Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 114
When Israel Came Out of Egypt
1 When Israel came out of Egypt
and the house of Jacob from a people with a strange language,
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel became his kingdom.
3 The sea saw and fled.
The Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 What happened, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble in the presence of the Lord, O earth.
Tremble in the presence of the God of Jacob.
8 He turned the rock into a pool of water.
He turned flint into springs of water.
Crossing the Red Sea
14 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to camp by the sea, facing Baal Zephon. 3 Then Pharaoh will say about the Israelites, ‘They are wandering around in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them, and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and his entire army. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So that is what the Israelites did.
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials had a change of heart concerning the people. They said, “What have we done? We have let Israel go! They will not serve us anymore!” 6 So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his troops with him. 7 He also took six hundred of the best chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites. The Israelites were going out defiantly.[a] 9 The Egyptians pursued them. All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his charioteers,[b] and his army caught up with them where they were camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, which faces Baal Zephon.
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them. The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Wasn’t this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
13 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm, and see the salvation from the Lord, which he will perform for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you. You must wait quietly.”
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to set out. 16 As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide the sea so that the Israelites can go through the middle of the sea on dry ground. 17 I myself will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go into the sea after them, and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and his entire army, through his chariots and his charioteers. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his charioteers.”
Stephen Defends Himself
9 “The patriarchs, filled with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him. 10 God rescued him from all his troubles and granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Pharaoh made him governor over Egypt and over his whole palace.
11 “A famine came over all of Egypt and Canaan, causing great suffering, and our fathers found no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five people in all. 15 Jacob went down to Egypt, and there he died, he and our fathers. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.