The Song of Moses

¹Then Moses and the people of Israel fsang this song to the Lord, saying,

g“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

the horse and his rider1 he has thrown into the sea.

²hThe Lord is my strength and my isong,

and he has become jmy salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him,

kmy father's God, and lI will exalt him.

³The Lord is ma man of war;

nthe Lord is his name.

⁴o“Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea,

and his chosen pofficers were sunk in the Red Sea.

⁵The qfloods covered them;

they rwent down into the depths like a stone.

⁶sYour right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,

your right hand, O Lord, tshatters the enemy.

⁷In the ugreatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;

you send out your fury; it vconsumes them like stubble.

⁸At the wblast of your nostrils the waters piled up;

the xfloods stood up in a heap;

the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹The enemy said, y‘I will pursue, I will overtake,

I zwill divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.

I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’

¹⁰You ablew with your wind; the bsea covered them;

they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹c“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in dglorious deeds, edoing wonders?

¹²You stretched out fyour right hand;

the earth swallowed them.

¹³“You have gled in your steadfast love the people whom hyou have redeemed;

you have iguided them by your strength to your holy abode.

¹⁴jThe peoples have heard; they tremble;

pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

¹⁵Now are the chiefs of Edom kdismayed;

trembling seizes the leaders of lMoab;

mall the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

¹⁶Terror and ndread fall upon them;

because of the greatness of your arm, they are still oas a stone,

till your people, O Lord, pass by,

till the people pass by whom pyou have purchased.

¹⁷You will bring them in and qplant them on your own mountain,

the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,

rthe sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

¹⁸sThe Lord will reign forever and ever.”

¹⁹For when tthe horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, uthe Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. ²⁰Then vMiriam wthe prophetess, the xsister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and yall the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. ²¹And Miriam sang to them:

z“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

Bitter Water Made Sweet

²²Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of aShur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. ²³When they came to bMarah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.2 ²⁴And the people cgrumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵And he dcried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log,3 and he ethrew it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord4 made for them a statute and a rule, and there he ftested them, ²⁶saying, g“If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the hdiseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, iyour healer.”

²⁷Then jthey came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

¹And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought ralways to pray and not slose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who tneither feared God nor respected man. ³And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, u‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷And vwill not God give justice to whis elect, xwho cry to him day and night? yzWill he delay long over them? ⁸I tell you, he will give justice to them aspeedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, bwill he find faith on earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹He also told this parable to some cwho trusted din themselves that they were righteous, eand treated others with contempt: ¹⁰“Two men fwent up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee, gstanding by himself, prayed1 hthus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹²iI fast twice a week; jI give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³But the tax collector, gstanding far off, kwould not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but lbeat his breast, saying, ‘God, mbe merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For neveryone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Let the Children Come to Me

¹⁵oNow they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they prebuked them. ¹⁶But Jesus called them to him, saying, q“Let the children come to me, and rdo not hinder them, qfor to such belongs the kingdom of God. ¹⁷sTruly, I say to you, whoever does not treceive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

The Rich Ruler

¹⁸uAnd a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to vinherit eternal life?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰You know the commandments: w‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” ²¹And he said, x“All these I have kept from my youth.” ²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. ySell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have ztreasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²³aBut when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. ²⁴Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, b“How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter cthe kingdom of God! ²⁵For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter cthe kingdom of God.” ²⁶Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷But he said, d“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” ²⁸And Peter said, “See, ewe have left our homes and followed you.” ²⁹And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, fthere is no one who has left house or wife or brothers2 or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰who will not receive gmany times more hin this time, and in ithe age to come eternal life.”

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

³¹jAnd taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, kwe are going up to Jerusalem, and leverything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. ³²For he will be mdelivered over to the Gentiles and will be nmocked and shamefully treated and ospit upon. ³³And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on pthe third day he will rise.” ³⁴qBut they understood none of these things. rThis saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar

³⁵sAs he drew near to Jericho, ta blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. ³⁷They told him, u“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” ³⁸And he cried out, “Jesus, vSon of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹And those who were in front wrebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ⁴¹x“What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” ⁴²And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; yyour faith has zmade you well.” ⁴³And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, aglorifying God. And ball the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Elihu Rebukes Job

¹“But now, hear my speech, O Job,

and listen to all my words.

²Behold, I jopen my mouth;

the tongue in my mouth speaks.

³My words declare the uprightness of my heart,

and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

⁴kThe Spirit of God has made me,

and lthe breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵mAnswer me, if you can;

nset your words in order before me; take your stand.

⁶Behold, I am toward God as you are;

I too was pinched off from a piece of oclay.

⁷Behold, no pfear of me need terrify you;

my qpressure will not be heavy upon you.

⁸“Surely you have spoken in my ears,

and I have heard the sound of your words.

⁹You say, ‘I am rpure, without stransgression;

I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.

¹⁰Behold, he finds occasions against me,

he tcounts me as his enemy,

¹¹he uputs my feet in the stocks

and vwatches all my paths.’

¹²“Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you,

for God is greater than man.

¹³Why do you wcontend against him,

saying, ‘He xwill answer none of man's1 words’?2

¹⁴For God yspeaks in one way,

zand in two, though man adoes not perceive it.

¹⁵In ba dream, in ca vision of dthe night,

when cdeep sleep falls on men,

while they slumber on their beds,

¹⁶then he eopens the ears of men

and terrifies3 them with warnings,

¹⁷that he may turn man aside from his fdeed

and conceal pride from a man;

¹⁸he keeps back his soul from the pit,

his life from gperishing by the sword.

¹⁹“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed

and with continual strife in his hbones,

²⁰so that his ilife loathes bread,

and his appetite jthe choicest food.

²¹His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,

and his bones that were not seen kstick out.

²²His soul draws near lthe pit,

and his life to mthose who bring death.

²³If there be for him nan angel,

oa mediator, pone of the thousand,

to declare to man what is qright for him,

²⁴and he is merciful to him, and says,

‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;

I have found ra ransom;

²⁵let his flesh sbecome fresh with youth;

let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

²⁶then man4 tprays to God, and he accepts him;

he usees his face with a shout of joy,

and he vrestores to man his righteousness.

²⁷He sings before men and says:

‘I wsinned and perverted what was right,

and it was not repaid to me.

²⁸He has redeemed my xsoul from going down yinto the pit,

and my life shall zlook upon the light.’

²⁹“Behold, God does all these things,

twice, athree times, with a man,

³⁰to bring back his soul from the pit,

that he may be lighted with bthe light of life.

³¹Pay attention, O Job, listen to me;

be silent, and I will speak.

³²If you have any words, canswer me;

dspeak, for I desire to justify you.

³³If not, elisten to me;

be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Ministers of the New Covenant

¹qAre we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, ras some do, sletters of recommendation to you, or from you? ²tYou yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our1 hearts, to be known and read by all. ³And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of uthe living God, not on vtablets of stone but on wtablets of xhuman hearts.2

⁴ySuch is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵zNot that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but aour sufficiency is from God, ⁶who has made us sufficient to be bministers of ca new covenant, not of dthe letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but ethe Spirit gives life.

⁷Now if fthe ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory gthat the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, ⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? ⁹For if there was glory in hthe ministry of condemnation, ithe ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. ¹⁰Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

¹²Since we have such a hope, jwe are very bold, ¹³not like Moses, kwho would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. ¹⁴But ltheir minds were mhardened. For to this day, nwhen they read othe old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. ¹⁶But when pone3 turns to the Lord, qthe veil is removed. ¹⁷Now the Lord4 is the Spirit, and where rthe Spirit of the Lord is, there is sfreedom. ¹⁸And we all, with unveiled face, tbeholding uthe glory of the Lord,5 vare being transformed into the same image wfrom one degree of glory to another.6 For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.