Daily Lectionary

Exodus 7:1-25

¹ And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
² You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.
³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
⁵ The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”
⁶ Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them.
⁷ Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
⁸ Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’”
¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
¹¹ Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.
¹² For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
¹³ Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
¹⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.
¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water, and stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.
¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed.
¹⁷ Thus says the LORD, “By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood.
¹⁸ The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”’”
¹⁹ And the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
²⁰ Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.
²¹ And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
²² But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
²³ Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.
²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.
²⁵ Seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile. (ESV)

Mark 16:1-20

¹ When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
³ And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.
⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
⁶ And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
⁸ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.] [[
⁹ Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
¹⁰ She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
¹¹ But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
¹² After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.
¹³ And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
¹⁴ Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
¹⁵ And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
¹⁸ they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
¹⁹ So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]] (ESV)