Exodus 33
God Orders Israel to Depart Sinai
1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people you brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your seed I will give it.’
2 I will send My Angel before your face, and I will drive out the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Gergesite, the Hivite, the Jebusite, and the Canaanite.
3 I will bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.Ӡ
4 When the people heard this bad news, they mourned in lamentations.
5 For the Lord said to the children of Israel, “You are a stiff-necked people. Beware, lest I inflict another plague on you and consume you. Now therefore, take off your bright clothes and ornaments, and I will show you what I will do.”
6 So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their bright clothes and ornaments by Mount Horeb.
Moses before the Lord
7 Moses then took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of testimony. Thus it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of testimony, which was outside the camp.†
8 So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, which was outside the camp, all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he went into the tabernacle.
9 Now it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and God talked to Moses.
10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man at his tent door.
11 Thus the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
God Promises His Presence
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you above all, and you have also found grace in My sight.’
13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, reveal Yourself to me, that I may see You clearly and find grace in Your sight, and know this great nation is Your people.”
14 So He said, “I Myself will go before you and give you rest.”
15 Then he said to Him, “If You Yourself do not go up with us, do not bring us up from here.
16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So both I and Your people shall be glorified beyond all the nations on the earth.”
17 The Lord then said to Moses, “I will also do this thing you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you above all.”
18 Moses replied, “Reveal Yourself to me.”
19 Then God said, “I will pass before you in My glory, and I will proclaim My name, the Lord, before you. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”†
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man can see My face and live.”†
21 Moreover, the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me: you shall stand on the rock.†
22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.†
23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.Ӡ
Psalms 71
1 For Solomon. †O God, give Your judgments to the King, And Your righteousness to the King’s Son,
2 That He may judge Your people in righteousness And Your poor with judgment.
3 Let the mountains raise up peace for Your people And the hills in righteousness.
4 He shall judge the poor of the people, And shall serve the sons of the poor; He shall humble the false accuser,
5 And He shall continue as long as the sun And before the moon from generation to generation;
6 And He shall come down like rain on the fleece, Like raindrops falling on the earth.
7 In His days, righteousness and abundance of peace shall flourish, Until the moon is removed.
8 And He shall rule from sea to sea, And from the river to the ends of the inhabited earth.
9 The Ethiopians shall bow down before Him, And His enemies shall lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and their islands will come bearing gifts; The kings of Arabia and Saba will bring presents.
11 All the kings of the earth shall worship Him; All the Gentiles shall serve Him.
12 For He rescued the poor from the hand of a strong man, And the needy, for whom there was no helper.
13 He shall spare the poor and needy, And He shall save the souls of the needy;
14 He shall redeem their souls from usury and injustice, And precious shall be their name in His sight.
15 He shall live, and there shall be given Him from the gold of Arabia; They shall pray continually because of Him, All the day long shall they bless Him.
16 He shall be a support on the earth upon the summits of the mountains; His fruit shall be exalted more than Lebanon, And they shall flourish from the city like the grass of the earth.
17 Let His name be blessed unto the ages; His name shall remain before the sun, And all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed in Him; All the Gentiles shall bless Him.
18 Blessed is the Lord God, The God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
19 And blessed is the name of His glory forever and unto ages of ages, And all the earth shall be filled with His glory. Amen! Amen!
20 The hymns of David the son of Jesse are ended.
Proverbs of Solomon 14
31 A man with a gentle spirit is a healer of the heart, But a sensual heart is the moth of the bones.†
32 He who oppresses the poor provokes his Maker, But he who honors Him has mercy upon a poor man.
33 In his evil an ungodly man will be rejected, But a righteous man has confidence in his own holiness.
34 There is wisdom in the good heart of a man, But wisdom is unknown in the heart of those without discernment.†
35 Righteousness exalts a nation, But sins diminish tribes.
36 A wise servant is acceptable to a king, And by his own versatility he removes dishonor.
Luke 1
John Born and Named
57 Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son.
58 When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.
59 So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias.†
60 His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.”†
61 But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.”
62 So they made signs to his father—what he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled.
64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God.†
65 Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea.
66 And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, “What kind of child will this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.
Zacharias’s Song: The Benedictus
67 Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:
68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David,
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began,
71 That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us,
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
74 To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
John’s Growth
80 So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.†