Exodus 1
Israel Suffers in Egypt
1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
3 Is-sachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
5 All those who were the seed of Jacob were seventy-five persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already).
6 Now Joseph died, as well as all his brothers and all that generation.†
7 Then the children of Israel increased and multiplied, became numerous, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
8 But there arose a new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph.
9 Then he said to his nation, “Look, the race of the children of Israel is a great multitude and is stronger than we;
10 come, let us outwit them, lest they multiply, and it happen in the event of war that they also join our enemies and fight against us and so escape out of the land.Ӡ
11 Therefore he set taskmasters over them to afflict them in their works; and they built for Pharaoh strong cities—Pithom and Raamses and On, which is Heliopolis.
12 But the more they humbled them, the more they multiplied and grew; and the Egyptians greatly abhorred the children of Israel.†
13 So the Egyptians tyrannized the children of Israel by force.
14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their labor in which they made them serve was by violence.
15 Then the king of the Egyptians spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah;†
16 and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women and see they are about to give birth, if it is a male, then you shall kill him; but if a female, let her live.”
17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.
18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and saved the male children alive?”
19 Thus the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the women of Egypt; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty.
21 So it was, because the midwives feared God, He provided households for them.
22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every male born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the river, but every female you shall save alive.”
Psalms 46
1 For the End; a psalm for the sons of Korah. †
2 Oh, clap your hands, all you nations; Shout to God with the voice of rejoicing;
3 For the Lord Most High is fearsome, A great King over all the earth.
4 He subdued the peoples under us And the nations under our feet.
5 He chose us for His inheritance, Jacob’s beauty, which He loved. (Pause)
6 God ascended with a shout, The Lord with the sound of the trumpet.
7 Sing praises to God; sing praises; Sing praises to our King; sing praises;
8 For God is King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding.
9 God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.
10 The rulers of the people gather together With the God of Abraham, For God’s mighty ones of the earth are greatly exalted.
Proverbs of Solomon 9
16 A woman in need of a morsel is without discernment and overbold; She has no sense of shame.
17 She sits upon the doors of her own house, Upon a seat openly in the streets,
18 Calling to those who pass by And who go straight along their paths,
19 “He who is very lacking in discernment, let him turn aside to me; And he who is in need of discernment, I exhort, saying,
20 ‘Grasp with pleasure the secret bread And the sweet water of theft.’ ”
Mark 2
Sins Are Forgiven: A Paralytic
1 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.†
2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘ Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic,
11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Sinners Are Welcome: Levi
13 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.†
14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.
16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Jesus Transcends the Fast
18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”†
19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.
22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
Jesus Transcends the Sabbath
23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.†
24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
25 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:
26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”
27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”