Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 121[a]
God, Guardian of His People
1 A song of ascents.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains;[b]
from where will I receive help?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.[c]
3 He will not permit your foot to stumble;
he who guards you will not fall asleep.[d]
4 Indeed, the one who guards Israel
never slumbers, never sleeps.[e]
5 [f]The Lord serves as your guardian;
he is at your right hand to serve as your shade.
6 The sun will not strike you during the day,
nor the moon during the night.
7 [g]The Lord will protect you against all evil;
he will watch over your life.
8 The Lord will watch over your coming and your going
both now and forevermore.
14 Preparations for the Unleavened Bread.[a]“ ‘This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall celebrate it as a feast of the Lord. From generation to generation, let there be an ordinance that you celebrate this feast. 15 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall dispose of all leaven from your house. Whoever eats leavened goods from the first day til the seventh shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a sacred assembly and another on the seventh day. On those days you shall not work. You shall only prepare what is to be eaten by everyone.
17 “ ‘You shall observe the custom of unleavened bread, for on this same day I brought out your hosts from the land of Egypt. You shall observe this day from generation to generation as an eternal ordinance. 18 In the first month, the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first of the month, in the evening. 19 For seven days leavened bread shall not be found in your house, for whoever eats leavened bread shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether it be a foreigner or a native of the land. 20 You shall not eat leavened bread; in all your houses you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”
21 Celebration of the Passover. Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go and obtain a lamb for each family and slaughter it for the Passover.[b] 22 Take a bunch of hyssop[c] and dip it into the blood in the bowl and sprinkle the blood from the bowl on the lintel and the two doorposts. None of you shall go outside until the morning. 23 The Lord will pass over to strike the Egyptians. He will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts. The Lord will, therefore, pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter into your house to strike anyone there.[d]
24 “You shall observe this command as a fixed rite for yourselves and your children forever. 25 When you will have entered into the land that the Lord will give you, as he promised, you shall observe this rite. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this rite of yours mean,’ 27 you shall tell them, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and spared our houses.’ ”
The people knelt down and worshiped. 28 Then the children of Israel went and did exactly what the Lord had ordered Moses and Aaron.
God’s People in a Hostile World[a]
11 Lead a Good Life amidst Pagans.[b] Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles not to succumb to the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. 12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles so that, although they now malign you as evildoers, they may observe your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation.
13 Christianity Is Not a Subversive Group.[c] For the Lord’s sake, submit to every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme 14 or of governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do good works. 15 For it is the will of God that by doing right you should silence the ignorant talk of fools.
16 As servants of God, behave as free people, but do not use your freedom as a means to cover up wrongdoing. 17 Give due honor to everyone. Love your fellow believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
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