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.

Moses and Aaron Talk to Pharaoh

5 After this, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: ‘Let My people go, that they may have a special supper to honor Me in the desert.’” ² But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. And I will not let Israel go.” ³ Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. We ask of you, let us travel into the desert three days, to give a gift on an altar in worship to the Lord our God. Or He may send death to us by disease or by the sword.” ⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Return to your work!” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said, “See, the people of the land are now many. And you would have them stop working!”

⁶ That same day Pharaoh told the men who made the people work, ⁷ “Do not give the people straw for making clay blocks any more. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But have them make the same number of clay blocks as before, and no less. They are crying, ‘Let us go and give a gift in worship to our God,’ because they are lazy. ⁹ Let more work be given to the men so they will not have time to listen to lies.”

¹⁰ So the men who made the people work went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹ You go and get straw for yourselves where you can find it. But you will not work any less than before.’” ¹² So the people went out through all the land of Egypt to gather what they could use for straw. ¹³ The men who made them work made them hurry, saying, “Finish your full day’s work as you did when there was straw.” ¹⁴ And the Hebrew men who had been made to rule over the people by Pharaoh’s work-leaders were beaten. They were asked, “Why have you not made as many clay blocks yesterday or today as you made before?”

¹⁵ Then the Hebrew men who made the people work went to Pharaoh and cried, “Why do you act this way toward your servants? ¹⁶ There is no straw given to your servants. Yet they still say to us, ‘Make clay blocks!’ See, your servants are being beaten. But your own people are to blame.” ¹⁷ But Pharaoh said, “You are lazy, very lazy. So you say, ‘Let us go and give a gift on an altar in worship to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Go now and work. You will be given no straw. Yet you must make the same number of clay blocks.” ¹⁹ The Hebrew men who made the people work knew that they were in trouble because they were told, “You must make the same number of clay blocks each day.” ²⁰ When they came from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who were waiting for them. ²¹ They said to Moses and Aaron, “May the Lord look upon you and judge you. For you have caused us to be hated by Pharaoh and his servants. You have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

God’s Promise to Israel

²² Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have You hurt these people? Why did you ever send me? ²³ For since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has hurt these people. You have not set Your people free at all.”

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. For he will be made to let them go because of My strong hand. By My strong hand, he will make them go out of his land.”

God Calls Moses

² God said to Moses, “I am the Lord. ³ I showed Myself as God All-powerful to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I did not make Myself known to them by My name, the Lord. ⁴ I also made My agreement with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they were strangers. ⁵ I have heard the crying of the people of Israel, because they are being held by the Egyptians. And I have remembered My agreement. ⁶ So say to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord. I will take you away from the hard work and suffering in Egypt. I will take you away from being their servants. I will make you free by the strength of My arm and by the great things I will do to punish the guilty. ⁷ Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God. And you will know that I am the Lord your God. I will bring you out from under the heavy loads of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you to the land I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will give it to you for your own. I am the Lord.’” ⁹ So Moses said this to the people of Israel. But they did not listen to Moses because of their broken spirit and how hard they were made to work.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹ “Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” ¹² But Moses said to the Lord, “See, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then will Pharaoh listen to me? I am not able to speak well.” ¹³ But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He told them to tell the people of Israel and Pharaoh king of Egypt that they were to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

Words to the Church in Philadelphia

⁷ “Write this to the angel of the church in the city of Philadelphia: ‘He Who is holy and true, Who holds the key of David, Who opens and no man can shut, Who shuts and no man can open, says this: ⁸ I know what you are doing. See! You do not have much power, but you have obeyed My Word. You have not turned against Me. So I have given you an open door that no man can shut. ⁹ See! There are some who belong to Satan. They say they are Jews, but they are not. They are liars. See! I will make them come to you and get down at your feet. Then they will know that I love you. ¹⁰ I will keep you from the time of trouble. The time to test everyone is about to come to the whole world. I will do this because you have listened to Me and have waited long and have not given up. ¹¹ I am coming very soon. Hold on to what you have so no one can take your crown. ¹² I will make the one who has power and wins an important part that holds up the house of God. He will never leave it again. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God. It is the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem will come down from My God out of heaven. I will write My new name on him. ¹³ You have ears! Then listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’