Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

83 O God, don’t sit idly by, silent and inactive when we pray. Answer us! Deliver us!

² Don’t you hear the tumult and commotion of your enemies? Don’t you see what they are doing, these proud men who hate the Lord? ³ They are full of craftiness and plot against your people, laying plans to slay your precious ones. ⁴ “Come,” they say, “and let us wipe out Israel as a nation—we will destroy the very memory of her existence.”

⁹ Do to them as once you did to Midian, or as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, ¹⁰ and as you did to your enemies at Endor, whose decaying corpses fertilized the soil.

¹⁷ Make them failures in everything they do; let them be ashamed and terrified ¹⁸ until they learn that you alone, Jehovah, are the God above all gods in supreme charge of all the earth.

2 ^1-2 There were at this time a Hebrew fellow and girl of the tribe of Levi who married and had a family, and a baby son was born to them. When the baby’s mother saw that he was an unusually beautiful baby, she hid him at home for three months. ³ Then, when she could no longer hide him, she made a little boat from papyrus reeds, waterproofed it with tar, put the baby in it, and laid it among the reeds along the river’s edge. ⁴ The baby’s sister watched from a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Well, this is what happened: A princess, one of Pharaoh’s daughters, came down to bathe in the river, and as she and her maids were walking along the riverbank, she spied the little boat among the reeds and sent one of the maids to bring it to her. ⁶ When she opened it, there was a baby! And he was crying. This touched her heart. “He must be one of the Hebrew children!” she said.

⁷ Then the baby’s sister approached the princess and asked her, “Shall I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the little girl rushed home and called her mother!

⁹ “Take this child home and nurse him for me,” the princess instructed the baby’s mother, “and I will pay you well!” So she took him home and nursed him.

¹⁰ Later, when he was older, she brought him back to the princess and he became her son. She named him Moses (meaning “to draw out”^[a]) because she had drawn him out of the water.

¹² Dear brothers, honor the officers of your church who work hard among you and warn you against all that is wrong. ¹³ Think highly of them and give them your wholehearted love because they are straining to help you. And remember, no quarreling among yourselves.

¹⁴ Dear brothers, warn those who are lazy, comfort those who are frightened, take tender care of those who are weak, and be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to everyone else. ¹⁶ Always be joyful. ¹⁷ Always keep on praying. ¹⁸ No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.