Today's Reading

¹A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.

²The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

³When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.

⁴His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

⁵Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to get it.

⁶She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. And she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?"

⁸Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The maiden went and called the child's mother.

⁹Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it.

¹⁰The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

¹¹It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

¹²He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

¹³He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?"

¹⁴He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."

¹⁵Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

¹⁷The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"

¹⁹They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock."

²⁰He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."

²¹Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.

²²She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land."

²³It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

²⁴God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

²⁵God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.

¹Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God's mountain, to Horeb.

²The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

³Moses said, "I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."

⁴When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses! Moses!" He said, "Here I am."

⁵He said, "Do not come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground."

⁶Moreover he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷The Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

⁸I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

⁹Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

¹⁰Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

¹¹Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

¹²He said, "Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."

¹³Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?"

¹⁴God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

¹⁵God said moreover to Moses, "You shall tell the children of Israel this, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.

¹⁶Go, and gather the elders of the children of Israel together, and tell them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;

¹⁷and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'

¹⁸They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord, our God.'

¹⁹I know that the king of Egypt won't give you permission to go, except by a mighty hand.

²⁰I will put forth my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in its midst, and after that he will let you go.

²¹I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.

²²But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall despoil the Egyptians.

¹Moses answered, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'"

²The Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."

³He said, "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.

⁴The Lord said to Moses, "Put forth your hand, and take it by the tail." He put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.

⁵"That they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

⁶The Lord said furthermore to him, "Now put your hand inside your cloak." He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out from his cloak, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.

⁷He said, "Put your hand inside your cloak again." He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh.

⁸"It will happen, if they will neither believe you nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

⁹It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."

¹⁰Moses said to the Lord, "Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue."

¹¹The Lord said to him, "Who made man's mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn't it I, the Lord?

¹²Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak."

¹³He said, "Oh, Lord, please send someone else."

¹⁴The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, "What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he comes forth to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁵You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.

¹⁶He will be your spokesman to the people; and it will happen, that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God.

¹⁷You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs."

¹⁸Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

¹⁹The Lord said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead."

²⁰Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God's rod in his hand.

²¹The Lord said to Moses, "When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

²²You shall tell Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn,

²³and I have said to you, "Let my son go, that he may serve me;" and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"

²⁴It happened on the way at a lodging place, that the Lord met him and wanted to kill him.

²⁵Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

²⁶So he let him alone. Then she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," because of the circumcision.

²⁷The Lord said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." He went, and met him on God's mountain, and kissed him.

²⁸Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had instructed him.

²⁹Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.

³⁰Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

³¹The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

¹In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"

²He called a little child to himself, and set him in the midst of them,

³and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

⁴Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

⁵Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me,

⁶but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.

⁷"Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks. For there will always be something to cause people to stumble, but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes!

⁸If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life crippled or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.

⁹If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the fire of hell.

¹⁰See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. [

¹¹For the Son of Man came to save what was lost.]

¹²"What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does not he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?

¹³If he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.

¹⁴Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

¹⁵"If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother.

¹⁶But if he does not listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to hear the church also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.

¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.

¹⁹Again, truly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.

²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them."

²¹Then Peter came to him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?"

²²Jesus said to him, "I do not tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.

²³Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who wanted to reconcile accounts with his servants.

²⁴When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

²⁵But because he could not pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

²⁶The servant therefore fell down and kneeled before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will repay you all!'

²⁷The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

²⁸"But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'

²⁹"So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will repay you all!'

³⁰He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due.

³¹So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told to their lord all that was done.

³²Then his lord called him in, and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me.

³³Should not you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?'

³⁴His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due.

³⁵So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you do not each forgive your brother from your heart."

¹ I love you, Lord, my strength.

²The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

³I call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.

⁴The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁵The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.

⁶In my distress I called on the Lord, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.

⁷Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

⁸Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.

⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

¹²At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³The Lord also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.

¹⁵Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁸They came on me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.

¹⁹He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²For all his ordinances were before me. I did not put away his statutes from me.

²³I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁴Therefore the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

²⁵With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.

²⁶With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

²⁷For you will save the afflicted people, but the haughty eyes you will bring down.

²⁸For you will light my lamp, Lord. My God will light up my darkness.

²⁹For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.

³⁰As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

³¹For who is God, except the Lord? Who is a rock, besides our God,

³²the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?

³³He makes my feet like deer's feet, and sets me on my high places.

³⁴He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great.

³⁶You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.

³⁷I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. Neither will I turn again until they are consumed.

³⁸I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.

³⁹For you have girded me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

⁴⁰You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

⁴¹They cried, but there was none to save; even to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

⁴²Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets.

⁴³You have delivered me from the strivings of the people. You have made me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.

⁴⁵The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their close places.

⁴⁶The Lord lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,

⁴⁷even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me.

⁴⁸He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.

⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name.

⁵⁰He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore.

¹An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.

²A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

³When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.

⁴The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.

⁵To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

⁶A fool's lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

⁷A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person's innermost parts.

⁹One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

¹¹The rich man's wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.

¹²Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.

¹³He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

¹⁵The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

¹⁷He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.

¹⁸The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.

¹⁹A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the Lord.

²³The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

²⁴A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.