Exodus 7; Exodus 8; Matthew 15:1-20

1 And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, I have appointed thee the god of Pharao; and Aaron, thy brother, shall be thy prophet.

2 Thou shalt speak to him all that I command thee; and he shall speak to Pharao, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

3 But I shall harden his heart, and shall multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

4 And he will not hear you: and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and will bring forth my army and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, by very great judgments.

5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, who have stretched forth my hand upon Egypt, and have brought forth the children of Israel out of the midst of them.

6 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded; so did they.

7 And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty- three, when they spoke to Pharao.

8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron:

9 When Pharao shall say to you, Shew signs; thou shalt say to Aaron: Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharao, and it shall be turned into a serpent.

10 So Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharao, and did as the Lord had commanded. And Aaron took the rod before Pharao and his servants, and it was turned into a serpent.

11 And Pharao called the wise men and the magicians; and they also by Egyptian enchantments and certain secrets, did in like manner.

12 And they every one cast down their rods, and they were turned into serpents: but Aaron’s rod devoured their rods.

13 And Pharao’s heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as the Lord had commanded.

14 And the Lord said to Moses: Pharao’s heart is hardened, he will not let the people go.

15 Go to him in the morning, behold he will go out to the waters: and thou shalt stand to meet him on the’bank of the river: and thou shalt take in thy hand the rod that was turned into a serpent.

16 And thou shalt say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews sent me to thee, saying: Let my people go to sacrifice to me in the desert: and hitherto thou wouldst not hear.

17 Thus therefore saith the Lord: In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold I will strike with the rod, that is in my hand, the water of the river, and it shall be turned into blood.

18 And the fishes that are in the river, shall die, and the waters shall be corrupted, and the Egyptians shall be afflicted when they drink the water of the river.

19 The Lord also said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Take thy rod; and stretch forth thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, and upon their rivers, and streams and pools, and all the ponds of waters, that they may be turned into blood: and let blood be in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and of stone.

20 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded: and lifting up the rod, he struck the water of the river before Pharao and his servants: and it was turned into blood.

21 And the fishes that were in the river died; and the river corrupted, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood in all the land of Egypt.

22 And the magicians of the Egyptians with their enchantments did in like manner; and Pharao’s heart was hardened, neither did he hear them, as the Lord had commanded.

23 And he turned himself away, and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to it this time also.

24 And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

25 And seven days were fully ended, after that the Lord struck the river.

1 And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.

2 But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs.

3 And the river shall bring forth an abundance of frogs; which shall come up and enter into thy house, and thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the houses of thy servants, and to thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats:

4 And the frogs shall come in to thee, and to thy people, and to all thy servants.

5 And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Stretch forth thy hand upon the streams, and upon the rivers and the pools, and bring forth frogs upon the land of Egypt.

6 And Aaron stretched forth his hand upon the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

7 And the magicians also, by their enchantments, did in like manner, and they brought forth frogs upon the land of Egypt.

8 But Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Pray ye to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

9 And Moses said to Pharao: Set me a time when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs may be driven away from thee and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and may remain only in the river.

10 And he answered: To morrow. But he said: I will do according to thy word; that thou mayest know that there is none like to the Lord our God.

11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and shall remain only in the river.

12 And Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharao: and Moses cried to the Lord for the promise, which he had made to Pharao concerning the frogs.

13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields:

14 And they gathered them together into immense heaps, and the land was corrupted.

15 And Pharao seeing that rest was given, hardened his own heart, and did not hear them, as the Lord had commanded.

16 And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Stretch forth thy rod, and strike the dust of the earth; and may there be sciniphs in all the land of Egypt.

17 And they did so. And Aaron stretched forth his hand, holding the rod; and he struck the dust of the earth, and there came sciniphs on men and on beasts: all the dust of the earth was turned into sciniphs through all the land of Egypt.

18 And the magicians with their enchantments practised in like manner, to bring forth sciniphs, and they could not: and there were sciniphs as well on men as on beasts.

19 And the magicians said to Pharao: This is the finger of God. And Pharao’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had commanded.

20 The Lord also said to Moses: Arise early, and stand before Pharao; for he will go forth to the waters: and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.

21 But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will send in upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy houses, all kind of flies: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with flies of divers kinds, and the whole land wherein they shall be.

22 And I will make the land of Gessen wonderful in that day, so that flies shall not be there: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.

24 And the Lord did so. And there came a very grievous swarm of flies into the houses of Pharao and of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt: and the land was corrupted by this kind of flies.

25 And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go and sacrifice to your God in this land.

26 And Moses said: It cannot be so: for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: now if we kill those things which the Egyptians worship, in their presence, they will stone us.

27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness; and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

28 And Pharao said: I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but go no farther: pray for me.

29 And Moses said: I will go out from thee, and will pray to the Lord: and the flies shall depart from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people to morrow: but do not deceive any more, in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

30 So Moses went out from Pharao, and prayed to the Lord.

31 And he did according to his word: and he took away the flies from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people: there was not left so much as one.

32 And Pharao’s heart was hardened, so that neither this time would he let the people go.

1 Then came to him from Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees, saying:

2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the ancients? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

3 But he answering, said to them: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition? For God said:

4 Honour thy father and mother: And: He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death.

5 But you say: Whosoever shall say to father or mother, The gift whatsoever proceedeth from me, shall profit thee.

6 And he shall not honour his father or his mother: and you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition.

7 Hypocrites, well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying:

8 This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.

9 And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.

10 And having called together the multitudes unto him, he said to them: Hear ye and understand.

11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: but what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

12 Then came his disciples, and said to him: Dost thou know that the Pharisees, when they heard this word, were scandalized?

13 But he answering, said: Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

14 Let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit.

15 And Peter answering, said to him: Expound to us this parable.

16 But he said: Are you also yet without understanding?

17 Do you not understand, that whatsoever entereth into the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the privy?

18 But the things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and those things defile a man.

19 For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies.

20 These are the things that defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands doth not defile a man.