Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

His Steadfast Love Endures For Ever

A Psalm for ^(A)giving thanks.

²⁸ On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ the Lord said to Moses, ^(A)“I am the Lord; ^(B)tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” ³⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, ^(C)I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?”

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like ^(D)God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your ^(E)prophet. ^2 (F)You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. ³ But ^(G)I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I ^(H)multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgement. ⁵ The Egyptians ^(I)shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” ⁶ Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. ⁷ Now Moses was ^(J)eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ^(K)‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle’, then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the ^(L)magicians of Egypt, also ^(M)did the same by their secret arts. ¹² For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Still ^(N)Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, ^(O)as the Lord had said.

Traditions and Commandments

7 ^(A)Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes ^(B)who had come from Jerusalem, ² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were ^(C)defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash^[a] their hands, holding to ^(D)the tradition of ^(E)the elders, ⁴ and when they come from the market-place, they do not eat unless they wash.^[b] And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as ^(F)the washing of ^(G)cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.^[c]) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to ^(H)the tradition of ^(I)the elders, ^(J)but eat with ^(K)defiled hands?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you ^(L)hypocrites, as it is written,

⁸ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

⁹ And he said to them, “You have a fine way of ^(O)rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moses said, ^(P)‘Honour your father and your mother’; and, ^(Q)‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)^[d]— ¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ thus ^(R)making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”