Exodus 3 - 4, Luke 19, Psalms 51 - 52

God Calls Moses at the Burning Bush

3Now Moses was pasturing the flock of ^aJethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the ¹west side of the wilderness and came to ^bHoreb, the ^cmountain of God. ²^aAnd the angel of ¹Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of the ^bbush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. ³So Moses said, “¹^,^aI must turn aside now and see this ²marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burned up?” ⁴And Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, so ^aGod called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵Then He said, “Do not come near here. ^aRemove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶He said also, “^aI am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” ^bThen Moses hid his face, for he was ^cafraid to look at God.

⁷And Yahweh said, “I have surely ^aseen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sufferings. ⁸“So I have come down ^ato deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a ^bgood and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^cthe Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. ⁹“So now, behold, ^athe cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰“So now, come and I will send you to Pharaoh, ^aand so you shall bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” ¹¹But Moses said to God, “^aWho am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹²And He said, “Certainly ^aI will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: ^bwhen you have brought the people out of Egypt, ^cyou shall ¹serve God at this mountain.”

¹³Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am about to come to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ And they will say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” ¹⁴And God said to Moses, “¹^,^aI AM WHO ²I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘³I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵And God furthermore said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘^aYahweh, 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 ^bmemorial-name from generation to generation. ¹⁶“Go and ^agather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘^bYahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “¹^,^cI indeed care about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷“So ^aI said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of ^bthe Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land ^cflowing with milk and honey.”’ ¹⁸“^aAnd they will listen to your voice; and ^byou with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt, and you all will say to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a ^cthree days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God.’ ¹⁹“But I know that the king of Egypt ^awill not give you permission to go, ^bexcept by a strong hand. ²⁰“So I will stretch out ^aMy hand and strike Egypt with all My ^bwondrous deeds which I shall do in the midst of it; and ^cafter that he will let you go. ²¹“And I will give this people ^afavor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty. ²²“But every woman ^ashall ask of her neighbor and of the woman who lives in her house, for articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will ^bplunder the Egyptians.”

If They Will Not Believe These Signs

4Then Moses answered and said, “What if they will not believe me and will not ^alisten to my voice? For they may say, ‘^bYahweh has not appeared to you.’” ²And Yahweh said to him, “What is this in your hand?” And he said, “^aA staff.” ³Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and ^ait became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his ¹hand— ⁵“that ^athey may believe that ^bYahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶And Yahweh furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom; then he took it out, and behold, his hand was ^aleprous like snow. ⁷Then He said, “Return your hand into your bosom.” So he returned his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, ^ait returned to being like the rest of his flesh. ⁸“And so it will be, if they will not believe you or listen to the ¹witness of the first sign, they may believe the ²witness of ³this last sign. ⁹“But if it will be that they will not believe even these two signs and that they will not listen to your voice, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry land; and the water which you take from the Nile ^awill become blood on the dry land.”

Aaron to Speak for Moses

¹⁰Then Moses said to Yahweh, “Please, Lord, ^aI have never been a man of words, neither ¹recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your slave; for I am one with a ²hard mouth and a ³hard tongue.” ¹¹And Yahweh said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or ^awho makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? ¹²“So now, go, and ^aI, even I, will be with your mouth and will ^binstruct you what you shall speak.” ¹³But he said, “Please, Lord, ¹send now the message by whomever You will.” ¹⁴Then the anger of Yahweh burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that ¹he can certainly speak. And moreover, behold, ^ahe is coming out to meet you. And he will see you and be glad in his heart. ¹⁵“And you are to speak to him and ^aput the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will instruct ¹you in what you shall do. ¹⁶“Moreover, ^ahe shall speak for you to the people; and he will become as a mouth for you, and you will become as God to him. ¹⁷“And you shall take in your hand ^athis staff, ^bwith which you shall do the signs.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸Then Moses went and returned to ¹Jethro ^ahis father-in-law and said to him, “Please, let me go, that I may return to my brothers who are in Egypt and see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹And Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for ^aall the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ²⁰So Moses took his wife and his ^asons and mounted them on a donkey and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the ^bstaff of God in his hand.

²¹And Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go to return to Egypt, see to it that all ^athe miraculous wonders which I have put in your hand, that you do them before Pharaoh; but as for Me, ^bI will ¹harden his heart with strength so that he will not let the people go. ²²“Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “^aIsrael is My son, My firstborn. ²³“So I said to you, ‘^aLet My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, ^bI will kill your son, your firstborn.”’”

²⁴Now it happened at the lodging place on the way that Yahweh encountered him and ^asought to put him to death. ²⁵Then Zipporah took ^aa flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched ¹his feet with it, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me!” ²⁶So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood” with reference to the circumcision.

²⁷^aThen Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and encountered him at the ^bmountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸^aAnd Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh with which He had sent him, and ^ball the signs that He had commanded him to do. ²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and ^agathered all the elders of the sons of Israel; ³⁰and ^aAaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses. He then did the ^bsigns in the sight of the people. ³¹So ^athe people believed; and they heard that Yahweh ¹^,^bcared about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction. So ^cthey bowed low and worshiped.

Zaccheus Is Saved

19And He ^aentered Jericho and was passing through. ²And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. ³And Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. ⁴So he ran on before and climbed up into a ¹^,^asycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. ⁵And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” ⁶And he hurried and came down and received Him ¹gladly. ⁷And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone ¹to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” ⁸But Zaccheus stopped and said to ^athe Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I ¹will give to the poor, and if I have ^bextorted anyone of anything, I ²will give back ^cfour times as much.” ⁹And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is ^aa son of Abraham. ¹⁰“For ^athe Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Parable of the Ten Minas

¹¹Now while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because ^aHe was near Jerusalem, and they thought that ^bthe kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. ¹²So He said, “^aA nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. ¹³“And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten ¹minas and said to them, ‘Engage in business ²until I come back.’ ¹⁴“But his citizens hated him and sent ¹a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ ¹⁵“And it happened that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know how much they had made in business. ¹⁶“So the first appeared, saying, ‘¹Master, your ²mina has made ten minas more.’ ¹⁷“And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been ^afaithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ ¹⁸“Then the second came, saying, ‘Your ¹mina, ²master, has made five minas.’ ¹⁹“And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ ²⁰“Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a cloth; ²¹for I was afraid of you, because you are a strict man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’ ²²“He *said to him, ‘From your own mouth I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am a strict man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? ²³‘Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴“Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ ²⁵“And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’ ²⁶‘^aI tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. ²⁷‘But ^athese enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and ^bslay them in my presence.’”

The Triumphal Entry

²⁸And after He had said these things, He ^awas going on ahead, ^bgoing up to Jerusalem.

²⁹^aAnd it happened that when He approached Bethphage and ^bBethany, near the mount called “of ^cOlives,” He sent two of the disciples, ³⁰saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. ³¹“And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’” ³²So when those who were sent departed, they found it just as He had told them. ³³And as they were untying the colt, its ¹owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” ³⁵And they brought it to Jesus, ^aand after they threw their garments on the colt, they put Jesus on it. ³⁶And as He was going, they were spreading their garments on the road. ³⁷Now as soon as He was approaching, near the descent of ^athe Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to ^bpraise God, rejoicing with a loud voice for all the ¹miracles which they had seen, ³⁸saying, “^aBlessed is the ^bKing who comes in the name of the ¹Lord.Peace in heaven and ^cglory in the highest!”

³⁹^aAnd some of the Pharisees ¹in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” ⁴⁰But Jesus answered and said, “I tell you, if these were silent, ^athe stones will cry out!”

Lament over Jerusalem

⁴¹And as He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He ^acried over it, ⁴²saying, “If you knew in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. ⁴³“For the days will come upon you ¹when your enemies will ^athrow up a ²barricade against you, and ^bsurround you and hem you in on every side, ⁴⁴and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and ^athey will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not ¹recognize ^bthe time of your visitation.”

Jesus Drives Merchants from the Temple

⁴⁵^aAnd Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, ⁴⁶saying to them, “It is written, ‘^aAnd My house shall be a house of prayer,’ ^bbut you have made it a robbers’ ¹den.”

⁴⁷And ^aHe was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people ^bwere trying to destroy Him, ⁴⁸and they could not find ¹anything that they might do, for all the people hung upon ²every word He said.

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

For the choir director. A Psalm of David. When ¹Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

^aBe gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;According to the abundance of ^bYour compassion ^cblot out my transgressions.²^aWash me thoroughly from my iniquityAnd ^bcleanse me from my sin.³For ¹I ^aknow my transgressions,And my sin is ever before me.⁴^aAgainst You, You only, I have sinnedAnd done what is ^bevil in Your sight,So that ^cYou ¹are justified ²when You speakAnd pure when You judge.⁵Behold, I was ^abrought forth in iniquity,And in sin my mother conceived me.⁶Behold, You delight in ^atruth in the ¹innermost being,And in the hidden part You will ^bmake me know wisdom.⁷¹Purify me ^awith hyssop, and I shall be clean;²Wash me, and I shall be ^bwhiter than snow.⁸¹Make me to hear ^ajoy and gladness,Let the ^bbones which You have crushed rejoice.⁹^aHide Your face from my sinsAnd blot out all my iniquities.¹⁰^aCreate ¹in me a ^bclean heart, O God,And renew ²a ^csteadfast spirit within me.¹¹^aDo not cast me away from Your presenceAnd do not take Your ^bHoly Spirit from me.¹²Restore to me the ^ajoy of Your salvationAnd sustain me with a ^bwilling spirit.¹³Then I will ^ateach transgressors Your ways,And sinners will ¹be ^bconverted to You.¹⁴Deliver me from ^abloodguiltiness, O God, ^bthe God of my salvation;Then my ^ctongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.¹⁵O Lord, ¹^,^aopen my lips,That my mouth may ^bdeclare Your praise.¹⁶For You ^ado not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;You are not pleased with burnt offering.¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a ^abroken spirit;A broken and a ¹contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.¹⁸^aBy Your favor do good to Zion;¹^,^bBuild the walls of Jerusalem.¹⁹Then You will delight in ¹^,^arighteous sacrifices,In ^bburnt offering and whole burnt offering;Then ²young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

I Trust in the Lovingkindness of God

For the choir director. A ¹Maskil of David. ²When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

Why do you ^aboast in evil, O mighty man?The ^blovingkindness of God endures all day long.²Your tongue devises ^adestruction,Like a ^bsharp razor, ^cO worker of deceit.³You ^alove evil more than good,^bFalsehood more than speaking what is right. ¹ Selah.⁴You love all words that devour,O ^adeceitful tongue.⁵¹But God will break you down forever;He will snatch you up and ^atear you away from your tent,And ^buproot you from the ^cland of the living, Selah.⁶So that the righteous will ^asee and fear,And will ^blaugh at him, saying,⁷“Behold, the man who would not set God as his strength,But ^atrusted in the abundance of his richesAnd ^bwas strong in his destruction.”⁸But as for me, I am like a ^agreen olive tree in the house of God;I ^btrust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.⁹I will ^agive You thanks forever, because You have done it,And I will hope on Your name, ^bfor it is good, in the presence of Your holy ones.