Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Worship God with Joy

A psalm of thanksgiving.^[a]

²⁸ And so it was on a certain day^[a] Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt. ²⁹ And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “I am Yahweh. Speak to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, all that I am speaking to you.” ³⁰ And Moses said before Yahweh, “Look, I am a poor speaker.^[b] And how will Pharaoh listen to me?”

Yahweh Reviews Plans for Bringing the Israelites out of Egypt

7 And Yahweh said to Moses, “See, I have made you as a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. ² You will speak all that I will command you, and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh, and he will release the Israelites^[c] from his land. ³ And I myself will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and I will make my signs and my wonders numerous in the land of Egypt. ⁴ And Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will put my hand into Egypt and bring out my divisions, my people, the Israelites,^[d] from the land of Egypt with great punishments. ⁵ And the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring the Israelites^[e] out from their midst.”

⁶ And Moses and Aaron did it; as Yahweh commanded them, so they did. ⁷ (And Moses was eighty years old,^[f] and Aaron was eighty-three years old^[g] when they spoke to Pharaoh.)

Provision of a Wonder: Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

⁸ And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ⁹ “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Do a wonder for yourselves,’ you will say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’” ¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded. And Aaron threw his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a snake.

¹¹ And Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did likewise with their secret arts. ¹² Each threw down his staff, and they became snakes, and Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ And Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had said.

Human Traditions and God’s Commandments

7 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered to him. ² And they saw that some of his disciples were eating their^[a] bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ritually,^[b] thus^[c] holding fast to the traditions of the elders. ⁴ And when they come^[d] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions^[e] which they have received and^[f] hold fast to—for example,^[g] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.)^{[h] 5} And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their^[i] bread with unclean hands?” ⁶ So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

⁸ Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men.”

⁹ And he said to them, “You splendidly ignore the commandment of God so that you can keep^[l] your tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[m] and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother must certainly die^[n].’^{[o] 11} But you say, ‘If a man says to his^[p] father or to his^[q] mother, “Whatever benefit you would have received^[r] from me is corban”^[s] (that is, a gift to God), ¹² you no longer permit him to do anything for his^[t] father or his^[u] mother, ¹³ thus^[v] making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar things such as this.”