Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
ג Gimel
17 Deal kindly with Your servant, that I may live
and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things from Your law.
19 I am a sojourner in the land;
do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 My soul is consumed all the time
with a longing for Your decrees.
21 You have rebuked the proud, those cursed,
who depart from Your commandments.
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Even if princes sit and conspire against me,
Your servant will meditate on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies are my delight
and my counselors.
Moses’ Miraculous Signs
4 And Moses answered and said, “But they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice. For they will say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”
2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
And he said, “A rod.”
3 He said, “Throw it on the ground.”
And he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent. Then Moses fled from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put forth your hand and take it by the tail.” And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. 5 “This is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
6 The Lord said furthermore to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” He put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, his hand was as leprous as snow.
7 He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again and brought it out of his bosom, and it was restored like his other flesh.
8 “If they will not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first sign, then they may believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 But if they will not believe also these two signs or listen to your voice, then you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land, and the water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.”
10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant. But I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”
11 The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who made the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you must say.”
13 He said, “O my Lord, send, I pray, by the hand of whomever else You will send.”
14 The anger of the Lord was inflamed against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he comes out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you must do. 16 What’s more, he will be your spokesman to the people, and he will be as a mouth for you, and you will be as God to him. 17 You must take this rod in your hand, with which you will perform the signs.”
The Living Stone and the Holy Nation
2 Therefore put away all wickedness, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. 2 As newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow, 3 if it is true that you have experienced that the Lord is good.
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone who is rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house as a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For also it is contained in the Scripture,
“Look! I lay in Zion
a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
and he who believes in Him
shall never be put to shame.”[a]
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious. But to those who are disobedient,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”[b]
8 and,
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”[c]
They stumble because they are disobedient to the word, to which also they were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may declare the goodness of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10 In times past, you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.