Wednesday in Season after Pentecost

14Verse 14. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15Verse 15. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16Verse 16. Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17Verse 17. This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Behold, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will turn to blood. 18Verse 18. The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’” 19Verse 19. And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt— over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs— that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.” 20Verse 20. Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised the staff and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was turned to blood. 21Verse 21. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Egypt. 22Verse 22. But the magicians of Egypt did the same things by their magic arts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. 23Verse 23. Instead, Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and did not take any of this to heart. 24Verse 24. So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river. 25Verse 25. And seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.

5Verse 5. This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD. 6Verse 6. He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7Verse 7. But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. 8Verse 8. He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit. 9Verse 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10Verse 10. I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve. 11Verse 11. Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will be the fool.” 12Verse 12. A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. 13Verse 13. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water. 14Verse 14. Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for You are my praise. 15Verse 15. Behold, they keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!” 16Verse 16. But I have not run away from being Your shepherd; I have not desired the day of despair. You know that the utterance of my lips was spoken in Your presence. 17Verse 17. Do not become a terror to me; You are my refuge in the day of disaster. 18Verse 18. Let my persecutors be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but do not let me be terrified. Bring upon them the day of disaster and shatter them with double destruction.