Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ Trust the Lord
    and his mighty power.
⁵ Remember his miracles
and all his wonders
    and his fair decisions.
⁶ You belong to the family
    of Abraham, his servant;
you are his chosen ones,
    the descendants of Jacob.

⁷ The Lord is our God,
bringing justice
    everywhere on earth.
⁸ He will never forget
his agreement or his promises,
    not in thousands of years.
* ^9 (B) God made an eternal promise
^{10     (C)} to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
¹¹ when he said, “I'll give you
    the land of Canaan.”

¹² At the time there were
only a few of us,
    and we were homeless.
¹³ We wandered from nation
to nation, from one country
    to another.
^14 (D) God did not let anyone
    mistreat our people.
Instead he protected us
    by punishing rulers
¹⁵ and telling them,
“Don't touch my chosen leaders
    or harm my prophets!”

^16 (A) God kept crops from growing
until food was scarce
    everywhere in the land.
^17 (B) But he had already sent Joseph,
    sold as a slave into Egypt,
^18 (C) with chains of iron
    around his legs and neck.

¹⁹ Joseph remained a slave
until his own words
    had come true,
and the Lord had finished
    testing him.
^20 (D) Then the king of Egypt
    set Joseph free
^21 (E) and put him in charge
    of everything he owned.
²² Joseph was in command
    of the officials,
and he taught the leaders
    how to use wisdom.

^23 (F) Jacob and his family
came and settled in Egypt
    as foreigners.
^24 (G) They were the Lord's people,
so he let them grow stronger
    than their enemies.
²⁵ They served the Lord,
and he made the Egyptians plan
    hateful things against them.
^26 (H) God sent his servant Moses.
He also chose and sent Aaron
²⁷     to his people in Egypt,
and they worked miracles
    and wonders there.
^28 (I) Moses and Aaron obeyed God,
and he sent darkness
    to cover Egypt.
^29 (J) God turned their rivers
into streams of blood,
    and the fish all died.
^30 (K) Frogs were everywhere,
    even in the royal palace.
^31 (L) When God gave the command,
flies and gnats
    swarmed all around.

^32 (M) In place of rain,
God sent hailstones
    and flashes of lightning.
³³ He destroyed their grapevines
    and their fig trees,
and he made splinters
    of all the other trees.
^34 (N) God gave the command,
and more grasshoppers came
    than could be counted.
³⁵ They ate every green plant
and all the crops that grew
    in the land of Egypt.
^36 (O) Then God took the life
    of every first-born son.

^37 (P) When God led Israel from Egypt,
they took silver and gold,
    and no one was left behind.
³⁸ The Egyptians were afraid
    and gladly let them go.
^39 (Q) God hid them under a cloud
and guided them by fire
    during the night.

^40 (R) When they asked for food,
he sent more birds
    than they could eat.
^41 (S) God even split open a rock,
and streams of water
    gushed into the desert.