Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
121 Shall I look to the mountain gods for help? 2 No! My help is from Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too! 3-4 He will never let me stumble, slip, or fall. For he is always watching, never sleeping.
5 Jehovah himself is caring for you! He is your defender.[a] 6 He protects you day and night. 7 He keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. 8 He keeps his eye upon you as you come and go and always guards you.
14 “You shall celebrate this event each year (this is a permanent law) to remind you of this fatal night. 15 The celebration shall last seven days. For that entire period you are to eat only bread made without yeast. Anyone who disobeys this rule at any time during the seven days of the celebration shall be excommunicated from Israel. 16 On the first day of the celebration, and again on the seventh day, there will be special religious services for the entire congregation, and no work of any kind may be done on those days except the preparation of food.
17 “This annual ‘Celebration with Unleavened Bread’ will cause you always to remember today as the day when I brought you out of the land of Egypt; so it is a law that you must celebrate this day annually, generation after generation. 18 Only bread without yeast may be eaten from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month. 19 For these seven days there must be no trace of yeast in your homes; during that time anyone who eats anything that has yeast in it shall be excommunicated from the congregation of Israel. These same rules apply to foreigners who are living among you just as much as to those born in the land. 20 Again I repeat, during those days you must not eat anything made with yeast; serve only yeastless bread.”
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and get lambs from your flocks, a lamb for one or more families depending upon the number of persons in the families, and kill the lamb so that God will pass over you and not destroy you. 22 Drain the lamb’s blood into a basin, and then take a cluster of hyssop branches and dip them into the lamb’s blood, and strike the hyssop against the lintel above the door and against the two side panels, so that there will be blood upon them, and none of you shall go outside all night.
23 “For Jehovah will pass through the land and kill the Egyptians; but when he sees the blood upon the panel at the top of the door and on the two side pieces, he will pass over[a] that home and not permit the Destroyer to enter and kill your firstborn. 24 And remember, this is a permanent law for you and your posterity. 25 And when you come into the land that the Lord will give you, just as he promised, and when you are celebrating the Passover, 26 and your children ask, ‘What does all this mean? What is this ceremony about?’ 27 you will reply, ‘It is the celebration of Jehovah’s passing over us, for he passed over the homes of the people of Israel, though he killed the Egyptians; he passed over our houses and did not come in to destroy us.’” And all the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
28 So the people of Israel did as Moses and Aaron had commanded.
11 Dear brothers, you are only visitors here. Since your real home is in heaven, I beg you to keep away from the evil pleasures of this world; they are not for you, for they fight against your very souls.
12 Be careful how you behave among your unsaved neighbors; for then, even if they are suspicious of you and talk against you, they will end up praising God for your good works when Christ returns.
13 For the Lord’s sake, obey every law of your government: those of the king as head of the state, 14 and those of the king’s officers, for he has sent them to punish all who do wrong, and to honor those who do right.
15 It is God’s will that your good lives should silence those who foolishly condemn the Gospel without knowing what it can do for them, having never experienced its power. 16 You are free from the law, but that doesn’t mean you are free to do wrong. Live as those who are free to do only God’s will at all times.
17 Show respect for everyone. Love Christians everywhere. Fear God and honor the government.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.