Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

4 “They will never believe me or listen to me!” Moses protested. “They will say, ‘Yahweh didn’t appear to you.’”

² Then Yahweh asked him, “What’s that in your hand?”

He answered, “A shepherd’s staff.”

³ Yahweh said, “Throw it on the ground.”

When Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran away from it.

⁴ Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Reach out and grab the snake by its tail.” He reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a staff as he held it. ⁵ The Lord explained, “This is to convince the people that Yahweh Elohim of their ancestors, the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to you.”

⁶ Yahweh said to him, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” So Moses did this, and when he took his hand out, it had a skin disease. It looked as flaky as snow. ⁷ “Now put your hand back inside your shirt,” Yahweh said. Moses put it back, and when he took it out this time, it was healthy again like the rest of his body.

⁸ Then the Lord said, “If they won’t believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. ⁹ But if they won’t believe these two miraculous signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground. The water you take from the Nile will turn into blood on the ground.”

¹⁰ Moses said to Yahweh, “Please, Adonay, I’m not a good speaker. I’ve never been a good speaker, and I’m not now, even though you’ve spoken to me. I speak slowly, and I become tongue-tied easily.”

¹¹ Yahweh asked him, “Who gave humans their mouths? Who makes humans unable to talk or hear? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? It is I, Yahweh! ¹² Now go, and I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

¹³ But Moses said, “Please, Adonay, send someone else.”

¹⁴ Then Yahweh became angry with Moses and asked, “What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He’s already on his way to meet you, and he will be very glad to see you. ¹⁵ You will speak to him and tell him what to say. I will help both of you speak, and I will teach you both what to do. ¹⁶ Aaron will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and you will be like Elohim. ¹⁷ Take that shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to do the miraculous signs.”

Live as God’s Chosen People

2 So get rid of every kind of evil, every kind of deception, hypocrisy, jealousy, and every kind of slander. ² Desire God’s pure word as newborn babies desire milk. Then you will grow in your salvation. ³ Certainly you have tasted that the Lord is good!

⁴ You are coming to Christ, the living stone who was rejected by humans but was chosen as precious by God. ⁵ You come to him as living stones, a spiritual house that is being built into a holy priesthood. So offer spiritual sacrifices that God accepts through Yeshua Christ. ⁶ That is why Scripture says,

⁷ This honor belongs to those who believe. But to those who don’t believe:

The people tripped over the word because they refused to believe it. Therefore, this is how they ended up.

⁹ However, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people who belong to God. You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not God’s people, but now you are. Once you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy.