April 23, 2022

 Exodus 32:1–16

¹When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."

²Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." ³So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

⁵When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." ⁶So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

⁷Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. ⁸They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'

⁹"I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."

¹¹But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. "O LORD," he said, "why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. ¹³Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.' " ¹⁴Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

¹⁵Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. ¹⁶The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

 

 

Psalm 104

¹Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. ²He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent ³and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. ⁴He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. ⁵He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. ⁶You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. ⁷But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; ⁸they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. ⁹You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth. ¹⁰He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. ¹¹They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. ¹²The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. ¹³He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work. ¹⁴He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate-- bringing forth food from the earth: ¹⁵wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart. ¹⁶The trees of the LORD are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. ¹⁷There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the pine trees. ¹⁸The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the coneys. ¹⁹The moon marks off the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. ²⁰You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the forest prowl. ²¹The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God. ²²The sun rises, and they steal away; they return and lie down in their dens. ²³Then man goes out to his work, to his labor until evening. ²⁴How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. ²⁵There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number-- living things both large and small. ²⁶There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. ²⁷These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. ²⁸When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. ²⁹When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. ³⁰When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. ³¹May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works-- ³²he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke. ³³I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. ³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD. ³⁵But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD.

 

 

Mark 6:45–56

⁴⁵Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

⁴⁷When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. ⁴⁸He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, ⁴⁹but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, ⁵⁰because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." ⁵¹Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, ⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. ⁵⁴As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶And wherever he went--into villages, towns or countryside--they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.