Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
149 Praise the Lord!
Sing a new song[a] to the Lord!
Sing his praise in the assembly of his followers.
2 Let Israel be happy with their Maker.
Let the people of Zion rejoice with their King.
3 Let them praise him by dancing
and playing their tambourines and harps.
4 The Lord is happy with his people.
He did a wonderful thing for his humble people.
He saved them!
5 Let his followers rejoice in this victory!
Let them sing for joy, even in their beds!
6 Let the people shout praise to God.
And with a sharp sword in their hand,
7 let them take revenge on the other nations.
Let them go punish those people.
8 They will put their kings in chains
and their leaders in chains of iron.
9 They will punish those nations as God commanded.
This is an honor for all his followers.
Praise the Lord!
The Darkness
21 Then the Lord told Moses, “Raise your hand into the air and darkness will cover Egypt. It will be so dark you can feel it!”
22 So Moses raised his hand into the air and a cloud of darkness covered Egypt. The darkness stayed in Egypt for three days. 23 None of the people could see each other, and no one got up to go any place for three days. But there was light in all the places where the Israelites lived.
24 Again Pharaoh called for Moses. He said, “Go and worship the Lord! You can take your children with you. But you must leave your sheep and cattle here.”
25 Moses said, “No, we will take them all. In fact, you will give us offerings and sacrifices for us to use in worshiping the Lord our God. 26 Yes, we will take our animals with us to worship the Lord our God. Not one hoof will be left behind. We don’t know yet exactly what we will need to worship the Lord. We will learn that only when we get there.”
27 The Lord made Pharaoh stubborn again, so he refused to let them go. 28 Then Pharaoh told Moses, “Get out of here. I don’t want you to come here again. The next time you come to see me, you will die!”
29 Then Moses told Pharaoh, “You are right about one thing. I will not come to see you again.”
15 And before anyone can go and tell them, they must be sent. As the Scriptures say, “How wonderful it is to see someone coming to tell good news!”[a]
16 But not all the people accepted that good news. Isaiah said, “Lord, who believed what we told them?”[b] 17 So faith comes from hearing the Good News. And people hear the Good News when someone tells them about Christ.
18 But I ask, “Did those people not hear the Good News?” Yes, they heard—as the Scriptures say,
“Their voices went out all around the world.
Their words went everywhere in the world.” (A)
19 Again I ask, “Did the people of Israel not understand?” Yes, they did understand. First, Moses says this for God:
“I will use those who are not really a nation to make you jealous.
I will use a nation that does not understand to make you angry.” (B)
20 Then Isaiah is bold enough to say this for God:
“The people who were not looking for me—
they are the ones who found me.
I made myself known to those who did not ask for me.” (C)
21 But about the people of Israel God says,
“All day long I stood ready to accept those people,
but they are stubborn and refuse to obey me.” (D)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International