Day 30 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 22:1–12

¹My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning? ²I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest. ³Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. ⁴In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. ⁵They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed. ⁶But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. ⁷All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads: ⁸“He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him.” ⁹Yet You brought me forth from the womb; You made me secure at my mother’s breast. ¹⁰From birth I was cast upon You; from my mother’s womb You have been my God. ¹¹Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. ¹²Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

New Testament·Matthew 19:16–30

¹⁶Just then a man came up to Jesus and inquired, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to obtain eternal life?” ¹⁷“Why do you ask Me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸“Which ones?” the man asked. Jesus answered, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, ¹⁹honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’” ²⁰“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?” ²¹Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” ²²When the young man heard this, he went away in sorrow, because he had great wealth. ²³Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁶Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ²⁷“Look,” Peter replied, “we have left everything to follow You. What then will there be for us?” ²⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. ³⁰But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

Old Testament·Exodus 3–4

¹Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. ³So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?” ⁴When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered. ⁵“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ⁷The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.” ¹¹But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹²“I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.” ¹³Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to 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. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘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 how I am to be remembered in every generation. ¹⁶Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’ ¹⁸The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ ¹⁹But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him. ²⁰So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you. ²¹And I will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed. ²²Every woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”

4Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’” ²And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. ³“Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴“Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵“This is so 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.” ⁶Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow. ⁷“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD. So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin. ⁸And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. ⁹But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.” ¹⁰“Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.” ¹¹And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹²Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.” ¹³But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.” ¹⁴Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do. ¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him. ¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.” ¹⁸Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied. ¹⁹Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.” ²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. ²¹The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. ²²Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son, ²³and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’” ²⁴Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. ²⁵But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. ²⁶So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) ²⁷Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform. ²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites, ³⁰and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses performed the signs before the people, ³¹and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.