Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Cry for Help
A prayer of a person who is suffering when he is discouraged and tells the Lord his complaints.
102 Lord, listen to my prayer;
let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide from me
in my time of trouble.
Pay attention to me.
When I cry for help, answer me quickly.
3 My life is passing away like smoke,
and my bones are burned up with fire.
4 My heart is like grass
that has been cut and dried.
I forget to eat.
5 Because of my grief,
my skin hangs on my bones.
6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl living among the ruins.
7 I lie awake.
I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 All day long enemies insult me;
those who make fun of me use my name as a curse.
9 I eat ashes for food,
and my tears fall into my drinks.
10 Because of your great anger,
you have picked me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a passing shadow;
I am like dried grass.
12 But, Lord, you rule forever,
and your fame goes on and on.
13 You will come and have mercy on Jerusalem,
because the time has now come to be kind to her;
the right time has come.
14 Your servants love even her stones;
they even care about her dust.
15 Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings on earth will honor you.
16 The Lord will rebuild Jerusalem;
there his glory will be seen.
17 He will answer the prayers of the needy;
he will not reject their prayers.
The Way Out of Egypt
17 When the king sent the people out of Egypt, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was the shortest way. God said, “If they have to fight, they might change their minds and go back to Egypt.” 18 So God led them through the desert toward the Red Sea. The Israelites were dressed for fighting when they left the land of Egypt.
19 Moses carried the bones of Joseph with him, because before Joseph died, he had made the Israelites promise to do this. He had said, “When God saves you, remember to carry my bones with you out of Egypt.”
20 The Israelites left Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the desert. 21 The Lord showed them the way; during the day he went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud, and during the night he was in a pillar of fire to give them light. In this way they could travel during the day or night. 22 The pillar of cloud was always with them during the day, and the pillar of fire was always with them at night.
17 “The promise God made to Abraham was soon to come true, and the number of people in Egypt grew large. 18 Then a new king, who did not know who Joseph was, began to rule Egypt. 19 This king tricked our people and was cruel to our ancestors, forcing them to leave their babies outside to die. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was very beautiful. For three months Moses was cared for in his father’s house. 21 When they put Moses outside, the king’s daughter adopted him and raised him as if he were her own son. 22 The Egyptians taught Moses everything they knew, and he was a powerful man in what he said and did.
23 “When Moses was about forty years old, he thought it would be good to visit his own people, the people of Israel. 24 Moses saw an Egyptian mistreating one of his people, so he defended the Israelite and punished the Egyptian by killing him. 25 Moses thought his own people would understand that God was using him to save them, but they did not. 26 The next day when Moses saw two men of Israel fighting, he tried to make peace between them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you hurting each other?’ 27 The man who was hurting the other pushed Moses away and said, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? 28 Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’[a] 29 When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian where he was a stranger. While Moses lived in Midian, he had two sons.
30 “Forty years later an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush as he was in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When Moses saw this, he was amazed and went near to look closer. Moses heard the Lord’s voice say, 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’[b] Moses began to shake with fear and was afraid to look. 33 The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground. 34 I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt. I have heard their cries and have come down to save them. And now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’[c]
35 “This Moses was the same man the two men of Israel rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’[d] Moses is the same man God sent to be a ruler and savior, with the help of the angel that Moses saw in the burning bush. 36 So Moses led the people out of Egypt. He worked miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and then in the desert for forty years. 37 This is the same Moses that said to the people of Israel, ‘God will give you a prophet like me, who is one of your own people.’[e] 38 This is the Moses who was with the gathering of the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel that spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received commands from God that give life, and he gave those commands to us.
39 “But our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt. 40 They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him.’[f]
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.