Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.

Lord, please help me!

Moses and the burning bush

3 Moses worked as a shepherd and he took care of Jethro's sheep. Jethro was his wife's father and he was the priest of Midian.^[a] Moses led the sheep to the far side of the desert. He came to Sinai, the mountain of God.

² The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses there.^[b] The angel looked like a fire that was burning in the middle of a bush. Moses looked at the bush. He saw that it was on fire, but the fire still did not destroy it. ³ Moses said to himself, ‘I will go nearer and see this strange thing. I want to see why the bush is not completely burned.’

⁴ The Lord saw that Moses came near to look at the bush. God spoke to Moses from inside the bush. He said, ‘Moses! Moses!’ Moses answered, ‘Here I am.’

⁵ God said to Moses, ‘Do not come nearer! Remove your shoes from your feet. The ground that you are standing on is holy.’ ⁶ Then God said, ‘I am the God that your father worshipped. I am also the God of your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Then Moses covered his face. He was afraid to look at God.^[c]

⁷ The Lord said, ‘I have certainly seen the troubles of my people in Egypt. I have heard them when they cry for help because of their cruel masters. I know that they are very sad. ⁸ So now I have come down to save them from the power of the Egyptians. I will bring them out from Egypt to go to another land. That will be a good land and a big land. The land will give them plenty of good food and drink, enough for everyone. These are the nations who live there now: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. ⁹ Yes, I have heard that my Israelite people are crying for help. I have seen that the Egyptians do bad things to hurt them. ¹⁰ So now you must go! I will send you to speak to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’

¹¹ But Moses said to God, ‘I am not an important person. I cannot go to Pharaoh. I cannot lead the Israelites out of Egypt!’

¹² God said to Moses, ‘Be sure of this: I will be with you. After you have led the people out of Egypt you will all worship me here, on this mountain. That will show you that I myself have sent you to do this.’^[d]

Stephen speaks to the Jewish leaders

7 The most important priest said to Stephen, ‘These men are saying things against you. Are these things true?’

² Stephen said, ‘Men of Israel, my friends and leaders. Listen to what I say. Our great God appeared to our ancestor, Abraham, when he was still living in Mesopotamia. This happened before he went to Haran. ³ God said to Abraham, “Leave your own country and your own family and go to a different country. I will show you where that will be.”^[a]

⁴ So Abraham left his country where the Chaldean people lived. He went to Haran and he stayed there. While he was there, his father died. Then God said to him, “Leave this place.” God then sent him to live in Canaan. This is where we are living now.^[b]

⁵ At that time, God did not give Abraham any part of Canaan for his own family. He did not give Abraham even a very small piece of ground. But God made a promise to Abraham. He said, “This land will become your own country. It will also be your descendants' country.” When God said this to him, Abraham did not yet have any children. ⁶ This is what God said to him: “Your descendants will live in a foreign country for 400 years. The people in that country will cause your descendants to be their slaves. They will be very cruel to them. ⁷ But I will punish those people who cause your descendants to work as slaves for them. After I have done that, your descendants will leave that country. They will come to this place and worship me here.” That is what God said to Abraham.^[c]

⁸ Then God made an covenant with Abraham that his descendants would be his special people. God said, “You must circumcise all your baby boys.”

Later, Abraham became the father of Isaac. Abraham circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old. Then Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob himself had 12 sons. These sons became the 12 ancestors of the families of Israel.^[d]

⁹ One of Jacob's sons was called Joseph. Jacob was more kind to Joseph than to his other sons. For this reason, Joseph's brothers did not like him. So one day they took Joseph and they sold him as a slave. The men that bought Joseph took him to Egypt. There he became the slave of an important man. All this time, God took care of Joseph. ¹⁰ God saved him from all his troubles and he helped him to live in a wise way. Because of that, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, liked Joseph. He saw that Joseph was very wise. So Pharaoh gave Joseph authority to rule Egypt and everyone in the king's own house.

¹¹ Then there was a famine everywhere in Egypt and in Canaan. Everyone was very hungry and they suffered a lot. Our ancestors also had no food to eat. ¹² Jacob heard news that Pharaoh had stored a lot of wheat in Egypt. So he sent his sons there to buy food from Pharaoh. This was the first time that they went to Egypt.

¹³ Later, Jacob sent his sons back to Egypt for a second time. This time, Joseph told his brothers who he really was. As a result, Pharaoh came to know about Joseph's family. ¹⁴ After this, Joseph sent a message to his father, that he should also come to Egypt with his whole family. At that time, there were 75 people in Jacob's family.

¹⁵ So Jacob went to Egypt with all his family. Jacob and his 12 sons, our ancestors, lived there until they died.^[e]

¹⁶ When the people of Israel left Egypt, they carried with them the dead bodies of Joseph and his family. They took them back to Shechem and they buried them in a hole for dead people there. Abraham had bought that ground in Shechem from the family of a man called Hamor. He had paid Hamor the right money for it.’^[f]