Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord, the Keeper of Israel.

A Song of Ascents.

Feast of Unleavened Bread

¹⁴ ‘Now ^(A)this day shall be ^(B)a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as ^[a](C)a permanent ordinance. ¹⁵ For ^(D)seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, ^(E)that ^[b]person shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ And ^(F)on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person—that alone may be ^[c]prepared by you. ¹⁷ You shall also keep ^(G)the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this ^(H)very day I brought your ^[d]multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as ^(I)a ^[e]permanent ordinance. ^18 (J)In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹ For ^(K)seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that ^[f](L)person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

²¹ Then ^(M)Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and ^(N)take for yourselves ^[g]lambs according to your families, and slaughter ^(O)the Passover lamb. ²² And ^(P)you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and ^[h]apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.

A Memorial of Redemption

²³ For ^(Q)the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will ^(R)not allow the ^(S)destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. ²⁴ And ^(T)you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. ²⁵ When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has ^[i]promised, you shall keep this ^[j]rite. ^26 (U)And when your children say to you, ‘^[k]What does this rite mean to you?’ ²⁷ then you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to ^(V)the Lord because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but ^[l]spared our homes.’” ^(W)And the people bowed low and worshiped.

²⁸ Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

^11 (A)Beloved, ^(B)I urge you as ^(C)foreigners and strangers to abstain from ^(D)fleshly lusts, which wage ^(E)war against the soul. ^12 (F)Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they ^(G)slander you as evildoers, they may ^[a]because of your good deeds, as they observe them, ^(H)glorify God ^(I)on the day of ^[b]visitation.

Honor Authority

^13 (J)Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent ^[c]by him ^(K)for the punishment of evildoers and the ^(L)praise of those who do right. ¹⁵ For ^[d](M)such is the will of God, that by doing right you ^(N)silence the ignorance of foolish people. ¹⁶ Act as ^(O)free people, and ^[e]do not use your freedom as a ^[f]covering for evil, but use it as ^(P)bond-servants of God. ^17 (Q)Honor all people, ^(R)love the brotherhood, ^(S)fear God, ^(T)honor the ^[g]king.