The Second Plague: Frogs

1 ¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that ⁿthey may serve me. 2 But if you ^orefuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with ^pfrogs. 3 The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into ^qyour bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people,² and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 4 The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.”’” 5 ³ And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ^r‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!’” 6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and ^sthe frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7 But ^tthe magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, ^u“Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and ^vI will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when ^uI am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” 10 And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, so ^wthat you may know that ^xthere is no one like the Lord our God. 11 The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.” 12 So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.⁴ 13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 14 And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a ^yrespite, he ^zhardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Third Plague: Gnats

16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ^a‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’” 17 And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and ^bthere were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. 18 The ^cmagicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. 19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is ^dthe finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Fourth Plague: Flies

20 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^e“Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, ^f“Let my people go, that they may serve me. 21 Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. 22 But on that day ^gI will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, ^hthat you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.⁵ 23 Thus I will put a division⁶ between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.”’” 24 And the Lord did so. ⁱThere came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants’ houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by the swarms of flies.

25 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 26 But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an ^jabomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings ^jabominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? 27 We must go ^kthree days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God ^las he tells us.” 28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. ^mPlead for me.” 29 Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh ⁿcheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 31 And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. 32 But Pharaoh ^ohardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.

The Fifth Plague: Egyptian Livestock Die

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^p“Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says ^qthe Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, 3 behold, ^rthe hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4 ^sBut the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”’” 5 And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did this thing. ^tAll the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. 7 And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But ^uthe heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become ^vboils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” 10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. 11 And ^wthe magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. 12 ^xBut the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as ^ythe Lord had spoken to Moses.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^z“Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself,⁷ and on your servants and your people, so ^athat you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 ^bBut for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so ^cthat my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 ^dYou are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 18 Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 Now therefore send, ^eget your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’” 20 Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, 21 but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be ^fhail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” 23 Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the ^gLord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24 There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail ^hstruck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. 26 ⁱOnly in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

27 Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time ^jI have sinned; the ^kLord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 ^lPlead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” 29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, ^mI will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that ⁿthe earth is the Lord’s. 30 But as for you and your servants, ^oI know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” 31 (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32 But the wheat and the emmer⁸ were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) 33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and ^mstretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. 34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and ^phardened his heart, ^qhe and his servants. 35 So ^rthe heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

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A Psalm of David.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

1 ^lIn those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 ^m“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, ⁿ“Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and ^ohaving given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And ^phaving blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And ^qthey ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, ⁿseven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into ^rthe boat with his disciples and went to the district of ^sDalmanutha.¹

The Pharisees Demand a Sign

11 ^tThe Pharisees came and began to argue with him, ^useeking from him ^va sign from heaven ^wto test him. 12 And ^xhe sighed deeply ^yin his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And ^zhe left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; ^abeware of ^bthe leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of ^cHerod.”² 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And ^dJesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? ^eDo you not yet perceive ^for understand? ^fAre your hearts hardened? 18 ^gHaving eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke ^hthe five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And ⁱthe seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

22 And they came ^jto Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And ^khe took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when ^khe had ^lspit on his eyes and ^mlaid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus³ laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, ⁿ“Do not even enter the village.”

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

27 ^oAnd Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, ^p“John the Baptist; and others say, ^qElijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, ^r“You are ^sthe Christ.” 30 ^tAnd he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

31 ^uAnd he began to teach them that ^vthe Son of Man must ^wsuffer many things and ^xbe rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and ^yafter three days rise again. 32 And he said this ^zplainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ^a“Get behind me, Satan! For you ^bare not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him ^cdeny himself and ^dtake up his cross and follow me. 35 For ^dwhoever would save his life⁴ will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake ^eand the gospel’s will save it. 36 ^fFor what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For ^gwhat can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For ^hwhoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this ⁱadulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed ^jwhen he comes in the glory of his Father with ^kthe holy angels.”