Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 83
Prayer against Enemies
A song. A psalm of Asaph.(A)
1 God, do not keep silent.
Do not be deaf, God; do not be quiet.(B)
2 See how your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate you have acted arrogantly.[a](C)
3 They devise clever schemes against your people;
they conspire against your treasured ones.(D)
4 They say, “Come, let’s wipe them out as a nation
so that Israel’s name will no longer be remembered.”(E)
13 Make them like tumbleweed, my God,
like straw before the wind.(A)
14 As fire burns a forest,
as a flame blazes through mountains,(B)
15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.(C)
16 Cover their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name, Lord.(D)
17 Let them be put to shame and terrified forever;
let them perish in disgrace.(E)
18 May they know that you alone—
whose name is the Lord—
are the Most High over the whole earth.(F)
Moses Confronts Pharaoh
5 Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.”(A)
2 But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him by letting Israel go?(B) I don’t know[a] the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”(C)
3 They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.”
4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your labor!” 5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are so numerous, and you would stop them from their labor.”(D)
Further Oppression of Israel
6 That day Pharaoh commanded the overseers(E) of the people as well as their foremen, 7 “Don’t continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers—that is why they are crying out,(F) ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Impose heavier work on the men. Then they will be occupied with it and not pay attention to deceptive words.”
10 So the overseers and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says:(G) ‘I am not giving you straw. 11 Go get straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’” 12 So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The overseers insisted, “Finish your assigned work each day, just as you did when straw was provided.” 14 Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten(H) and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”
15 So the Israelite foremen went in and cried for help to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way? 16 No straw has been given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but it is your own people who are at fault.”
17 But he said, “You are slackers. Slackers! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must produce the same quantity of bricks.”
19 The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You cannot reduce your daily quota of bricks.” 20 When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.
21 “May the Lord take note of you and judge,” they said to them, “because you have made us reek to Pharaoh and his officials—putting a sword in their hand to kill us!” (I)
22 So Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? And why did you ever send me?(J) 23 Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has caused trouble for this people, and you haven’t rescued your people at all.”
6 But the Lord replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.”(K)
God Promises Freedom
2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the Lord.’[b](L) 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens.(M) 5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered(N) my covenant.
6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm(O) and great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people,(P) and I will be your God. You will know(Q) that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land that I swore[c](R) to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.” 9 Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen(S) to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.
10 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, 11 “Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go from his land.”
12 But Moses said in the Lord’s presence, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, then how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I am such a poor speaker?” [d](T) 13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them commands concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
The Letter to Philadelphia
7 “Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one,(A) the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens: (B) 8 I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.(C) 9 Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet,(D) and they will know that I have loved you.(E) 10 Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing(F) that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.(G) 11 I am coming soon.(H) Hold on to what you have,(I) so that no one takes your crown.(J)
12 “The one who conquers I will make a pillar(K) in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the new Jerusalem,(L) which comes down out of heaven from my God—and my new name.(M)
13 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
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