Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 100^[a]

Processional Hymn

¹ A psalm of thanksgiving.

²⁸ When the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt ²⁹ the Lord said to Moses: I am the Lord. Say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I tell you. ³⁰ But Moses protested to the Lord, “Since I am a poor speaker, how is it possible that Pharaoh will listen to me?”

Chapter 7

¹ The Lord answered Moses: See! I have made you a god to Pharaoh,^(A) and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.^{[a] 2} You will speak all that I command you. In turn, your brother Aaron will tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. ³ Yet I will make Pharaoh so headstrong that, despite the many signs and wonders that I work in the land of Egypt, ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you. Therefore I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring my armies, my people the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt. ⁵ All Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of their midst.

⁶ This, then, is what Moses and Aaron did. They did exactly as the Lord had commanded them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

III. The Contest with Pharaoh

The Staff Turned into a Serpent. ⁸ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ⁹ When Pharaoh demands of you, “Produce a sign or wonder,” you will say to Aaron: “Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will turn into a serpent.”^{(B) 10} Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it turned into a serpent. ¹¹ Pharaoh, in turn, summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians^(C) of Egypt, did the same thing by their magic arts. ¹² Each one threw down his staff, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs. ¹³ Pharaoh, however, hardened his heart and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had foretold.

First Plague: Water Turned into Blood.^[b]

Chapter 7

The Tradition of the Elders.^{[a] 1} Now when the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,^{(A) 2} they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. ³ (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands,^[b] keeping the tradition of the elders. ⁴ And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles [and beds].) ⁵ So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders^[c] but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” ⁶ He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:^(B)

⁸ You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” ⁹ He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’^{(C) 11} Yet you say, ‘If a person says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’^[d] (meaning, dedicated to God), ¹² you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. ¹³ You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”