Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Gimel
17 Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live
and heed your word.
18 Uncover my eyes, that I may look at[a]
wonderful things from your law.
19 I am a sojourner on the earth;[b]
do not hide your commands from me.
20 My soul is crushed with longing
for your ordinances at all times.
21 You rebuke the arrogant, the accursed,
who stray from your commands.
22 Remove from[c] me scorn and contempt,
for I have kept your testimonies.
23 Even though princes sit and speak against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
24 Your testimonies are my delight,
my counselors.[d]
Yahweh Provides Signs and Help for Speaking
4 And Moses answered, and he said, “And if they do not believe me and they do not listen to my voice, but they say, ‘Yahweh did not appear to you?’” 2 And Yahweh said to him, “What is this in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it onto the ground.” And he threw it onto the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses fled from it. 4 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—” (And he reached out his hand and grabbed it, and it became a staff in his palm.)— 5 “so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,[a] appeared to you, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
6 And Yahweh said to him again, “Put your hand into the fold of your garment.” And he put his hand into the fold of his garment, and he took it out, and, to his surprise,[b] his hand was afflicted with a skin disease, like snow. 7 And he said, “Return your hand to the fold of your garment.” And he returned his hand to the fold of his garment, and he took it out from the fold of his garment, and, to his surprise,[c] it was restored like the rest of his body. 8 “And[d] if they do not believe you and they will not listen to the voice of the former sign, then they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And[e] if they also do not believe the second of these signs and they will not listen to your voice, then you must take water from the Nile and pour it onto the dry ground, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”
10 And Moses said to Yahweh, “Please, Lord, I am not a man of words, neither recently nor in the past nor since your speaking[f] to your servant, because I am heavy of mouth and of tongue.” 11 And Yahweh said to him, “Who gave a mouth to humankind, or who makes mute or deaf or sighted or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? 12 So then go, and I myself will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you must speak.” 13 And he said, “Please, Lord, do send anyone else whom you wish to send.”[g] 14 And Yahweh was angry with[h] Moses and said, “Is there not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that he certainly can speak, and also there he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart. 15 And you will speak to him, and you will put words in his mouth, and I myself will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you must do. 16 And he will speak for you to the people, and then[i] he will be to you as a mouth, and you will be to him as a god. 17 And you must take this staff in your hand, with which you will do the signs.”
Chosen as Living Stones
2 Therefore, ridding yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn infants long for the unadulterated spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, 3 if you have tasted that the Lord is kind,[a] 4 to whom you are drawing near, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in the sight of God. 5 And you yourselves, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[b]
7 Therefore the honor is for you who believe, but for those who refuse to believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected,
this one has become the cornerstone[c],”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,”[d]
who stumble because they[e] disobey the word to which also they were consigned. 9 But you are a chosen race,[f] a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, 10 who once were not a people, but now are the people of God, the ones who were not shown mercy, but now are shown mercy.[g]
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