Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God Takes Israel from Egypt

114 Israel came out of Egypt. The house of Jacob came from a people who spoke a strange language. ² Then Judah became His holy place, and Israel became the place of His rule.

³ The sea looked and ran away. The Jordan turned back. ⁴ The mountains jumped like sheep, the hills like lambs. ⁵ Why did you try to get away, O sea? Why did you turn back, O Jordan? ⁶ O mountains, why did you jump like sheep? O hills, why did you jump like lambs?

⁷ Shake in fear before the Lord, O earth, before the God of Jacob. ⁸ He changed the rock into a pool of water. He made water flow out of hard rock.

Crossing the Red Sea

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel to turn around and set up their tents in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. Set up your tents in front of Baal-zephon, beside the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They have lost their way. The desert has shut them in.’ ⁴ I will make Pharaoh’s heart hard. And he will try to catch them. So I will be honored through Pharaoh and his whole army. Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had left, Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about the people. They said, “What is this we have done? We have let Israel go from working for us.” ⁶ So he made his war-wagon ready and took his people with him. ⁷ He took 600 of the best war-wagons, and all the other war-wagons of Egypt in the care of leaders. ⁸ The Lord made the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt hard. And Pharaoh went to catch the people of Israel, who were leaving without fear. ⁹ The Egyptians followed them with all the horses and war-wagons of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army. And they came to them at their tents by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ When Pharaoh came near, the people of Israel looked and saw the Egyptians coming after them. And they were filled with fear and cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? What have you done to us, in bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Did we not tell you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die here.”

¹³ But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid! Be strong, and see how the Lord will save you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today, you will never see again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you. All you have to do is keep still.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to keep going. ¹⁶ Lift up your special stick and put out your hand over the sea, and divide it. Then the people of Israel will go through the sea on dry land. ¹⁷ I will make the Egyptians’ hearts hard, so they will go after them. And I will be honored through Pharaoh and his whole army, his war-wagons and his horsemen. ¹⁸ The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I am honored through Pharaoh, his war-wagons and his horsemen.”

⁹ “The sons of Jacob sold Joseph to people from the country of Egypt because they were jealous of him. But God was with Joseph. ¹⁰ He helped him in all his troubles. He gave him wisdom and favor with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. This king made Joseph leader over Egypt and over all the king’s house.

¹¹ “The time came when there was no food to eat in all the land of Egypt and Canaan. The people suffered much. Our early fathers were not able to get food. ¹² Then Jacob heard there was food in Egypt. He sent our early fathers there the first time.

¹³ “The second time they went to the country of Egypt, Joseph made himself known to his brothers. The family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ Joseph asked his father Jacob and all his family to come. There were seventy-five people in the family. ¹⁵ Jacob moved down to Egypt and died there. Our early fathers died there also. ¹⁶ They were brought back to the city of Shechem where they were buried. Abraham paid money for the grave from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.