Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Israel Invoked to Praise the Lord.

Egyptian Livestock Die

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and speak to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews says: “^(A)Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. ² For ^(B)if you refuse to let them go and ^[a]continue to hold them, ³ behold, ^(C)the hand of the Lord ^[b]will come with a very severe plague on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks. ^4 (D)But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that ^(E)nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel.”’” ⁵ And the Lord set a definite time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” ⁶ So the Lord did this thing on the next day, and ^(F)all the livestock of Egypt died; ^(G)but not one of the livestock of the sons of Israel died. ⁷ And Pharaoh sent men, and they learned that, behold, not even one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But ^(H)the heart of Pharaoh was ^[c]hardened, and he did not let the people go.

¹¹ I have become ^(A)foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, since I was ^(B)in no respect inferior to the ^[a]most eminent apostles, even though ^(C)I am a nobody. ¹² The ^(D)distinguishing marks ^[b]of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by ^[c]signs, wonders, and ^[d]miracles. ¹³ For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that ^(E)I myself did not become a burden to you? Forgive me ^(F)this wrong!

¹⁴ Here ^(G)for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I ^(H)will not be a burden to you; for I ^(I)do not seek what is yours, but ^(J)you; for ^(K)children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but ^(L)parents for their children. ¹⁵ I will ^(M)most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If ^(N)I love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶ But be that as it may, I ^(O)did not burden you myself; nevertheless, devious person that I am, I ^(P)took you in by deceit. ^17 (Q)Certainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those whom I have sent to you, have I? ¹⁸ I ^(R)urged ^(S)Titus to go, and I sent ^(T)the brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not ^[e]conduct ourselves ^[f]in the same ^(U)spirit and walk ^(V)in the same steps?

¹⁹ All this time ^[g]you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually, ^(W)it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and ^(X)all for building you up, ^(Y)beloved. ²⁰ For I am afraid that perhaps ^(Z)when I come I may find you to be not what I wish, and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be ^(AA)strife, jealousy, ^(AB)angry tempers, ^(AC)selfishness, ^(AD)slanders, ^(AE)gossip, ^(AF)arrogance, ^(AG)disturbances; ²¹ I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have ^(AH)sinned in the past and not repented of the ^(AI)impurity, sexual immorality, and indecent behavior which they have practiced.