Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Call to Praise God

149 Praise the Lord! Sing a new song to the Lord! Praise Him in the meeting of His people. ² Let Israel be glad in his Maker. Let the sons of Zion be full of joy in their King. ³ Let them praise His name with dancing. Let them sing praises to Him with timbrels and a harp. ⁴ For the Lord is happy with His people. He saves those who have no pride and makes them beautiful.

⁵ Let those who are God-like be full of joy and honor. Let them sing for joy on their beds. ⁶ Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and in their hand a sword that cuts both ways. ⁷ Let it be used to punish the nations and the people. ⁸ Let their kings be tied in chains, and their rulers with ropes of iron. ⁹ Let the punishment that is written be given to them. This is an honor for all His faithful ones. Praise the Lord!

Darkness Covers the Land

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand toward the sky. And there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness people will feel.” ²² So Moses put out his hand toward the sky. And there was darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³ The Egyptians did not see each other. No one got up from his place for three days. But all the people of Israel had light in their homes. ²⁴ Then Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, “Go and worship the Lord. Your children may go with you also. Only let your flocks and your cattle stay.” ²⁵ But Moses said, “You must let us have gifts to give in worship and gifts for burning, so we may give them to the Lord our God. ²⁶ So our animals will go with us also. Not a foot of an animal will be left behind. For we will take some of them to use as we worship the Lord our God. And until we are there, we do not know which ones we will use in worshiping the Lord.” ²⁷ But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard. He was not willing to let them go. ²⁸ Pharaoh said to Moses, “Go away from me! Make sure that you do not see my face again! For the day you see my face again, you will die!” ²⁹ Moses said, “You are right. I will never see your face again.”

¹⁵ And how can someone tell them if he is not sent? The Holy Writings say, “The feet of those who bring the Good News are beautiful.” ^(A)

¹⁶ But they have not all listened to the Good News. Isaiah says, “Lord, who believed what we told them?” ^{(B) 17} So then, faith comes to us by hearing the Good News. And the Good News comes by someone preaching it. ¹⁸ And so I ask, “Did they not hear?” For sure they did. The Holy Writings say, “Their voice was heard over all the earth. The Good News was told to the ends of the earth.” ^{(C) 19} Again I ask, “Did the Jews not understand?” First of all, Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. I will make you angry with a foolish nation of people who do not understand.” ^{(D) 20} Isaiah says even stronger words, “I have been found by men who did not look for Me. I have shown Myself to those who were not asking for Me.” ^{(E) 21} This is what God says about the Jews, “All day long I held out my hand to a people who would not obey Me and who worked against Me.” ^(F)