Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

(A prayer by David.)

A Prayer for Help

³ that I am saying:

King of Egypt, you were like a giant crocodile lying in a river. You acted as though you owned the Nile and made it for yourself. But now I, the Lord God, am your enemy! ⁴ I will put a hook in your jaw and pull you out of the water, and all the fish in your river will stick to your scaly body.^{[a] 5} I'll throw you and the fish into the desert, and your body will fall on the hard ground. You will be left unburied,^[b] and wild animals and birds will eat your flesh. ^6 (A) Then everyone in Egypt will know that I am the Lord.

You and your nation refused to help the people of Israel and were nothing more than a broken stick. ⁷ When they reached out to you for support, you broke in half, cutting their arms and making them fall.^[c]

⁵³ Jesus was about to leave, but the teachers and the Pharisees wanted to get even with him. They tried to make him say what he thought about other things, ⁵⁴ so they could catch him saying something wrong.

Warnings

12 ^(A) As thousands of people crowded around Jesus and were stepping on each other, he told his disciples:

Be sure to guard against the dishonest teaching^[a] of the Pharisees! It is their way of fooling people. ^2 (B) Everything that is hidden will be found out, and every secret will be known. ³ Whatever you say in the dark will be heard when it is day. Whatever you whisper in a closed room will be shouted from the housetops.