Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Passover Lamb

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² “This ^[a]month shall be the beginning of months to you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel, ‘On the tenth [day] of this month they are to take a lamb or young goat for themselves, according to [the size of] the household of which he is the father, a lamb or young goat for each household. ⁴ Now if the household is too small for a lamb [to be consumed], let him and his next door neighbor take one according to the number of people [in the households]; according to what each man can eat, you are to divide the lamb.

⁵ Your lamb or young goat shall be [perfect] without blemish or bodily defect, a male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.^{(A) 6} You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it ^[a]at twilight. ⁷ Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel [above the door] of the houses in which they eat it.^{(B) 8} They shall eat the meat that same night, roasted in fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted in fire—both its head and its legs, along with its inner parts. ¹⁰ You shall let none of the meat remain until the morning, and anything that remains left over until morning, you shall burn completely in the fire.

¹¹ Now you are to eat it in this manner: [be prepared for a journey] with your ^[a]loins girded [that is, with the outer garment tucked into the band], your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; you shall eat it quickly—it is the Lord’s Passover. ¹² For I [the Lord] will pass through the land of Egypt on this night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal; against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments [exhibiting their worthlessness]. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood shall be a sign for you on [the doorposts of] the houses where you live; when I see the blood I shall pass over you, and no affliction shall happen to you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.^(A)

Feast of Unleavened Bread

¹⁴ ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as an ordinance forever.

Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death.

The Lord’s Supper

^23 [a]For I received from the Lord Himself that [instruction] which I passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which He was betrayed took bread; ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is (represents) My body, which is [offered as a sacrifice] for you. Do this in [affectionate] remembrance of Me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant [ratified and established] in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in [affectionate] remembrance of Me.” ²⁶ For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are [symbolically] proclaiming [the fact of] the Lord’s death until He comes [again].

The Lord’s Supper

13 Now before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that His hour had come [and it was time] for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. Having [greatly] loved His own who were in the world, He loved them [and continuously loves them with His perfect love] to the end (eternally). ² It was during supper, when the devil had already put [the thought of] betraying Jesus into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, ³ that Jesus, knowing that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come from God and was [now] returning to God, ⁴ got up from supper, took off His [outer] robe, and taking a [servant’s] towel, He tied it around His waist.

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

⁵ Then He poured water into the basin and began washing the disciples’ feet and wiping them with the towel which was tied around His waist. ⁶ When He came to Simon Peter, he said to Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus replied to him, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but you will [fully] understand it later.” ⁸ Peter said to Him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me [we can have nothing to do with each other].” ⁹ Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, [in that case, wash] not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Anyone who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, and is completely clean. And you [My disciples] are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ For He knew who was going to betray Him; for that reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹² So when He had washed their feet and put on His [outer] robe and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? ¹³ You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you are right in doing so, for that is who I am. ¹⁴ So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet as well. ¹⁵ For I gave you [this as] an example, so that you should do [in turn] as I did to you. ¹⁶ I assure you and most solemnly say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, you are blessed [happy and favored by God] if you put them into practice [and faithfully do them].

³¹ So when Judas had left, Jesus said, “Now is [the time for] the Son of Man [to be] glorified, and God is glorified in Him; ^32 [a][if God is glorified in Him,] God will also glorify Him (the Son) in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. ³³ Little children, I am with you [only] a little longer. You will look for Me and, as I told the Jews, so I tell you now, ‘Where I am going, you are not able to come.’^{(A) 34} I am giving you a new commandment, that you ^[b]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”