Exodus 14; Exodus 15; Matthew 17

Exodus 14

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the children of Israel: Let them turn and encamp over against Phihahiroth, which is between Magdal and the sea over against Beelsephon: you shall encamp before it upon the sea.

3 And Pharao will say of the children of Israel: They are straitened in the land, the desert hath shut them in.

4 And I shall harden his heart and he will pursue you: and I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in all his army: and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so.

5 And it was told the king of the Egyptians that the people was fled: and the heart of Pharao and of his servants was changed with regard to the people, and they said: What meant we to do, that we let Israel go from serving us?

6 So he made ready his chariot, and took all his people with him.

7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots that were in Egypt: and the captains of the whole army.

8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao, king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; but they were gone forth in a mighty hand.

9 And when the Egyptians followed the steps of them who were gone before, they found them encamped at the sea side: all Pharao’s horse and chariots and the whole army were in Phihahiroth, before Beelsephon.

10 And when Pharao drew near, the children of Israel lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians behind them: and they feared exceedingly, and cried to the Lord.

11 And they said to Moses: Perhaps there were no graves in Egypt, therefore thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness: why wouldst thou do this, to lead us out of Egypt?

12 Is not this the word that we spoke to thee in Egypt, saying: Depart from us, that we may serve the Egyptians? for it was much better to serve them, than to die in the wilderness.

13 And Moses said to the people: Fear not: stand, and see the great wonders of the Lord, which he will do this day; for the Egyptians, whom you see now, you shall see no more for ever.

14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

15 And the Lord said to Moses: Why criest thou to me? Speak to the children of Israel to go forward.

16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground.

17 And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians to pursue you: and I will be glorified in Pharao, and in all his host, and in his chariots and in his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen.

19 And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removing, went behind them: and together with him the pillar of the cloud, leaving the forepart,

20 Stood behind, between the Egyptians’ camp and the camp of Israel: and it was a dark cloud, and enlightening the night, so that they could not come at one another all the night.

21 And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided.

22 And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up; for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left.

23 And the Egyptians pursuing went in after them, and all Pharao’s horses, his chariots and horsemen, through the midst of the sea.

24 And now the morning watch was come, and behold the Lord looking upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host.

25 And overthrew the wheels of the chariots, and they were carried into the deep. And the Egyptians said: Let us flee from Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against us.

26 And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen.

27 And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day to the former place: and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves.

28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain.

29 But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left:

30 And the Lord delivered Israel in that day out of the hands of the Egyptians.

31 And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and the mighty hand that the Lord had used against them: and the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord, and Moses his servant.

Exodus 15

1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sung this canticle to the Lord, and said: Let us sing to the Lord: for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and the rider he hath thrown into the sea.

2 The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he is become salvation to me: he is my God, and I will glorify him: the God of my father, and I will exalt him.

3 The Lord is as a man of war, Almighty is his name.

4 Pharao’s chariots and his army he hath cast into the sea: his chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea.

5 The depths have covered them, they are sunk to the bottom like a stone.

6 Thy right hand, O Lord, is magnified in strength: thy right hand, O Lord, hath slain the enemy.

7 And in the multitude of thy glory thou hast put down thy adversaries: thou hast sent thy wrath, which hath devoured them like stubble.

8 And with the blast of thy anger the waters were gathered together: the flowing water stood, the depths were gathered together in the midst of the sea.

9 The enemy said: I will pursue and overtake, I will divide the spoils, my soul shall have its fill: I will draw my sword, my hand shall slay them.

10 Thy wind blew and the sea covered them: they sunk as lead in the mighty waters.

11 Who is like to thee, among the strong, O Lord? who is like to thee, glorious in holiness, terrible and praise-worthy, doing wonders?

12 Thou stretchedst forth thy hand, and the earth swallowed them.

13 In thy mercy thou hast been a leader to the people which thou hast redeemed: and in thy strength thou hast carried them to thy holy habitation.

14 Nations rose up, and were angry: sorrows took hold on the inhabitants of Philisthiim.

15 Then were the princes of Edom troubled, trembling seized on the stout men of Moab: all the inhabitants of Chanaan became stiff.

16 Let fear and dread fall upon them, in the greatness of thy arm: let them become immoveable as a stone, until thy people, O Lord, pass by: until this thy people pass by, which thou hast possessed.

17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thy inheritance, in thy most firm habitation, which thou hast made, O Lord; thy sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.

18 The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.

19 For Pharao went in on horseback with his chariots and horsemen into the sea: and the Lord brought back upon them the waters of the sea: but the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst thereof.

20 So Mary the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand: and all the women went forth after her with timbrels and with dances.

21 And she began the song to them, saying: Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and his rider he hath thrown into the sea.

22 And Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went forth into the wilderness of Sur: and they marched three days through the wilderness, and found no water.

23 And they came into Mara, and they could not drink the waters of Mara because they were bitter: whereupon he gave a name also agreeable to the place, calling it Mara, that is, bitterness.

24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying: What shall we drink?

25 But he cried to the Lord, and he shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, they were turned into sweetness. There he appointed him ordinances, and judgments, and there he proved him,

26 Saying: If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before him, and obey his commandments, and keep all his precepts, none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer.

27 And the children of Israel came into Elim, where there were twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped by the waters.

Matthew 17

1 And after six days Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart:

2 And he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow.

3 And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him.

4 And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

5 And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.

6 And the disciples hearing fell upon their face, and were very much afraid.

7 And Jesus came and touched them: and said to them: Arise, and fear not.

8 And they lifting up their eyes, saw no one, but only Jesus.

9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead.

10 And his disciples asked him, saying: Why then do the scribes say that Elias must come first?

11 But he answering, said to them: Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things.

12 But I say to you, that Elias is already come, and they knew him not, But have done unto him whatsoever they had a mind. So also the Son of man shall suffer from them.

13 Then the disciples understood, that he had spoken to them of John the Baptist.

14 And when he was come to the multitude, there came to him a man falling down on his knees before him saying:

15 Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic, and suffereth much: for he falleth often into the fire, and often into the water.

16 (17-15) And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

17 (17-16) Then Jesus answered and said: O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.

18 (17-17) And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour.

19 (17-18) Then came the disciples to Jesus secretly, and said: Why could not we cast him out?

20 (17-19) Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief. For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove: and nothing shall be impossible to you.

21 (17-20) But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting.

22 (17-21) And when they abode together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men:

23 (17-22) And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall rise again. And they were troubled exceedingly.

24 (17-23) And when they were come to Capharnaum, they that received the didrachmas, came to Peter, and said to him: Doth not your master pay the didrachma?

25 (17-24) He said: Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying: What is thy opinion, Simon? The kings of the earth, of whom do they receive tribute or custom, of their own children, or of strangers?

26 (17-25) And he said: Of strangers. Jesus said to him: Then the children are free.

27 (17-26) But that we may not scandalize them, go to the sea, and cast in a hook: and that fish which shall first come up, take: and when thou hast opened it’s mouth, thou shalt find a stater: take that, and give it to them for me and thee.