March 17, 2021
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Thirty-First Day of Great Lent
Exodus 4:1-21
Joel 3:9-22
Exodus 4:1-21
[1] Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, `The LORD did not appear to you.’”
[2] The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”
[3] And he said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.
[4] But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand, and take it by the tail” — so he put out his hand and caught 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.”
[6] Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand into your bosom.” And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.
[7] Then God said, “Put your hand back into your bosom.” So he put his hand back into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.
[8] “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or heed the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.
[9] If they will not believe even these two signs or heed your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it upon the dry ground; and the water which you shall take from the Nile will become blood upon the dry ground.”
[10] But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either heretofore or since thou hast spoken to thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”
[11] Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
[12] Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
[13] But he said, “Oh, my Lord, send, I pray, some other person.”
[14] Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well; and behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.
[15] And you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.
[16] He shall speak for you to the people; and he shall be a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.
[17] And you shall take in your hand this rod, with which you shall do the signs.”
[18] Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me go back, I pray, to my kinsmen in Egypt and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
[19] And the LORD said to Moses in Mid’ian, “Go back to Egypt; for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”
[20] So Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on an ass, and went back to the land of Egypt; and in his hand Moses took the rod of God.
[21] And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
Joel 3:9-22
[9] Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare war,
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near,
let them come up.
[10] Beat your plowshares into swords,
and your pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
[11] Hasten and come,
all you nations round about,
gather yourselves there.
Bring down thy warriors, O LORD.
[12] Let the nations bestir themselves,
and come up to the valley of Jehosh’aphat;
for there I will sit to judge
all the nations round about.
[13] Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the wine press is full.
The vats overflow,
for their wickedness is great.
[14] Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near
in the valley of decision.
[15] The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
[16] And the LORD roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth shake.
But the LORD is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
[17] “So you shall know that I am the LORD your God,
who dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy
and strangers shall never again pass through it.
[18] “And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the stream beds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD
and water the valley of Shittim.
[19] “Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
[20] But Judah shall be inhabited for ever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
[21] I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,
for the LORD dwells in Zion.”
[22] …
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is copyright © National Council of Churches of Christ in America
Tag:lectionary