Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Exodus 15:1–21

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: "I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. ²The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. ³The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name. ⁴Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea. ⁵The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone. ⁶"Your right hand, O LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy. ⁷In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble. ⁸By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea. ⁹"The enemy boasted, 'I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.' ¹⁰But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. ¹¹"Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you-- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? ¹²You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them. ¹³"In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. ¹⁴The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia. ¹⁵The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away; ¹⁶terror and dread will fall upon them. By the power of your arm they will be as still as a stone-- until your people pass by, O LORD, until the people you bought pass by. ¹⁷You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance-- the place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established. ¹⁸The LORD will reign for ever and ever."

¹⁹When Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. ²⁰Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. ²¹Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea."

Psalm 81

¹For the director of music. According to [gittith.] Of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob! ²Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre. ³Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast; ⁴this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. ⁵He established it as a statute for Joseph when he went out against Egypt, where we heard a language we did not understand. ⁶He says, "I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. ⁷In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. [Selah] ⁸"Hear, O my people, and I will warn you-- if you would but listen to me, O Israel! ⁹You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. ¹⁰I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. ¹¹"But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. ¹²So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. ¹³"If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, ¹⁴how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! ¹⁵Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. ¹⁶But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Romans 11:11–24

¹¹Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. ¹²But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!

¹³I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry ¹⁴in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. ¹⁵For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." ²⁰Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. ²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

²²Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. ²³And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!