Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song for going up to the Temple.

¹⁴ “You will always remember tonight—it will be a special festival for you. Your descendants will honor the Lord with this festival forever. ¹⁵ For this festival you will eat bread made without yeast for seven days. On the first day, you will remove all the yeast from your houses. No one should eat any yeast for the full seven days of this festival. Anyone who eats yeast must be separated from the rest of Israel. ¹⁶ There will be holy assemblies on the first day and the last day of the festival. You must not do any work on these days. The only work you can do is preparing the food for your meals. ¹⁷ You must remember the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because on this day I took all of your people out of Egypt in groups.^[a] All of your descendants must remember this day. This is a law that will last forever. ¹⁸ So on the evening of the 14th day of the first month, you will begin eating bread without yeast. You will eat this bread until the evening of the 21st day of the same month. ¹⁹ For seven days, there must not be any yeast in your houses. Anyone, either a citizen of Israel or a foreigner living among you,^[b] who eats yeast at this time must be separated from the rest of Israel. ²⁰ During this festival you must not eat any yeast. You must eat bread without yeast wherever you live.”

²¹ So Moses called all the elders together and told them, “Get the lambs for your families. Kill the lambs for the Passover. ²² Take bunches of hyssop and dip them in the bowls filled with blood. Paint the blood on the sides and top of each doorframe. No one must leave their house until morning. ²³ At the time the Lord goes through Egypt to kill the firstborn, he will see the blood on the sides and top of each doorframe. Then he will protect^[c] that house and not let the Destroyer come into any of your houses and hurt you. ²⁴ You must remember this command. This law is for you and your descendants forever. ²⁵ You must remember to do this even when you go to the land the Lord is giving you. ²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘Why are we doing this ceremony?’ ²⁷ you will say, ‘This Passover is to honor the Lord, because when we were in Egypt, he passed over the houses of Israel. He killed the Egyptians, but he saved the people in our houses.’”

Then the people bowed down and worshiped the Lord. ²⁸ The Lord had given this command to Moses and Aaron, so the Israelites did what the Lord commanded.

Live for God

¹¹ Dear friends, you are like visitors and strangers in this world. So I beg you to keep your lives free from the evil things you want to do, those desires that fight against your true selves. ¹² People who don’t believe are living all around you. They may say that you are doing wrong. So live such good lives that they will see the good you do, and they will give glory to God on the day he comes.

Obey Every Human Authority

¹³ Be willing to serve the people who have authority^[a] in this world. Do this for the Lord. Obey the king, the highest authority. ¹⁴ And obey the leaders who are sent by the king. They are sent to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do good. ¹⁵ When you do good, you stop ignorant people from saying foolish things about you. This is what God wants. ¹⁶ Live like free people, but don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Live as those who are serving God. ¹⁷ Show respect for all people. Love your brothers and sisters in God’s family. Respect God, and honor the king.