Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

¹⁴ “This day shall be ^(A)for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a ^(B)statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. ^15 (C)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, ^(D)that person shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a ^(E)holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ^(F)on this very day I brought your ^(G)hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. ^18 (H)In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ^19 (I)For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, ^(J)that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, ^(K)whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves ^(L)according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bunch of ^(M)hyssop and ^(N)dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch ^(O)the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. ^(P)None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. ^23 (Q)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on ^(R)the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ^(S)will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. ²⁴ You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. ²⁵ And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, ^(T)as he has promised, you shall keep this service. ²⁶ And ^(U)when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷ you shall say, ^(V)‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people ^(W)bowed their heads and worshiped.

²⁸ Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you ^(A)as sojourners and exiles ^(B)to abstain from the passions of the flesh, ^(C)which wage war against your soul. ^12 (D)Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, ^(E)they may see your good deeds and glorify God on ^(F)the day of visitation.

Submission to Authority

^13 (G)Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,^[a] whether it be to the emperor^[b] as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him ^(H)to punish those who do evil and ^(I)to praise those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, ^(J)that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ^16 (K)Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but ^(L)living as servants^[c] of God. ^17 (M)Honor everyone. ^(N)Love the brotherhood. ^(O)Fear God. Honor the emperor.