Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Prayer of a Man in Trouble
102 Hear my prayer, O Lord! Let my cry for help come to You. 2 Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble. Turn Your ear to me. Hurry to answer me in the day when I call. 3 For my days go up in smoke. And my bones are burned as with fire. 4 My heart is crushed and dried like grass. And I forget to eat my food. 5 I am nothing but skin and bones because of my loud cries. 6 I am like a pelican in the desert. I am like an owl of the waste places. 7 I lie awake. And I feel like a bird alone on the roof.
8 Those who hate me have made it hard for me all day long. Those who are angry with me curse my name. 9 For I have eaten ashes like bread and have mixed my drink with tears, 10 because of Your great anger. For You have lifted me up and thrown me away. 11 My days are like the evening shadow. I dried up like grass.
12 But You and Your name, O Lord, will always be forever and to all people for all time. 13 You will rise up and have loving-pity on Zion. For it is time to show favor to her. The set time has come. 14 For Your servants respect her stones and show pity for her dust. 15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord. All the kings of the earth will fear Your shining-greatness. 16 For the Lord has built up Zion. He will come in His shining-greatness. 17 He will answer the prayer of those in need. He will not turn from their prayer.
Cloud by Day and Fire by Night
17 When Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even when that was nearer. For God said, “The people may change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people through the desert to get to the Red Sea. The people of Israel went out of the land of Egypt ready for war. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the people of Israel promise. He had said, “For sure God will keep you and you will carry my bones with you from here.” 20 Then they left Succoth and set up their tents at Etham, beside the desert. 21 The Lord went before them, in a pillar of cloud during the day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire during the night to give them light. So they could travel day and night. 22 The pillar of cloud during the day and the pillar of fire during the night did not leave the people.
Stephen Speaks about the God of Moses
17 “The promise God had given Abraham was about to happen. At this time many more of our people were in the country of Egypt. 18 Then another man became king in Egypt. He was a king who did not know Joseph. 19 He was hard on our people and nation. He worked against our early fathers. He made them put their babies outside so they would die.
20 “At that time Moses was born. He was beautiful in God’s sight. He was fed in his father’s house for three months. 21 Then he was put outside. Pharaoh’s daughter took him and cared for him as her own son. 22 Moses was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He became a powerful man in words and in the things he did. 23 When he was forty years old, he thought he should visit his brothers, the Jews. 24 He saw one of the Jews being hurt. Moses helped the Jew and killed the man from Egypt. 25 He thought his people would understand. He thought they knew God would let them go free by his help. But the people did not understand.
26 “The next day Moses came to some Jews who were fighting. He tried to get them to stop. Moses said to the Jews, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you hurt each other?’ 27 One was beating his neighbor. He pushed Moses away and said, ‘Who made you a leader over us? Who said you could say who is guilty? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the man from Egypt yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard that, he went as fast as he could to the country of Midian where he was a stranger. While he was there, he became the father of two sons. 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.’
35 “The people had put Moses aside. They said, ‘Who made you a leader over us? Who said you are the one to say what is right or wrong?’ But God made this man a leader. Moses was the one who brought them out of the country of Egypt. This was done by the help of the angel who was in the burning bush. 36 This man led them. He did powerful works in Egypt and at the Red Sea. For forty years he led them in the desert.
37 “Moses said to the Jews, ‘God will give you one who speaks for Him like me from among your brothers.’ 38 This is the man who was with the Jewish nation in the desert. The angel talked to him on Mount Sinai. Moses told it to our early fathers. He also received the living Words of God to give to us.
39 “Our early fathers would not listen to him. They did not obey him. In their hearts they wanted to go back to the country of Egypt. 40 They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us. We do not know what has happened to this Moses who led us out of Egypt.’
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