Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
105 Give thanks to the Lord.
Call on him.
Make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him.
Make music to praise him.
Meditate on all the miracles he has performed.
3 Brag about his holy name.
Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Search for the Lord and his strength.
Always seek his presence.
5 Remember the miracles he performed,
the amazing things he did, and the judgments he pronounced,
6 you descendants of his servant Abraham,
you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God.
His judgments are pronounced throughout the earth.
8 He always remembers his promise,[a]
the word that he commanded for a thousand generations,
9 the promise that he made to Abraham,
and his sworn oath to Isaac.
10 He confirmed it as a law for Jacob,
as an everlasting promise to Israel,
11 by saying, “I will give you the land of Canaan.
It is your share of the inheritance.”
12 While the people of Israel were few in number,
a small group of foreigners living in that land,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
14 He didn’t permit anyone to oppress them.
He warned kings about them:
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones
or harm my prophets.”
16 He brought famine to the land.
He took away their food supply.
17 He sent a man ahead of them.
He sent Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They hurt his feet with shackles,
and cut into his neck with an iron collar.
19 The Lord’s promise tested him through fiery trials
until his prediction came true.
20 The king sent someone to release him.
The ruler of nations set him free.
21 He made Joseph the master of his palace
and the ruler of all his possessions.
22 Joseph trained the king’s officers the way he wanted
and taught his respected leaders wisdom.
23 Then Israel came to Egypt.
Jacob lived as a foreigner in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord made his people grow rapidly in number
and stronger than their enemies.
25 He changed their minds so that they hated his people,
and they dealt treacherously with his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses, and he sent Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They displayed his miraculous signs among them
and did amazing things in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and made ⌞their land⌟ dark.
They did not rebel against his orders.
29 He turned their water into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 He made their land swarm with frogs,
even in the kings’ bedrooms.
31 He spoke, and swarms of flies and gnats
infested their whole territory.
32 He gave them hail and lightning
instead of rain throughout their land.
33 He struck their grapevines and fig trees
and smashed the trees in their territory.
34 He spoke, and countless locusts and grasshoppers came.
35 They devoured all the plants in the land.
They devoured the crops in the fields.
36 He killed all the firstborn sons,
the first ones born in the land when their fathers were young.
37 He brought Israel out with silver and gold,
and no one among his tribes stumbled.
38 The Egyptians were terrified of Israel,
so they were glad when Israel left.
39 He spread out a cloud as a protective covering
and a fire to light up the night.
40 The Israelites asked, and he brought them quail
and filled them with bread from heaven.
41 He opened a rock, and water gushed
and flowed like a river through the dry places.
42 He remembered his holy promise to his servant Abraham.
10 But when the whole community of Israel talked about stoning Moses and Aaron to death, they all saw the glory of the Lord ⌞shining⌟ at the tent of meeting. 11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to trust me in spite of all the miraculous signs I have done among them? 12 I’ll strike them with a plague, I’ll destroy them,[a] and I’ll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are.”
13 But Moses said to the Lord, “What if the Egyptians hear about it? (You used your power to take these people away from them.) 14 What if the Egyptians tell the people who live in this land? Lord, they have already heard that you are with these people, that they have seen you with their own eyes, that your column of smoke stays over them, and that you go ahead of them in a column of smoke by day and in a column of fire by night. 15 But if you kill all these people at the same time, then the nations who have heard these reports about you will say, 16 ‘The Lord wasn’t able to bring these people into the land he promised them, so he slaughtered them in the desert.’
17 “Lord, let your power be as great as when you said, 18 ‘The Lord … patient, forever loving…. He forgives wrongdoing and disobedience…. He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children … for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation….’ 19 By your great love, please forgive these people’s sins, as you have been forgiving them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
20 The Lord said, “I forgive them, as you have asked. 21 But as I live and as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, I solemnly swear that 22 none of the people who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the desert will see the land which I promised their ancestors. They have tested me now ten times and refused to obey me.[b] 23 None of those who treat me with contempt will see it! 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has wholeheartedly followed me, I’ll bring him to the land he already explored. His descendants will possess it.
Learn from What Happened in the Time of Moses
10 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that all our ancestors ⌞who left Egypt⌟ were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea. 2 They were all united with Moses by baptism in the cloud and in the sea. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Yet, God was not pleased with most of them, so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.
6 These things have become examples for us so that we won’t desire what is evil, as they did. 7 So don’t worship false gods as some of them did, as Scripture says, “The people sat down to a feast which turned into an orgy.” 8 We shouldn’t sin sexually as some of them did. Twenty-three thousand of them died on one day. 9 We shouldn’t put the Lord [a] to the test as some of them did. They were killed by snakes. 10 Don’t complain as some of them did. The angel of death destroyed them. 11 These things happened to make them an example for others. These things were written down as a warning for us who are living in the closing days of history. 12 So, people who think they are standing firmly should be careful that they don’t fall.
13 There isn’t any temptation that you have experienced which is unusual for humans. God, who faithfully keeps his promises, will not allow you to be tempted beyond your power to resist. But when you are tempted, he will also give you the ability to endure the temptation as your way of escape.
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.