Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Israel
83 O God, do not keep quiet. Do not be quiet, O God, and do not hold Your peace. 2 For, look, those who hate You are making much noise. Those who fight against You have honored themselves. 3 They make bad plans against Your people. They plan against those You care for. 4 They say, “Come, let us destroy them as a nation. Let the name of Israel be remembered no longer.”
13 O my God, make them like dust turning in the wind, like parts of the grass that have no worth and are blown away. 14 As the fire that burns up the trees and spreads over the mountains, 15 so go behind them with Your storm. Make them afraid with Your storm. 16 Fill their faces with shame, so they will look to Your name, O Lord. 17 Let them be ashamed and afraid forever. Let them be put to shame and lost. 18 Then they may know that You alone, Whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.
10 Moses said to the Lord, “Lord, I am not a man of words. I have never been. Even now since You spoke to Your servant, I still am not. For I am slow in talking and it is difficult for me to speak.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes a man not able to speak or hear? Who makes one blind or able to see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 So go now. And I will be with your mouth. I will teach you what to say.”
13 But Moses said, “O Lord, I ask of You, send some other person.”
14 Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses. He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know he can speak well. Also, he is coming to meet you. And when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You must speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and his mouth. I will teach you what you are to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you. He will be a mouth for you. And you will be as God to him. 17 You will take this special stick in your hand. And you will use it to make the special things happen for the people to see.”
Moses Returns to Egypt
18 Then Moses left and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “I ask of you, let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Return to Egypt. For all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the special stick of God in his hand.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, make sure you show Pharaoh all the works that I have placed in your power. But I will make his heart hard so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘The Lord says this: “Israel is My son, My first-born. 23 And I say to you, ‘Let My son go. Let him work for Me.’ But if you will not let him go, I will kill your son, your first-born.”’”
24 The Lord met Moses at a resting place on the way and would have put him to death. 25 But Zipporah took a knife and cut off her son’s piece of skin and threw it at Moses’ feet. And she said, “For sure you are a husband of blood to me.” 26 Then the Lord let him alone. Zipporah said, “You are a husband of blood,” because of the religious act of becoming a Jew.
27 The Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the desert.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him. And he told him about all the special works that the Lord had told him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the leaders of the people of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did all the special works for the people to see. 31 So the people believed. When they heard that the Lord cared about the people of Israel and had seen their suffering, they bowed to the ground and worshiped.
Words to the Church in Sardis
3 “Write this to the angel of the church in the city of Sardis: ‘The One Who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: I know what you are doing. I know people think you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Make stronger what you have before it dies. I have not found your work complete in God’s sight. 3 So remember what you have received and heard. Keep it. Be sorry for your sins and turn from them. If you will not wake up, I will come as a robber. You will not know at what time I will come. 4 But there are a few people in the church in the city of Sardis whose clothes are not dirty with sins. They will walk with Me wearing white clothes. They have done what they should. 5 Everyone who has power and wins will wear white clothes. I will not take his name from the book of life. I will speak of his name before My Father and His angels. 6 You have ears! Then listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’
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