Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Call to Praise God
149 Praise the Lord! Sing a new song to the Lord! Praise Him in the meeting of His people. 2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker. Let the sons of Zion be full of joy in their King. 3 Let them praise His name with dancing. Let them sing praises to Him with timbrels and a harp. 4 For the Lord is happy with His people. He saves those who have no pride and makes them beautiful.
5 Let those who are God-like be full of joy and honor. Let them sing for joy on their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and in their hand a sword that cuts both ways. 7 Let it be used to punish the nations and the people. 8 Let their kings be tied in chains, and their rulers with ropes of iron. 9 Let the punishment that is written be given to them. This is an honor for all His faithful ones. Praise the Lord!
The First-Born Die
11 The Lord said to Moses, “I will bring trouble upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt one more time. After that he will let you go. He will not only let you go, but he will make you leave. 2 Tell the people that each man should ask his neighbor and each woman ask her neighbor for things made of silver and gold.” 3 Then the Lord gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. And the man Moses was respected in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh’s servants and the people.
4 Moses said, “The Lord says this: ‘About midnight I will go through Egypt. 5 And all the first-born in the land of Egypt will die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the servant girl grinding the grain, and even the first-born of the cattle. 6 There will be loud crying in all the land of Egypt, more than has ever been heard before or will ever be heard again. 7 Not even a dog will make a sound against those of Israel, man or animal, so you may know that the Lord divides Egypt from Israel.’ 8 All these who are your servants will come to me and bow in front of me. They will say, ‘Go away, you and all the people who follow you.’ After that I will go.” And he went away from Pharaoh very angry. 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you. So I will do more powerful works in the land of Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron did all these great works in front of Pharaoh. But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard. He did not let the people of Israel leave his land.
29 “It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You make buildings for the graves of the early preachers, and you make the graves beautiful of those who are right with God. 30 You say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our early fathers, we would not have helped kill the early preachers.’ 31 In this way, you are showing that you are the sons of those who killed the early preachers. 32 You might as well finish what your early fathers did. 33 You snakes! You family of snakes! How can you be kept from hell?
34 “Because of this, I am going to keep on sending to you men who speak for God and wise men and teachers of the Law. Some of them you will kill and nail to a cross. Some of them you will beat in your places of worship. You will make it very hard for them as they go from city to city. 35 Because of this, you will be guilty of the blood of all those right with God on the earth. It will be from the blood of Abel who was right with God to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachias. He was the one you killed between the house of God and the altar. 36 For sure, I tell you, all these things will come on the people of this day.
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