◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 91:1-2 9-16 (God shall keep you); Exodus 5:10-23 (Israel labors in Egypt); Acts 7:30-34 (Moses called from the burning bush to the exodus) (New English Translation)

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March 6, 2025

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 91:1-2

Psalm 91^[a]

91 As for you, the one who lives^[b] in the shelter of the Most High,^[c]
and resides in the protective shadow^[d] of the Sovereign One^[e]—
²I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,
my God in whom I trust—

Psalm 91:9-16

⁹For you have taken refuge in the Lord,
my shelter, the Most High.
¹⁰No harm will overtake^[a] you;
no illness^[b] will come near your home.^[c]
¹¹For he will order his angels^[d]
to protect you in all you do.^[e]
¹²They will lift you up in their hands,
so you will not slip and fall on a stone.^[f]
¹³You will subdue^[g] a lion and a snake;^[h]
you will trample underfoot a young lion and a serpent.
¹⁴The Lord says,^[i]
“Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him;
I will protect him^[j] because he is loyal to me.^[k]
¹⁵When he calls out to me, I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble;
I will rescue him and bring him honor.
¹⁶I will satisfy him with long life,^[l]
and will let him see my salvation.”

Exodus 5:10-23

¹⁰So the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said,^[a] “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I am not giving^[b] you straw. ¹¹You^[c] go get straw for yourselves wherever you can^[d] find it, because there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’” ¹²So the people spread out^[e] through all the land of Egypt to collect stubble for straw. ¹³The slave masters were pressuring^[f] them, saying, “Complete^[g] your work for each day, just like when there was straw!” ¹⁴The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh’s slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked,^[h] “Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past—both yesterday and today?”^[i]

¹⁵^[j] The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why are you treating^[k] your servants this way? ¹⁶No straw is given to your servants, but we are told,^[l] ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are even^[m] being beaten, but the fault^[n] is with your people.”

¹⁷But Pharaoh replied,^[o] “You are slackers! Slackers!^[p] That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’” ¹⁸So now, get back to work!^[q] You will not be given straw, but you must still produce^[r] your quota^[s] of bricks!” ¹⁹The Israelite foremen saw^[t] that they^[u] were in trouble when they were told,^[v] “You must not reduce the daily quota of your bricks.”

²⁰When they went out from Pharaoh, they encountered Moses and Aaron standing there to meet them,^[w] ²¹and they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge,^[x] because you have made us stink^[y] in the opinion of^[z] Pharaoh and his servants,^[aa] so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!”^[ab]

The Assurance of Deliverance

²²^[ac] Moses returned^[ad] to the Lord, and said, “Lord,^[ae] why have you caused trouble for this people?^[af] Why did you ever^[ag] send me? ²³From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused trouble^[ah] for this people, and you have certainly not rescued^[ai] them!”^[aj]

Footnotes

Exodus 5:10 tn Heb “went out and spoke to the people saying.” Here “the people” has been specified as “the Israelites” for clarity.
Exodus 5:10 tn The construction uses the negative particle combined with a subject suffix before the participle: אֵינֶנִּי נֹתֵן (ʾenenni noten, “there is not I—giving”).
Exodus 5:11 tn The independent personal pronoun emphasizes that the people were to get their own straw, and it heightens the contrast with the king. “You—go get.”
Exodus 5:11 tn The tense in this section could be translated as having the nuance of possibility: “wherever you may find it,” or the nuance of potential imperfect: “wherever you are able to find any.”
Exodus 5:12 tn The verb וַיָּפֶץ (vayyafets) is from the hollow root פּוּץ (puts) and means “scatter, spread abroad.”
Exodus 5:13 tn Or “pressed.”
Exodus 5:13 tn כַּלּוּ (kallu) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of filling up the quota.
Exodus 5:14 tn The quotation is introduced with the common word לֵאמֹר (leʾmor, “saying”) and no mention of who said the question.
Exodus 5:14 sn The idioms for time here are found also in 3:10 and 5:7-8. This question no doubt represents many accusations shouted at Israelites during the period when it was becoming obvious that, despite all their efforts, they were unable to meet their quotas as before.
Exodus 5:15 sn The last section of this event tells the effect of the oppression on Israel, first on the people (15-19) and then on Moses and Aaron (20-21). The immediate reaction of Israel was to cry to Pharaoh—something they would learn should be directed to God. When Pharaoh rebuffed them harshly, they turned bitterly against their leaders.
Exodus 5:15 tn The imperfect tense should be classified here with the progressive imperfect nuance, because the harsh treatment was a present reality.
Exodus 5:16 tn Heb “[they] are saying to us,” the line can be rendered as a passive since there is no expressed subject for the participle.
Exodus 5:16 tn הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to the action reflected in the passive participle מֻכִּים (mukkim): “look, your servants are being beaten.”
Exodus 5:16 tn The word rendered “fault” is the basic OT verb for “sin”—וְחָטָאת (v^ekhataʾt). The problem is that it is pointed as a perfect tense, feminine singular verb. Some other form of the verb would be expected, or a noun. But the basic word-group means “to err, sin, miss the mark, way, goal.” The word in this context seems to indicate that the people of Pharaoh—the slave masters—have failed to provide the straw. Hence: “fault” or “they failed.” But, as indicated, the line has difficult grammar, for it would literally translate: “and you [fem.] sin your people.” Many commentators (so GKC 206 §74.g) wish to emend the text to read with the Greek and the Syriac, thus: “you sin against your own people” (meaning the Israelites are his loyal subjects).
Exodus 5:17 tn Heb “And he said.”
Exodus 5:17 tn Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים (nirpim) is derived from the verb רָפָה (rafah), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.”
Exodus 5:18 tn The text has two imperatives: “go, work.” They may be used together to convey one complex idea (so a use of hendiadys): “go back to work.”
Exodus 5:18 tn The imperfect תִּתֵּנּוּ (tittennu) is here taken as an obligatory imperfect: “you must give” or “you must produce.”
Exodus 5:18 sn B. Jacob is amazed at the wealth of this tyrant’s vocabulary in describing the work of others. Here, תֹכֶן (tokhen) is another word for “quota” of bricks, the fifth word used to describe their duty (Exodus, 137).
Exodus 5:19 tn The common Hebrew verb translated “saw,” like the common English verb for seeing, is also used to refer to mental perception and understanding, as in the question “See what I mean?” The foremen understood how difficult things would be under this ruling.
Exodus 5:19 tn The text has the sign of the accusative with a suffix and then a prepositional phrase: אֹתָם בְּרָע (ʾotam b^eraʿ), meaning something like “[they saw] them in trouble” or “themselves in trouble.” Gesenius shows a few examples where the accusative of the reflexive pronoun is represented by the sign of the accusative with a suffix, and these with marked emphasis (GKC 439 §135.k).
Exodus 5:19 tn The clause “when they were told” translates לֵאמֹר (leʾmor), which usually simply means “saying.” The thing that was said was clearly the decree that was given to them.
Exodus 5:20 sn Moses and Aaron would not have made the appeal to Pharaoh that these Hebrew foremen did, but they were concerned to see what might happen, and so they waited to meet the foremen when they came out.
Exodus 5:21 tn The foremen vented their anger on Moses and Aaron. The two jussives express their desire that the evil these two have caused be dealt with. “May Yahweh look on you and may he judge” could mean only that God should decide if Moses and Aaron are at fault, but given the rest of the comments it is clear the foremen want more. The second jussive could be subordinated to the first—“so that he may judge [you].”
Exodus 5:21 tn Heb “you have made our aroma stink.”
Exodus 5:21 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
Exodus 5:21 tn Heb “in the eyes of his servants.” This phrase is not repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Exodus 5:21 tn Heb “to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” The infinitive construct with the lamed (לָתֶת, latet) signifies the result (“so that”) of making the people stink. Their reputation is now so bad that Pharaoh might gladly put them to death. The next infinitive could also be understood as expressing result: “put a sword in their hand so that they can kill us.”
Exodus 5:22 sn In view of the apparent failure of the mission, Moses seeks Yahweh for assurance. The answer from Yahweh not only assures him that all is well, but that there will be a great deliverance. The passage can be divided into three parts: the complaint of Moses (5:22-23), the promise of Yahweh (6:1-9), and the instructions for Moses (6:10-13). Moses complains because God has not delivered his people as he had said he would, and God answers that he will because he is the sovereign covenant God who keeps his word. Therefore, Moses must keep his commission to speak God’s word. See further, E. A. Martens, “Tackling Old Testament Theology,” JETS 20 (1977): 123-32. The message is very similar to that found in the NT, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Pet 3:4). The complaint of Moses (5:22-23) can be worded with Peter’s “Where is the promise of his coming?” theme; the assurance from Yahweh (6:1-9) can be worded with Peter’s “The Lord is not slack in keeping his promises” (2 Pet 3:9); and the third part, the instructions for Moses (6:10-13) can be worded with Peter’s “Prepare for the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Pet 3:12). The people who speak for God must do so in the sure confidence of the coming deliverance—Moses with the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, and Christians with the deliverance from this sinful world.
Exodus 5:22 tn Heb “and Moses returned.”
Exodus 5:22 tn The designation in Moses’ address is “Lord” (אֲדֹנָי, ʾadonay)—the term for “lord” or “master” but pointed as it would be when it represents the tetragrammaton.
Exodus 5:22 tn The verb is הֲרֵעֹתָה (hareʿotah), the Hiphil perfect of רָעַע (raʿaʿ). The word itself means “to do evil,” and in this stem “to cause evil”—but evil in the sense of pain, calamity, trouble, or affliction, and not always in the sense of sin. Certainly not here. That God had allowed Pharaoh to oppose them had brought greater pain to the Israelites.sn Moses’ question is rhetorical; the point is more of a complaint or accusation to God, although there is in it the desire to know why. B. Jacob (Exodus, 139) comments that such frank words were a sign of the man’s closeness to God. God never has objected to such bold complaints by the devout. He then notes how God was angered by his defenders in the book of Job rather than by Job’s heated accusations.
Exodus 5:22 tn The demonstrative pronoun serves for emphasis in the question (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118). This second question continues Moses’ bold approach to God, more chiding than praying. He is implying that if this was the result of the call, then God had no purpose calling him (compare Jeremiah’s similar complaint in Jer 20).
Exodus 5:23 sn Now the verb (הֵרַע, heraʿ) has a different subject—Pharaoh. The ultimate cause of the trouble was God, but the immediate cause was Pharaoh and the way he increased the work. Meanwhile, the Israelite foremen have pinned most of the blame on Moses and Aaron. Moses knows all about the sovereignty of God, and as he speaks in God’s name, he sees the effect it has on pagans like Pharaoh. So the rhetorical questions are designed to prod God to act differently.
Exodus 5:23 tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic: וְהַצֵּל לֹא־הִצַּלְתָּ (v^ehatsel loʾ hitsalta). The verb נָצַל (natsal) means “to deliver, rescue” in the sense of plucking out, even plundering. The infinitive absolute strengthens both the idea of the verb and the negative. God had not delivered this people at all.
Exodus 5:23 tn Heb “your people.” The pronoun (“them”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons here, to avoid redundancy.

Acts 7:30-34

³⁰“After^[a] forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert^[b] of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.^[c] ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached to investigate, there came the voice of the Lord, ³²‘I am the God of your forefathers,^[d] the God of Abraham, Isaac,^[e] and Jacob.’^[f] Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely.^[g] ³³But the Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.^[h] ³⁴I have certainly seen the suffering^[i] of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them.^[j] Now^[k] come, I will send you to Egypt.’^[l]

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 91[a]

Footnotes

Footnotes

The Assurance of Deliverance

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 91^[a]