infants[c] so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. He[d] was brought up for three months in his[e] father’s house, 21 and when[f] he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up and brought him up as her own son.[g] 22 And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was powerful in his words and deeds.
23 “But when he was forty years old,[h] it entered in his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24 And when he[i] saw one of them being unjustly harmed, he defended him[j] and avenged[k] the one who had been oppressed by[l] striking down the Egyptian. 25 And he thought his[m] brothers would understand that God was granting deliverance to them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day, he made an appearance to them while they[n] were fighting and was attempting to reconcile[o] them in peace, saying, ‘Men and brothers, why are you doing wrong to one another?’ 27 But the one who was doing wrong to his[p] neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 You do not want to do away with me the same way[q] you did away with the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’[r] 29 And at this statement, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 “And when[s] forty years had been completed, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. 31 And when[t] Moses saw it,[u] he was astonished at the sight, and when[v] he approached to look at it,[w] the voice of the Lord came: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob!’[x] So Moses began trembling and[y] did not dare to look at it.[z] 33 And the Lord said to him, ‘Untie the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen[aa] the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’[ab] 35 This Moses whom they had repudiated, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?’[ac]—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer with the help[ad] of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
37 “This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’[ae] 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and who with our fathers received living oracles to give to us, 39 to whom our fathers were not willing to become obedient, but rejected him[af] and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go on before us! For this Moses, who led us out from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him!’[ag]
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software