Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord—the One We Trust
91 He who lives in the safe place of the Most High will be in the shadow of the All-powerful. 2 I will say to the Lord, “You are my safe and strong place, my God, in Whom I trust.”
9 Because you have made the Lord your safe place, and the Most High the place where you live, 10 nothing will hurt you. No trouble will come near your tent.
11 For He will tell His angels to care for you and keep you in all your ways. 12 They will hold you up in their hands. So your foot will not hit against a stone. 13 You will walk upon the lion and the snake. You will crush under your feet the young lion and the snake.
14 Because he has loved Me, I will bring him out of trouble. I will set him in a safe place on high, because he has known My name. 15 He will call upon Me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will take him out of trouble and honor him. 16 I will please him with a long life. And I will show him My saving power.
10 So the men who made the people work went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you straw. 11 You go and get straw for yourselves where you can find it. But you will not work any less than before.’” 12 So the people went out through all the land of Egypt to gather what they could use for straw. 13 The men who made them work made them hurry, saying, “Finish your full day’s work as you did when there was straw.” 14 And the Hebrew men who had been made to rule over the people by Pharaoh’s work-leaders were beaten. They were asked, “Why have you not made as many clay blocks yesterday or today as you made before?”
15 Then the Hebrew men who made the people work went to Pharaoh and cried, “Why do you act this way toward your servants? 16 There is no straw given to your servants. Yet they still say to us, ‘Make clay blocks!’ See, your servants are being beaten. But your own people are to blame.” 17 But Pharaoh said, “You are lazy, very lazy. So you say, ‘Let us go and give a gift on an altar in worship to the Lord.’ 18 Go now and work. You will be given no straw. Yet you must make the same number of clay blocks.” 19 The Hebrew men who made the people work knew that they were in trouble because they were told, “You must make the same number of clay blocks each day.” 20 When they came from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who were waiting for them. 21 They said to Moses and Aaron, “May the Lord look upon you and judge you. For you have caused us to be hated by Pharaoh and his servants. You have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
God’s Promise to Israel
22 Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have You hurt these people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has hurt these people. You have not set Your people free at all.”
30 Forty years passed and Moses was near Mount Sinai where no people live. There he saw an angel in the fire of a burning bush. 31 He was surprised and wondered when he saw it. He went up close to see it better. Then he heard the voice of the Lord speak to him. 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ Moses shook! He was so afraid he did not look at the bush.
33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take your shoes off your feet! The place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have seen My people suffer in the country of Egypt and I have heard their cries. I have come down to let them go free. So come now, I will send you back to Egypt.’
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