Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

The Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the ^(A)mountain of God. ^2 (B)And ^(C)the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, ^(D)God called to him ^(E)out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; ^(F)take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ And he said, ^(G)“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for ^(H)he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ Then the Lord said, ^(I)“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their ^(J)taskmasters. I know their sufferings, ⁸ and ^(K)I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and ^(L)to bring them up out of that land to a ^(M)good and broad land, a land ^(N)flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^(O)the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ And now, behold, ^(P)the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the ^(Q)oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ^10 (R)Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, ^(S)“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹² He said, ^(T)“But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, ^(U)you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Stephen's Speech

7 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ² And Stephen said:

^(A)“Brothers and fathers, hear me. ^(B)The God ^(C)of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, ^(D)before he lived in Haran, ³ and said to him, ^(E)‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ ^4 (F)Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And ^(G)after his father died, ^(H)God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. ⁵ Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised ^(I)to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, ^(J)though he had no child. ⁶ And God spoke to this effect—that ^(K)his offspring would ^(L)be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them ^(M)four hundred years. ⁷ ‘But ^(N)I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out ^(O)and worship me in this place.’ ⁸ And ^(P)he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And ^(Q)so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and ^(R)circumcised him on the eighth day, and ^(S)Isaac became the father of Jacob, and ^(T)Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “And the patriarchs, ^(U)jealous of Joseph, ^(V)sold him into Egypt; but ^(W)God was with him ¹⁰ and rescued him out of all his afflictions and ^(X)gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, ^(Y)who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. ¹¹ Now ^(Z)there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. ^12 (AA)But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. ¹³ And ^(AB)on the second visit ^(AC)Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and ^(AD)Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ And ^(AE)Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, ^(AF)seventy-five persons in all. ¹⁵ And ^(AG)Jacob went down into Egypt, and ^(AH)he died, he ^(AI)and our fathers, ¹⁶ and ^(AJ)they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that ^(AK)Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.