Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 83
A song. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Keep not silence, O God; hold not Your peace or be still, O God.
2 For, behold, Your enemies are in tumult, and those who hate You have raised their heads.(A)
3 They lay crafty schemes against Your people and consult together against Your hidden and precious ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be in remembrance no more.
13 O my God, make them like whirling dust, like stubble or chaff before the wind!
14 As fire consumes the forest, and as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 So pursue and afflict them with Your tempest and terrify them with Your tornado or hurricane.
16 Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek, inquire for, and insistently require Your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
18 That they may know that You, Whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.
5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.
2 But Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.
3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us; let us go, we pray you, three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.
4 The king of Egypt said to Moses and Aaron, Why do you take the people from their jobs? Get to your burdens!
5 Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and you make them rest from their burdens!
6 The very same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers,
7 You shall no more give the people straw to make brick; let them go and gather straw for themselves.
8 But the number of the bricks which they made before you shall still require of them; you shall not diminish it in the least. For they are idle; that is why they cry, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.
9 Let heavier work be laid upon the men that they may labor at it and pay no attention to lying words.
10 The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they said to the people, Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.
11 Go, get [a]straw where you can find it; but your work shall not be diminished in the least.
12 So the people were scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather the short stubble instead of straw.
13 And the taskmasters were urgent, saying, Finish your work, your daily quotas, as when there was straw.
14 And the Hebrew foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, Why have you not fulfilled all your quota of making bricks yesterday and today, as before?
15 Then the Hebrew foremen came to Pharaoh and cried, Why do you deal like this with your servants?
16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, Make bricks! And behold, your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people.
17 But [Pharaoh] said, You are idle, lazy and idle! That is why you say, Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.
18 Get out now and get to work; for no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the full quota of bricks.
19 And the Hebrew foremen saw that they were in an evil situation when it was said, You shall not diminish in the least your full daily quota of bricks.
20 And the foremen met Moses and Aaron, who were standing in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh.
21 And the foremen said to them, The Lord look upon you and judge, because you have made us a rotten stench to be detested by Pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hand to slay us.
22 Then Moses turned again to the Lord and said, O Lord, why have You dealt evil to this people? Why did You ever send me?
23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, neither have You delivered Your people at all.
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for [compelled] by a strong hand he will [not only] let them go, but he will drive them out of his land with a strong hand.
2 And God said to Moses, I am the Lord.
3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty [El-Shaddai], but by My [b]name the Lord [Yahweh—the redemptive name of God] I did not make Myself known to them [in acts and great miracles].(A)
4 I have also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their temporary residence in which they were strangers.
5 I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians have enslaved; and I have [earnestly] remembered My covenant [with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob].
6 Accordingly, say to the Israelites, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will free you from their bondage, and I will rescue you with an outstretched arm [with special and vigorous action] and by mighty acts of judgment.
7 And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and you shall know that it is I, the Lord your God, Who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
8 And I will bring you into the land concerning which I lifted up My hand and swore that I would give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage. I am the Lord [you have the pledge of My changeless omnipotence and faithfulness].
9 Moses told this to the Israelites, but they refused to listen to Moses because of their impatience and anguish of spirit and because of their cruel bondage.
10 The Lord said to Moses,
11 Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.
12 But Moses said to the Lord, Behold, [my own people] the Israelites have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh give heed to me, who am of deficient and impeded speech?
13 But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the Israelites and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
7 And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the Holy One, the True One, He Who has the key of David, Who opens and no one shall shut, Who shuts and no one shall open:(A)
8 I know your [record of] works and what you are doing. See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My Word and guarded My message and have not renounced or denied My name.
9 Take note! I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and learn and acknowledge that I have loved you.(B)
10 Because you have guarded and kept My word of patient endurance [have held fast the [a]lesson of My patience with the [b]expectant endurance that I give you], I also will keep you [safe] from the hour of trial (testing) which is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell upon the earth.
11 I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one may rob you and deprive you of your crown.
12 He who overcomes (is victorious), I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God; he shall never be put out of it or go out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which descends from My God out of heaven, and My own new name.(C)
13 He who can hear, let him listen to and heed what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches).
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