Exodus 14; Exodus 15; Matthew 17

Exodus 14

1 Then the LORD said to Moses:

2 Tell the Israelites to turn back and set up camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea in front of Baal-zephon. You should set up camp in front of it by the sea.

3 Pharaoh will think to himself, The Israelites are lost and confused in the land. The desert has trapped them.

4 I'll make Pharaoh stubborn, and he'll chase them. I'll gain honor at the expense of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD. And they did exactly that.

5 When Egypt's king was told that the people had run away, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people. They said, "What have we done, letting Israel go free from their slavery to us?"

6 So he sent for his chariot and took his army with him.

7 He took six hundred elite chariots and all of Egypt's other chariots with captains on all of them.

8 The LORD made Pharaoh, Egypt's king, stubborn, and he chased the Israelites, who were leaving confidently.

9 The Egyptians, including all of Pharaoh's horse-drawn chariots, his cavalry, and his army, chased them and caught up with them as they were camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth in front of Baal-zephon.

10 As Pharaoh drew closer, the Israelites looked back and saw the Egyptians marching toward them. The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the LORD.

11 They said to Moses, "Weren't there enough graves in Egypt that you took us away to die in the desert? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt like this?

12 Didn't we tell you the same thing in Egypt? ‘Leave us alone! Let us work for the Egyptians!' It would have been better for us to work for the Egyptians than to die in the desert."

13 But Moses said to the people, "Don't be afraid. Stand your ground, and watch the LORD rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never ever see again.

14 The LORD will fight for you. You just keep still."

15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to get moving.

16 As for you, lift your shepherd's rod, stretch out your hand over the sea, and split it in two so that the Israelites can go into the sea on dry ground.

17 But me, I'll make the Egyptians stubborn so that they will go in after them, and I'll gain honor at the expense of Pharaoh, all his army, his chariots, and his cavalry.

18 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I gain honor at the expense of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his cavalry."

19 God's messenger, who had been in front of Israel's camp, moved and went behind them. The column of cloud moved from the front and took its place behind them.

20 It stood between Egypt's camp and Israel's camp. The cloud remained there, and when darkness fell it lit up the night. They didn't come near each other all night.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD pushed the sea back by a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land. The waters were split into two.

22 The Israelites walked into the sea on dry ground. The waters formed a wall for them on their right hand and on their left.

23 The Egyptians chased them and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and cavalry.

24 As morning approached, the LORD looked down on the Egyptian camp from the column of lightning and cloud and threw the Egyptian camp into a panic.

25 The LORD jammed their chariot wheels so that they wouldn't turn easily. The Egyptians said, "Let's get away from the Israelites, because the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!"

26 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water comes back and covers the Egyptians, their chariots, and their cavalry."

27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. At daybreak, the sea returned to its normal depth. The Egyptians were driving toward it, and the LORD tossed the Egyptians into the sea.

28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the cavalry, Pharaoh's entire army that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained.

29 The Israelites, however, walked on dry ground through the sea. The waters formed a wall for them on their right hand and on their left.

30 The LORD rescued Israel from the Egyptians that day. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

31 Israel saw the amazing power of the LORD against the Egyptians. The people were in awe of the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.

Exodus 15

1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for an overflowing victory! Horse and rider he threw into the sea!

2 The LORD is my strength and my power; he has become my salvation. This is my God, whom I will praise, the God of my ancestors, whom I will acclaim.

3 The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.

4 Pharaoh's chariots and his army he hurled into the sea; his elite captains were sunk in the Reed Sea.

5 The deep sea covered them; they sank into the deep waters like a stone.

6 Your strong hand, LORD, is dominant in power; your strong hand, LORD, shatters the enemy!

7 With your great surge you overthrow your opponents; you send out your hot anger; it burns them up like straw.

8 With the breath of your nostrils the waters swelled up, the floods surged up in a great wave; the deep waters foamed in the depths of the sea.

9 The enemy said, "I'll pursue, I'll overtake, I'll divide the spoils of war. I'll be overfilled with them. I'll draw my sword; my hand will destroy them."

10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered over them. They sank like lead in the towering waters.

11 Who is like you among the gods, LORD? Who is like you, foremost in holiness, worthy of highest praise, doing awesome deeds?

12 You raised your strong hand; earth swallowed them up.

13 With your great loyalty you led the people you rescued; with your power you guided them to your sanctuary.

14 The peoples heard, they shook in terror; horror grabbed hold of Philistia's inhabitants.

15 Then Edom's tribal chiefs were terrified; panic grabbed hold of Moab's rulers; all of Canaan's inhabitants melted in fear.

16 Terror and fear came over them; because of your great power, they were as still as a stone until your people, LORD, passed by, until the people you made your own passed by.

17 You brought them in and planted them on your own mountain, the place, LORD, that you made your home, the sanctuary, LORD, that your hand created.

18 The LORD will rule forever and always.

19 When Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and cavalry went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

20 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand. All the women followed her playing tambourines and dancing.

21 Miriam sang the refrain back to them: Sing to the LORD, for an overflowing victory! Horse and rider he threw into the sea!

22 Then Moses had Israel leave the Reed Sea and go out into the Shur desert. They traveled for three days in the desert and found no water.

23 When they came to Marah, they couldn't drink Marah's water because it was bitter. That's why it was called Marah.

24 The people complained against Moses, "What will we drink?"

25 Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD pointed out a tree to him. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. The LORD made a regulation and a ruling there, and there he tested them.

26 The LORD said, "If you are careful to obey the LORD your God, do what God thinks is right, pay attention to his commandments, and keep all of his regulations, then I won't bring on you any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the LORD who heals you."

27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They camped there by the water.

Matthew 17

1 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain.

2 He was transformed in front of them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.

3 Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.

4 Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, "Lord, it's good that we're here. If you want, I'll make three shrines: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

5 While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!"

6 Hearing this, the disciples fell on their faces, filled with awe.

7 But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid."

8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Don't tell anybody about the vision until the Human One is raised from the dead."

10 The disciples asked, "Then why do the legal experts say that Elijah must first come?"

11 Jesus responded, "Elijah does come first and will restore all things.

12 In fact, I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they didn't know him. But they did to him whatever they wanted. In the same way the Human One is also going to suffer at their hands."

13 Then the disciples realized he was telling them about John the Baptist.

14 When they came to the crowd, a man met Jesus. He knelt before him,

15 saying, "Lord, show mercy to my son. He is epileptic and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire or the water.

16 I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him."

17 Jesus answered, "You faithless and crooked generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me."

18 Then Jesus spoke harshly to the demon. And it came out of the child, who was healed from that time on.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and said, "Why couldn't we throw the demon out?"

20 "Because you have little faith," he said. "I assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,' and it will go. There will be nothing that you can't do."

22 When the disciples came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Human One is about to be delivered over into human hands.

23 They will kill him. But he will be raised on the third day." And they were heartbroken.

24 When they came to Capernaum, the people who collected the half-shekel temple tax came to Peter and said, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"

25 "Yes," he said. But when they came into the house, Jesus spoke to Peter first."What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect taxes, from their children or from strangers?"

26 "From strangers," he said. Jesus said to him, "Then the children don't have to pay.

27 But just so we don't offend them, go to the lake, throw out a fishing line and hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a shekel coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us."