Proper 23 (28)

1Verse 1. Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!” 2Verse 2. So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” 3Verse 3. Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4Verse 4. He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5Verse 5. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the calf and proclaimed: “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6Verse 6. So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. 7Verse 7. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8Verse 8. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’” 9Verse 9. The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. 10Verse 10. Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” 11Verse 11. But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12Verse 12. Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people. 13Verse 13. Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’” 14Verse 14. So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.

1Verse 1. O LORD, You are my God! I will exalt You; I will praise Your name. For You have worked wonders — plans formed long ago — in perfect faithfulness. 2Verse 2. Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. 3Verse 3. Therefore, a strong people will honor You. The cities of ruthless nations will revere You. 4Verse 4. For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall, 5Verse 5. like heat in a dry land. You subdue the uproar of foreigners. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat, so the song of the ruthless is silenced. 6Verse 6. On this mountain the LORD of Hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all the peoples, a feast of aged wine, of choice meat, of finely aged wine. 7Verse 7. On this mountain He will swallow up the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8Verse 8. He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. 9Verse 9. And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”