Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song to sing as we climb.

Only God can keep me safe^[a]

²⁹ At midnight, the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt. The firstborn son of Pharaoh, the king, died. But also, the firstborn son of any man who was in prison died. Every firstborn son in Egypt died. All the firstborn animals also died. ³⁰ Pharaoh and all his officers woke up in the middle of the night. All the Egyptians also woke up in the middle of the night. Everyone was crying loudly everywhere in Egypt. In every home, somebody had died that night.

The Israelites leave Egypt

³¹ During the night, Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said, ‘Get out of here! Take all the Israelites with you and go away from my people! Go and worship the Lord, as you asked me before. ³² Take all your animals with you, as you have said. Just go away! But also pray that God will bless me.’

³³ The Egyptians were telling the Israelites to leave quickly. They wanted them to go out of the country immediately. The Egyptians said, ‘If we do not send them away immediately, we will all die!’

³⁴ So the Israelites took their bread before they had cooked it. They had not even put the yeast into it. They put the bread in dishes and they put clothes round the dishes. Then they carried the dishes on their shoulders. ³⁵ The Israelites obeyed Moses. They asked the Egyptians for silver and gold. They also asked them for clothes. ³⁶ The Lord had caused the Egyptians to be kind to the Israelites. Because of this, the Egyptians gave the Israelites everything that they asked for. In that way, the Israelites took away all the valuable things that belonged to the Egyptians.

³⁷ The Israelites travelled from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men who walked. There were also many women and children. ³⁸ Many other people also travelled with them. They had a very large number of sheep, goats and cows. ³⁹ The Israelites cooked the bread that they had brought with them from Egypt. It had no yeast in it, because they had to leave Egypt quickly. The Egyptians did not let them wait. So the Israelites did not have time to prepare any food for themselves.^[a]

⁴⁰ The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. ⁴¹ It was on the last day of the 430 years that all the Lord's people left Egypt. They left in family groups, like an army. ⁴² The Lord carefully watched his people all that night, when he brought them out of Egypt. Because of that, all Israelites must watch carefully during this special night. They and their descendants must do this every year, to thank the Lord.

Obey the government

13 Everyone must obey the government officers. It is God who gives the authority to rule. The people who rule have received their authority from God. ² So anyone who refuses to obey that authority is refusing to obey God. That person will receive the proper punishment.

³ People who do good things do not need to be afraid of the rulers. Only people who do bad things should be afraid of the rulers. Do you want to live and not be afraid of the rulers? Then you must do good things and they will respect you. ⁴ Rulers are God's servants. They help you to do good things. But if you do bad things, then you should be afraid of them. They really do have authority to punish people. On God's behalf they punish people who do bad things. ⁵ So you must obey the people who have authority to rule. You must obey them not only so that they do not punish you. You must obey them because it is right to obey them. And you yourselves know that this is right.

⁶ This is also the reason why you pay taxes to the government. You should pay them, because the officers are God's servants. They are doing the work that God has given to them. ⁷ So you must give to each person what you ought to give them. Pay taxes to the people who receive taxes. Do that for every kind of tax. Respect those people that you should respect. Praise people that you should praise.