Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord Can Be Trusted
1 (A) Praise the Lord
and pray in his name!
Tell everyone
what he has done.
2 Sing praises to the Lord!
Tell about his miracles.
3 Celebrate and worship
his holy name
with all your heart.
4 Trust the Lord
and his mighty power.
5 Remember his miracles
and all his wonders
and his fair decisions.
6 You belong to the family
of Abraham, his servant;
you are his chosen ones,
the descendants of Jacob.
45 He did this so that his people
would obey all his laws.
Shout praises to the Lord!
16 Call together the leaders of Israel and tell them that the God who was worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to you. Tell them I have seen how terribly they are being treated in Egypt, 17 and I promise to lead them out of their troubles. I will give them a land rich with milk and honey, where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.
18 The leaders of Israel will listen to you. Then you must take them to the king of Egypt and say, “The Lord God of the Hebrews has appeared to us. Let us walk three days into the desert, where we can offer a sacrifice to him.” 19 But I know that the king of Egypt won't let you go unless something forces him to. 20 So I will use my mighty power to perform all kinds of miracles and strike down the Egyptians. Then the king will send you away.
21 (A)(B) After I punish the Egyptians, they will be so afraid of you that they will give you anything you want. You are my people, and I will let you take many things with you when you leave the land of Egypt. 22 Every Israelite woman will go to her Egyptian neighbors or to any Egyptian woman living with them and ask them for gold and silver jewelry and for their finest clothes. The Egyptians will give them to you, and you will put these fine things on your sons and daughters. Carry all this away when you leave Egypt.
7 His mysterious power is already at work, but someone is holding him back. And the wicked one won't appear until this someone is out of the way. 8 (A) Then he will appear, but the Lord Jesus will kill him simply by breathing on him. He will be completely destroyed by the Lord's glorious return.
9 (B) When the wicked one appears, Satan will pretend to work all kinds of miracles, wonders, and signs. 10 Lost people will be fooled by his evil deeds. They could be saved, but they will refuse to love the truth and accept it. 11 So God will make sure they are fooled into believing a lie. 12 All of them will be punished, because they would rather do evil than believe the truth.
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