Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Help

86 Hear, O Lord, and answer me. For I am suffering and in need. ² Keep my life, for I am faithful to You. You are my God. Save Your servant who trusts in You. ³ Show me loving-kindness, O Lord. For I cry to You all day long. ⁴ Bring joy to Your servant. For I lift up my soul to You, O Lord. ⁵ For You are good and ready to forgive, O Lord. You are rich in loving-kindness to all who call to You. ⁶ Hear my prayer, O Lord. Listen to my cry for help. ⁷ I will call to You in the day of my trouble. For You will answer me. ⁸ There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord. And there are no works like Yours. ⁹ All the nations You have made will come and worship before You, O Lord. And they will bring honor to Your name. ¹⁰ For You are great and do great things. You alone are God.

³ Tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt. You are the big animal that lies in his rivers and says, ‘The Nile is mine. I made it.’ ⁴ I will put hooks in your mouth. I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your hard skin. And I will pull you up out of your rivers, with the fish that stick to your hard skin. ⁵ Then I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall on the open field, and not be gathered or buried. I will feed you to the wild animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky. ⁶ Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord. They have been only a weak piece of river grass to the people of Israel. ⁷ When they took hold of you with their hands, you broke and tore all their shoulders. When they rested on you, you broke and hurt their backs.”

⁵³ As Jesus went away from there, the teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers were very angry and tried to make Him say many things. ⁵⁴ They planned against Jesus and tried to trap Him with something He might say.

Jesus Teaches His Followers and Thousands of Other People

12 At that time thousands of people gathered together. There were so many that they walked on each other. Jesus spoke to His twelve followers first, saying, “Look out! Have nothing to do with the yeast of the proud religious law-keepers which is pretending to be something it is not. ² For there is nothing covered up that will not be seen. There is nothing hidden that will not be known. ³ What you have said in the dark will be heard in the light. What you have said in a low voice in a closed room will be spoken with a loud voice from the top of houses.