Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Israel’s Rebellion in the Wilderness
17 But they continued to sin against him even more,
by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tested God in their hearts by demanding food for their cravings.
19 Then they spoke against God.
They said, “Is God able to set a table in the wilderness?
20 Sure, he struck the rock and water flowed out,
and stream beds overflowed,
but can he really give us bread?
Can he really supply meat for his people?”
52 But he led his people out like sheep.
He led them like a flock through the wilderness.
53 Then he guided them safely, so they were not afraid,
but the sea covered their enemies.
God’s Power Displayed in Canaan (Joshua)
54 Then he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this mountain which his right hand had taken.
55 He drove out nations before them.
He marked the boundaries of their inheritance,
and he settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
The First Tent of Meeting
7 So Moses took a tent and set it up outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it the Tent of Meeting. Everyone who was seeking an answer from the Lord would go out to the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people got up and stood at their tent doors and watched Moses, until he had gone into the tent. 9 Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the door of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent, and all the people would rise up and worship, all of them at their own tent door. 11 The Lord spoke to Moses face-to-face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses would return again into the camp, but his assistant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.
Moses and God’s Goodness
12 Moses said to the Lord, “Look, you yourself have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 So now if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your ways, so that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight. Consider that this nation is your people.”
14 The Lord said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Moses said to him, “If your Presence is not going to go with me, do not send us up from here. 16 After all, how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it in this way: that you go with us, so that we are distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?”
17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have said, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
19 The Lord said, “I will make all my goodness pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord in your presence. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” 20 He said, “You cannot see my face, for no human may see me and live.”
21 The Lord also said, “Look, there is a place next to me, where you shall stand on the rock. 22 It will happen that, while my glory passes by, I will put you in a crevice in the rock. I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back. But my face will not be seen.”
30 “After forty years had passed, an angel of the Lord[a] appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flames of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went closer to look, the voice of the Lord said, 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of[b] Jacob.’[c] Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.’[d]
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.