Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Thanksgiving for God’s Deliverance
105 Give thanks to the Lord,
call on his name,
and make his deeds known among the people.
2 Sing to him! Praise him!
Declare all his awesome deeds!
3 Exult in his holy name;
let all[a] those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his face continually.
5 Remember his awesome deeds that he has done,
his wonders and the judgments he declared.
6 You descendants of Abraham, his servant,
You children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments extend to the entire earth.
8 He remembers his eternal covenant—
every promise he made[b] for a thousand generations,
9 like the covenant he made[c] with Abraham,
and his promise to Isaac.
10 He presented it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant.
11 He said: “I will give Canaan to you
as the allotted portion that is your inheritance.”
16 He declared a famine on the land;
destroying the entire food supply.[a]
17 He sent a man before them—
Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.
18 They bound his feet with fetters
and placed an iron collar on his neck,[b]
19 until the time his prediction came true,
as the word of the Lord refined him.
20 He sent a king who released him,
a ruler of people who set him free.
21 He made him the master over his household,
the manager of all his possessions—
22 to discipline his rulers at will
and make his elders wise.
23 Then Israel came to Egypt;
indeed, Jacob lived in the land of Ham.[c]
24 He caused his people to multiply greatly;
and be more numerous than their enemies.
25 He caused them[d] to hate his people
and to deceive his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses, along with Aaron,
whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them,
his wonders in the land of Ham.[e]
28 He sent darkness, and it became dark.
Did they not rebel against[f] his words?
29 He turned their water into blood,
so that the fish died.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs
even to the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke,
and a swarm of insects invaded their land.[g]
32 He sent hail instead of rain,
and lightning throughout their land.
33 It destroyed their vines and their figs,
breaking trees throughout their country.[h]
34 Then he commanded the locust to come—
grasshoppers without number.
35 They consumed every green plant in their land,
and devoured the fruit of their soil.
36 He struck down every firstborn in their land,
the first fruits of all their progeny.
37 Then he brought Israel[i] out with silver and gold,
and no one among his tribes stumbled.
38 The Egyptians rejoiced when they left,
because fear of Israel[j] descended on them.
39 He spread out a cloud for a cover,
and fire for light at night.
40 Israel[k] asked, and quail came;
food from heaven satisfied them.
41 He opened a rock, and water gushed out
flowing like a river in the desert.
42 Indeed, he remembered his sacred promise
to his servant Abraham.
10 But the entire congregation was talking about stoning them to death.
God Rebukes Unbelieving Israel
Suddenly, the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all of the Israelis. 11 “How long will this people keep on spurning me and refusing to trust me, despite all the miracles[a] that I’ve done among them?” the Lord asked Moses. 12 “That’s why I’m going to attack them with pestilence and disinherit them. Instead, I’ll make you a great nation—even mightier than they are!”
Moses Intercedes for Israel
13 But Moses responded to the Lord, “When Egypt hears that you’ve brought this people out from among them with a mighty demonstration of power,[b] 14 they’ll also proclaim to the inhabitants of this land that they’ve heard you’re among this people, Lord, whom they’ve seen face to face,[c] since your cloud stands guard over them. You’ve guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night. 15 But if you slaughter this people all at the same time,[d] then the nations who heard about your fame[e] will say, 16 ‘The Lord slaughtered this people in the wilderness because he wasn’t able to bring them to the land that he promised them.’
17 “Now, let the power of the Lord be magnified, just as you promised when you said, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in faithful love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he won’t acquit the guilty. He recalls the iniquity of fathers to the third and fourth generation.’[f]
19 “Forgive, please, the iniquity of this people, according to your great, faithful love, in the same way that you’ve carried this people from Egypt to this place.”
God Responds to Moses
20 The Lord responded, “I’ve forgiven them based on what you’ve said. 21 But just as I live, and just as the whole earth will be filled with the Lord’s glory, 22 none of those men who saw my glory and watched my miracles that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness—even though they’ve tested me these ten times and never listened to my voice— 23 will ever see the land that I promised to their ancestors. Those who spurned me won’t see it. 24 Now as to my servant Caleb, because a different spirit is within him and he has remained true to me, I’m going to bring him into the land that he explored,[g] and his descendants are to inherit it.
Warnings about Idolatry
10 Now I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the fact that all of our ancestors who left Egypt[a] were under the cloud. They all went through the sea, 2 and they all were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was the Messiah.[b] 5 But God wasn’t pleased with most of those people,[c] and so they were struck down in the wilderness.
6 Now their experiences serve as examples for us so that we won’t set our hearts on evil as they did. 7 Let’s stop being idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play.”[d] 8 Let’s stop sinning sexually, as some of them were doing, and on a single day 23,000 fell dead. 9 Let’s stop putting the Lord[e] to the test, as some of them were doing, and were destroyed by snakes. 10 You must stop complaining, as some of them were doing, and were annihilated by the destroyer. 11 These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down as a warning for us in whom the culmination of the ages has been attained. 12 Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing securely should watch out so he doesn’t fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is unusual for human beings. But God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. Instead, along with the temptation he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to endure it.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.