◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Exodus 3:1-15 (God calls Moses); Psalm 105:1-6 23-26 45b (Remembering Moses); Romans 12:9-21 (Live in harmony); Matthew 16:21-28 (The rebuke to Peter) (New American Bible (Revised Edition))

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September 3, 2023

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Exodus 3:1-15

Chapter 3

¹^[a]Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock beyond the wilderness, he came to the mountain of God, Horeb.^[b] ²There the angel of the Lord^[c] appeared to him as fire flaming out of a bush.^(A) When he looked, although the bush was on fire, it was not being consumed. ³So Moses decided, “I must turn aside to look at this remarkable sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” ⁴When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called out to him from the bush: Moses! Moses! He answered, “Here I am.” ⁵God said: Do not come near! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.^(B) ⁶I am the God of your father,^[d] he continued, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.^(C) Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

The Call and Commission of Moses. ⁷But the Lord said: I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry against their taskmasters, so I know well what they are suffering. ⁸Therefore I have come down^[e] to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them up from that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.^(D) ⁹Now indeed the outcry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen how the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰Now, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I^[f] that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹²God answered: I will be with you; and this will be your sign^[g] that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God at this mountain. ¹³“But,” said Moses to God, “if I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what do I tell them?” ¹⁴God replied to Moses: I am who I am.^[h] Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.

¹⁵God spoke further to Moses: This is what you will say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.

This is my name forever;^(E)
this is my title for all generations.

Footnotes

3:1–4:17 After the introduction to the narrative in 2:23–25, the commissioning itself falls into three sections: God’s appearance under the aspect of a burning bush (3:1–6); the explicit commission (3:7–10); and an extended dialogue between Moses and God, in the course of which Moses receives the revelation of God’s personal name. Although in the J source of the Pentateuch people have known and invoked God’s personal name in worship since the time of Seth (Gn 4:26), for the E and P sources (see 6:2–4) God first makes this name publicly available here through Moses.
3:1 The mountain of God, Horeb: traditionally, “Horeb” is taken to be an alternate name in E source material and Deuteronomy (e.g., Dt 1:2) for what in J and P is known as Mount Sinai, the goal of the Israelites’ journey after leaving Egypt and the site of the covenant God makes with Israel. However, it is not clear that originally the two names reflect the same mountain, nor even that “Horeb” refers originally to a mountain and not simply the dry, ruined region (from Hebrew horeb, “dryness, devastation”) around the mountain. Additionally, the position of “Horeb” at the end of the verse may indicate that the identification of the “mountain of God” with Horeb (= Sinai?) represents a later stage in the evolution of the tradition about God’s meeting with Moses. The phrase “mountain of God” simply anticipates the divine apparitions which would take place there, both on this occasion and after the Israelites’ departure from Egypt; alternatively, it means that the place was already sacred or a place of pilgrimage in pre-Israelite times. In any case, the narrative offers no indications of its exact location.
3:2 The angel of the Lord: Hebrew mal’ak or “messenger” is regularly translated angelos by the Septuagint, from which the English word “angel” is derived, but the Hebrew term lacks connotations now popularly associated with “angel” (such as wings). Although angels frequently assume human form (cf. Gn 18–19), the term is also used to indicate the visual form under which God occasionally appeared and spoke to people, referred to indifferently in some Old Testament texts either as God’s “angel,” mal’ak, or as God. Cf. Gn 16:7, 13; Ex 14:19, 24–25; Nm 22:22–35; Jgs 6:11–18. The bush: Hebrew seneh, perhaps “thorny bush,” occurring only here in vv. 2–4 and in Dt 33:16. Its use here is most likely a wordplay on Sinai (Hebrew sinay), implying a popular etymology for the name of the sacred mountain.
3:6 God of your father: a frequently used epithet in Genesis (along with the variants “my father” and “your father”) for God as worshiped by the ancestors. As is known from its usage outside of the Bible in the ancient Near East, it suggests a close, personal relationship between the individual and the particular god in question, who is both a patron and a protector, a god traditionally revered by the individual’s family and whose worship is passed down from father to son. The God of Abraham…Jacob: this precise phrase (only here and in v. 15; 4:5) stresses the continuity between the new revelation to Moses and the earlier religious experience of Israel’s ancestors, identifying the God who is now addressing Moses with the God who promised land and numerous posterity to the ancestors. Cf. Mt 22:32; Mk 12:26; Lk 20:37. Afraid to look at God: the traditions about Moses are not uniform in regard to his beholding or not being able to look at God (cf. 24:11; 33:11, 18–23; 34:29–35). Here Moses’ reaction is the natural and spontaneous gesture of a person suddenly confronted with a direct experience of God. Aware of his human frailty and the gulf that separates him from the God who is holy, he hides his face. To encounter the divine was to come before an awesome and mysterious power unlike any other a human being might experience and, as such, potentially threatening to one’s very identity or existence (see Gn 32:30).
3:8 I have come down: cf. Gn 11:5, 7; 18:21. Flowing with milk and honey: an expression denoting agricultural prosperity, which seems to have been proverbial in its application to the land of Canaan. Cf. Ex 13:5; Nm 13:27; Jos 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:22; Ez 20:6, 15.
3:11 Who am I: this question is always addressed by an inferior to a superior (to the ruler in 1 Sm 18:18; to God in 2 Sm 7:18 and its parallel, 1 Chr 17:16; 1 Chr 29:14; 2 Chr 2:5). In response to some special opportunity or invitation, the question expresses in a style typical of the ancient Near East the speaker’s humility or gratitude or need of further assistance, but never unwillingness or an outright refusal to respond. Instead the question sets the stage for further support from the superior should that be needed (as here).
3:12 Sign: a visible display of the power of God. The ancient notion of a sign from God does not coincide with the modern understanding of “miracle,” which suggests some disruption in the laws governing nature. While most any phenomenon can become a vehicle for displaying the purposes and providence of God, here the sign intended to confirm Moses’ commission by God seems to be the burning bush itself. Since normally the giving of such a sign would follow the commission rather than precede it (see Jgs 6:11–24), some see Israel’s service of God at Sinai after the exodus from Egypt as the confirmatory sign, albeit retroactively. It is more likely, however, that its mention here is intended to establish the present episode with Moses alone as a prefigurement of God’s fiery theophany to all Israel on Mount Sinai. Serve God: Hebrew ‘-b-d, “serve,” includes among its meanings both the notion of “serving or working for another” and the notion of “worship.” The implication here is that the Israelites’ service/worship of God is incompatible with their service to Pharaoh.
3:14 I am who I am: Moses asks in v. 13 for the name of the One speaking to him, but God responds with a wordplay which preserves the utterly mysterious character of the divine being even as it appears to suggest something of the inner meaning of God’s name: ‘ehyeh “I am” or “I will be(come)” for “Yhwh,” the personal name of the God of Israel. While the phrase “I am who I am” resists unraveling, it nevertheless suggests an etymological linking between the name “Yhwh” and an earlier form of the Hebrew verbal root h-y-h “to be.” On that basis many have interpreted the name “Yhwh” as a third-person form of the verb meaning “He causes to be, creates,” itself perhaps a shortened form of a longer liturgical name such as “(God who) creates (the heavenly armies).” Note in this connection the invocation of Israel’s God as “Lord (Yhwh) of Hosts” (e.g., 1 Sm 17:45). In any case, out of reverence for God’s proper name, the term Adonai, “my Lord,” was later used as a substitute. The word Lord (in small capital letters) indicates that the Hebrew text has the sacred name (Yhwh), the tetragrammaton. The word “Jehovah” arose from a false reading of this name as it is written in the current Hebrew text. The Septuagint has egō eimi ho ōn, “I am the One who is” (ōn being the participle of the verb “to be”). This can be taken as an assertion of God’s aseity or self-existence, and has been understood as such by the Church, since the time of the Fathers, as a true expression of God’s being, even though it is not precisely the meaning of the Hebrew.

Psalm 105:1-6

Psalm 105^[a]

God’s Fidelity to the Promise

I

¹Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name;^(A)
    make known among the peoples his deeds!^(B)
²Sing praise to him, play music;
    proclaim all his wondrous deeds!
³Glory in his holy name;
    let hearts that seek the Lord rejoice!
⁴Seek out the Lord and his might;
    constantly seek his face.^(C)
⁵Recall the wondrous deeds he has done,
    his wonders and words of judgment,
⁶You descendants of Abraham his servant,
    offspring of Jacob the chosen one!

Psalm 105:23-26

V

²³Then Israel entered Egypt;^(A)
    Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.^[a]
²⁴God greatly increased his people,
    made them more numerous than their foes.^(B)
²⁵He turned their hearts to hate his people,
    to treat his servants deceitfully.^(C)
²⁶He sent his servant Moses,
    and Aaron whom he had chosen.^(D)

Psalm 105:45

⁴⁵That they might keep his statutes
and observe his teachings.^(A)
Hallelujah!

Romans 12:9-21

Mutual Love. ⁹Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good;^(A) ¹⁰love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor.^(B) ¹¹Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.^(C) ¹²Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.^(D) ¹³Contribute to the needs of the holy ones,^(E) exercise hospitality. ¹⁴^[a]Bless those who persecute [you],^(F) bless and do not curse them.^(G) ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.^(H) ¹⁶Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation.^(I) ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all.^(J) ¹⁸If possible, on your part, live at peace with all.^(K) ¹⁹Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”^(L) ²⁰Rather, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”^(M) ²¹Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.

Matthew 16:21-28

²¹^(A)From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he^[a] must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.^(B) ²²^[b]Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” ²³^(C)He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

The Conditions of Discipleship.^[c] ²⁴^(D)Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,^[d] take up his cross, and follow me. ²⁵^(E)For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.^[e] ²⁶What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? ²⁷^[f]^(F)For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct. ²⁸^[g]Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Footnotes

16:21 He: the Marcan parallel (Mk 8:31) has “the Son of Man.” Since Matthew has already designated Jesus by that title (Mt 15:13), its omission here is not significant. The Matthean prediction is equally about the sufferings of the Son of Man. Must: this necessity is part of the tradition of all the synoptics; cf. Mk 8:31; Lk 9:21. The elders, the chief priests, and the scribes: see note on Mk 8:31. On the third day: so also Lk 9:22, against the Marcan “after three days” (Mk 8:31). Matthew’s formulation is, in the Greek, almost identical with the pre-Pauline fragment of the kerygma in 1 Cor 15:4 and also with Hos 6:2, which many take to be the Old Testament background to the confession that Jesus was raised on the third day. Josephus uses “after three days” and “on the third day” interchangeably (Antiquities 7:280–81; 8:214, 218) and there is probably no difference in meaning between the two phrases.
16:22–23 Peter’s refusal to accept Jesus’ predicted suffering and death is seen as a satanic attempt to deflect Jesus from his God-appointed course, and the disciple is addressed in terms that recall Jesus’ dismissal of the devil in the temptation account (Mt 4:10: “Get away, Satan!”). Peter’s satanic purpose is emphasized by Matthew’s addition to the Marcan source of the words You are an obstacle to me.
16:24–28 A readiness to follow Jesus even to giving up one’s life for him is the condition for true discipleship; this will be repaid by him at the final judgment.
16:24 Deny himself: to deny someone is to disown him (see Mt 10:33; 26:34–35) and to deny oneself is to disown oneself as the center of one’s existence.
16:25 See notes on Mt 10:38, 39.
16:27 The parousia and final judgment are described in Mt 25:31 in terms almost identical with these.
16:28 Coming in his kingdom: since the kingdom of the Son of Man has been described as “the world” and Jesus’ sovereignty precedes his final coming in glory (Mt 13:38, 41), the coming in this verse is not the parousia as in the preceding but the manifestation of Jesus’ rule after his resurrection; see notes on Mt 13:38, 41.

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Chapter 3

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Psalm 105[a]

God’s Fidelity to the Promise

I

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V

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Psalm 105^[a]