One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 114
January 30
“Pharaoh will not listen to you, but then I will
do even more mighty miracles in the land of
Egypt.” 10 Moses and A
aron performed these
miracles in Pharaoh’s presence, but the Lord
hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let
the Israelites leave the country.
12:1 While the I sraelites were still in the land
of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to M
oses and A
aron: 2 “From now
on, this month will be the first month of the
year for you. 3 Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this
month each family must choose a lamb or
a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for
each household. 4 If a family is too small to
eat a whole animal, let them share with another famil y in the neighborhood. Divide the
animal according to the size of each family
and how much they can eat. 5 The animal you
select must be a one-year-old male, either a
sheep or a goat, with no defects.
6 “Take special care of this chosen animal
until the evening of the fourteenth day of
this first month. Then the whole assembly
of the community of Israel must slaughter
their lamb or young goat at twilight. 7 They
are to take some of the blood and smear it
on the sides and top of the doorframes of
the houses where they eat the animal. 8 That
same night they must roast the meat over a
fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens
and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat any
of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole
animal—including the head, legs, and internal o
rgans—must be roasted over a fire. 10 Do
not leave any of it until the next morning. Burn
whatever is not eaten before morning.
11 “These are your instructions for eating
this meal: Be fully dressed,* wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your
hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is
the Lord’s Passover. 12 On that night I will pass
through the land of Egypt and strike down
every firstborn son and firstborn male animal
in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment
against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord!
13 But the blood on your doorposts will serve
as a sign, marking the houses where you are
staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over
you. This plague of death will not touch you
when I strike the land of Egypt.”
10:1 Hebrew have made his heart and his officials’ hearts heavy.
10:19 Hebrew sea of reeds.
12:11 Hebrew Bind up your loins.
MATTHEW 20:1‑28
“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the land
owner who went out early one morning to
hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to
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pay the normal daily wage* and sent them out
to work.
3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was
passing through the marketplace and saw
some people standing around doing nothing. 4 So he hired them, telling them he would
pay them whatever was right at the end of the
day. 5 So they went to work in the vineyard.
At noon and again at three o’clock he did the
same thing.
6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in
town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you
been working today?’
7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’
“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and
join the others in my vineyard.’
8 “That evening he told the foreman to call
the workers in and pay them, beginning with
the last workers first. 9 When those hired at
five o’clock were paid, each received a full
day’s wage. 10 When those hired first came to
get their pay, they assumed they would receive
more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage.
11 When they received their pay, they protested
to the owner, 12 ‘Those people worked only one
hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as
you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’
13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I
haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work
all day for the usual wage? 14 Take your money
and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the
same as you. 15 Is it against the law for me to
do what I want with my money? Should you be
jealous because I am kind to others?’
16 “So those who are last now will be first
then, and those who are first will be last.”
17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he
took the twelve disciples aside privately and
told them what was going to happen to him.
18 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusa
lem, where the Son of Man* will be betrayed
to the leading priests and the teachers of
religious law. They will sentence him to die.
19 Then they will hand him over to the Ro
mans* to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and
crucified. But on the third day he will be raised
from the dead.”
20 Then the mother of James and John, the
sons of Zebedee, came to J esus with her sons.
She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. 21 “What is
your request?” he asked.
She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my
two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one
on your right and the other on your left.”
22 But
Jesus answered by saying to them,
“You d
on’t know what you are asking! Are you
