Bricks Without Straw

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go,^(A) so that they may hold a festival^(B) to me in the wilderness.’”

² Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord,^(C) that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”^(D)

³ Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey^(E) into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues^(F) or with the sword.”

⁴ But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor?^(G) Get back to your work!” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous,^(H) and you are stopping them from working.”

⁶ That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers^(I) and overseers in charge of the people: ⁷ “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks;^(J) let them go and gather their own straw. ⁸ But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota.^(K) They are lazy;^(L) that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’^{(M) 9} Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

¹⁰ Then the slave drivers^(N) and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. ¹¹ Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced^(O) at all.’” ¹² So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. ¹³ The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” ¹⁴ And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed,^(P) demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”

¹⁵ Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? ¹⁶ Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

¹⁷ Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy!^(Q) That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Now get to work.^(R) You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”

¹⁹ The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” ²⁰ When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, ²¹ and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge^(S) you! You have made us obnoxious^(T) to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword^(U) in their hand to kill us.”^(V)

God Promises Deliverance

²² Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people?^(W) Is this why you sent me? ²³ Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued^(X) your people at all.”

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand^(Y) he will let them go;^(Z) because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”^(AA)

² God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord.^{(AB) 3} I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,^[a](AC) but by my name^(AD) the Lord^[b](AE) I did not make myself fully known to them. ⁴ I also established my covenant^(AF) with them to give them the land^(AG) of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners.^{(AH) 5} Moreover, I have heard the groaning^(AI) of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.^(AJ)

⁶ “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.^(AK) I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem^(AL) you with an outstretched arm^(AM) and with mighty acts of judgment.^{(AN) 7} I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.^(AO) Then you will know^(AP) that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. ⁸ And I will bring you to the land^(AQ) I swore^(AR) with uplifted hand^(AS) to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.^(AT) I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”^(AU)

⁹ Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.^(AV)

¹⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹ “Go, tell^(AW) Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”^(AX)

¹² But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen^(AY) to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips^[c]?”^(AZ)

Family Record of Moses and Aaron

¹³ Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.^(BA)

²⁶ It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the Israelites out of Egypt^(BW) by their divisions.”^{(BX) 27} They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh^(BY) king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt—this same Moses and Aaron.^(BZ)

Aaron to Speak for Moses

²⁸ Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, ²⁹ he said to him, “I am the Lord.^(CA) Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”

³⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Since I speak with faltering lips,^(CB) why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God^(CC) to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.^{(CD) 2} You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. ³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,^(CE) and though I multiply my signs and wonders^(CF) in Egypt, ⁴ he will not listen^(CG) to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment^(CH) I will bring out my divisions,^(CI) my people the Israelites. ⁵ And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord^(CJ) when I stretch out my hand^(CK) against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

⁶ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded^(CL) them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old^(CM) and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

⁸ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,^(CN)’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”^(CO)

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. ¹¹ Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers,^(CP) and the Egyptian magicians^(CQ) also did the same things by their secret arts:^{(CR) 12} Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart^(CS) became hard and he would not listen^(CT) to them, just as the Lord had said.

The Plague of Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding;^(CU) he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river.^(CV) Confront him on the bank of the Nile,^(CW) and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. ¹⁶ Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship^(CX) me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.^{(CY) 17} This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord:^(CZ) With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.^{(DA) 18} The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink;^(DB) the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”^(DC)

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff^(DD) and stretch out your hand^(DE) over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels^[e] of wood and stone.”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded.^(DF) He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile,^(DG) and all the water was changed into blood.^{(DH) 21} The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

²² But the Egyptian magicians^(DI) did the same things by their secret arts,^(DJ) and Pharaoh’s heart^(DK) became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. ²³ Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water^(DL), because they could not drink the water of the river.

The Plague of Frogs

²⁵ Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like^(A) a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.^{(B) 2} He agreed to pay them a denarius^[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³ “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶ About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

⁷ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came,^(C) the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble^(D) against the landowner. ¹² ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat^(E) of the day.’

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.^(F) Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’^(G)

¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”^(H)

Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time^(I)

¹⁷ Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, ¹⁸ “We are going up to Jerusalem,^(J) and the Son of Man^(K) will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.^(L) They will condemn him to death ¹⁹ and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged^(M) and crucified.^(N) On the third day^(O) he will be raised to life!”^(P)

A Mother’s Request^(Q)

²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons^(R) came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down,^(S) asked a favor of him.

²¹ “What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”^(T)

²² “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup^(U) I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

²³ Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup,^(V) but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

²⁴ When the ten heard about this, they were indignant^(W) with the two brothers. ²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,^{(X) 27} and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man^(Y) did not come to be served, but to serve,^(Z) and to give his life as a ransom^(AA) for many.”

Two Blind Men Receive Sight^(AB)

²⁹ As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. ³⁰ Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David,^(AC) have mercy on us!”

³¹ The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

³² Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³³ “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”

³⁴ Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Psalm 37^[a]

Of David.