Monday, 11 March

1.   Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." 2.   And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." 3.   "So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4.   And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!" 5.   So when Aaron saw it , he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD." 6.   Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 7.   And the LORD said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves . 8.   "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’" 9.   And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff–necked people! 10.   "Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." 11.   Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: "LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12.   "Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13.   "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’" 14.   So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. 15.   And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. 16.   Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. 17.   And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, " There is a noise of war in the camp." 18.   But he said: " It is not the noise of the shout of victory, Nor the noise of the cry of defeat, But the sound of singing I hear." 19.   So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20.   Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it . 21.   And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?" 22.   So Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23.   "For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24.   "And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out." 25.   Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), 26.   then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the LORD’S side–– come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27.   And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’" 28.   So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29.   Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother." 30.   Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." 31.   Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32.   "Yet now, if You will forgive their sin––but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written." 33.   And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34.   "Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin." 35.   So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.

1.   <> I said, "I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, While the wicked are before me." 2.   I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; And my sorrow was stirred up. 3.   My heart was hot within me; While I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue: 4.   "LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am . 5.   Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah 6.   Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches , And does not know who will gather them. 7.   "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. 8.   Deliver me from all my transgressions; Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. 9.   I was mute, I did not open my mouth, Because it was You who did it . 10.   Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. 11.   When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; Surely every man is vapor. Selah 12.   "Hear my prayer, O LORD, And give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner, as all my fathers were . 13.   Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, Before I go away and am no more."

1.   <> I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. 2.   He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. 3.   He has put a new song in my mouth––Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. 4.   Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. 5.   Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them , They are more than can be numbered. 6.   Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. 7.   Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. 8.   I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart." 9.   I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O LORD, You Yourself know. 10.   I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly. 11.   Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me. 12.   For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me. 13.   Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me! 14.   Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion Who seek to destroy my life; Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor Who wish me evil. 15.   Let them be confounded because of their shame, Who say to me, "Aha, aha!" 16.   Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, "The LORD be magnified!" 17.   But I am poor and needy; Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

1.   Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed. 2.   But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. 3.   Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4.   But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles. 5.   And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them, 6.   they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. 7.   And they were preaching the gospel there. 8.   And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9.   This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10.   said with a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet!" And he leaped and walked. 11.   Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language , "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!" 12.   And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13.   Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. 14.   But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out 15.   and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, 16.   "who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. 17.   "Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." 18.   And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them. 19.   Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20.   However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 21.   And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22.   strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying , "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." 23.   So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. 24.   And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. 25.   Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26.   From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. 27.   Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28.   So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.