Crossing the Read Sea

Isaiah 9:3-7 

Rejoice in the Newborn King

3 

You have multiplied exultation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as people exult when dividing plunder.

4 

For the yoke of their burden
    and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.

5 

For all the boots of the tramping warriors
    and all the garments rolled in blood
    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

6 

For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 

Great will be his authority,
    and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
    He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 1

1 The following are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel on the east side of the Jordan River, regarding the sins they committed in the desert, in the plain, opposite the Sea of Reeds, in the Paran Desert, for having maligned the white manna, regarding the sins they committed at Chatzerot, and with their abundance of gold.

2 “It is an 11-day journey from Mount Horeb via the road to Mount Se’ir, to Kadesh Barnei’a.”

3 It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year that Moses spoke to the Israelites concerning all that God had commanded him regarding them,

4 after he had smitten King Sichon of the Amorites, who dwelt in Cheshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashterot-Karnayim and in Edre’i.

5On the east side of the Jordan River, in Moab, Moses began to explain this teaching, saying,

6 “God, our God, spoke to us at Mount Horeb, saying, ‘You have dwelt too long at this mountain.

7 Turn and journey. Come to the mountain of the Amorites, and to all its neighboring places in the plain, the mountain, the lowland, the south, and the seashore; the land of the Canaanites and Lebanon, until the great river—the Euphrates River.

8 See, I have set the land before you. Come and take possession of the land that God swore to your forefathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give them and their descendants after them.’

9 I addressed you at that time, saying, ‘I cannot bear you alone:

10 God, your God, has made you great. Behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven.

11 May God, God of your forefathers, add to you a thousand times as many as you are! May He bless you as He spoke concerning you.

John 2:1-5 

Mary Points Others to Jesus

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 

2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 

3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 

4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come.” 

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 1

12 How can I bear your trouble, your burden, and your strife all by myself?

13 Ready yourselves for the appointment of men who are wise, understanding, and known among your tribes. I will appoint them as your heads.’

14 You answered me and said, ‘The plan you have spoken is good for us to do.’

15 I convinced wise and notable men to be the heads of your tribes. I made them dignitaries over you, leaders over thousands, leaders over hundreds, leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens, and sheriffs over your tribes.

16 I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear disputes between your brothers. Judge justly between every man and his fellow, even in cases between people who heap up accusations.

17 You must not favor anyone in judgment. You must hear a dispute involving a small amount of money just as readily as a dispute involving a large amount. You must not fear any man, for judgment is God’s. Bring to me any case that is too difficult for you and I will hear it.’

18 At that time, I commanded you to do all the things you should do in order to differentiate between civil and capital cases.

19 We journeyed from Horeb and traversed that entire great and frightening desert, which you saw, toward the mountain of the Amorites, as God, our God, had commanded us, and we came as far as Kadesh Barne’a.

20 I said to you, ‘You have arrived at the mountain of the Amorites, which God, our God, is giving us.

21 Behold, God, your God, has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it, as God, God of your fathers, has spoken to you. You should be neither afraid nor terrified.’

Isaiah 55:6-11 

Seek the Lord; Call on God

6 

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;

7 

let the wicked forsake their way
    and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

9 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11 

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose
    and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 1

22 All of you approached me. You said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us so that they will search out the land for us; tell us what language its inhabitants speak; the route by which we will go up; and which cities we should approach.’

23 The plan pleased me. I took 12 men from you, one man for every tribe.

24 They turned and ascended the mountain. They came to the Valley of Eshkol and spied out the land.

25 They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They told us what language its inhabitants spoke, and said, ‘The land that God, our God, is giving us is good.’

26 But you were not willing to go up, so you disobeyed God, your God.

27 You slandered God in your tents, and said, ‘Out of God’s hatred of us, He took us out of Egypt, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to annihilate us.

28 Where do we think we are going?! Our brothers have discouraged us, saying, “We saw there a people greater and taller than we, great and fortified cities suspended in the sky, and the descendants of the giants.”’

29 I said to you, ‘Do not be broken in spirit and afraid of them.

30 God, your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,

31 and in the desert, where you saw how God, your God, was carrying you the way a man carries his son, all along the road that you traveled until you came to this place.

32 But regarding this matter, you do not believe God, your God,

33 who goes before you on the journey in a pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day in order to search out a place for you to make camp and to show you which way you should go!’

34 God heard the sound of your words and became angry. He swore, saying,

35’ None of these men of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give your forefathers

36 except Caleb son of Yefuneh. He will see it, and I will give the land he trod upon to him and his children, because he was loyal to God.’

37 God also became angry with me—on account of my response to you—saying to me, ‘You will not go there, either.

38 Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, will go there in your stead. Strengthen him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it.

Jude 20-25 

Have Mercy on Those Who Doubt

20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; 

21 keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 

22 And have mercy on some who are wavering; 

23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.

Benediction

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 

25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 1

39 Your little ones, whom you said would be prey, and your older children, who on that day did not know the difference between good and evil, will go there; I will give it to them, not you—and they will possess it.

40 But as for you, turn back and journey into the desert, toward the Sea of Reeds.’

41 Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against God. We will go up and fight, in accordance with all that God, our God, has commanded us,’ and each of you girded his weapons and you readied yourselves to ascend the mountain.

42 But God said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up. Do not fight, for I am not among you. Do not allow yourselves to be struck down before your enemies!”’

43 So I spoke to you, but you did not listen. You disobeyed God and willfully ascended the mountain.

44 The Amorites, who were dwelling on that mountain, came out toward you and pursued you just as bees do. They smote you at Mount Se’ir as far as Chormah.

45 So you returned and wept before God, but God refused to heed your voice, nor would He listen to you.

46 So you stayed in Kadesh Barne’a for a long time—the same amount of time that you dwelt in all your subsequent encampments.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 2

1 We then turned and journeyed into the desert, toward the Sea of Reeds, as God had spoken to me, and we circled Mount Se’ir for a long time.

John 14:1-7 

How Can We Know the Way?

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 

2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 

4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 2

2 God spoke to me, saying,

3 ‘You have circled this mountain long enough; turn northward.

4 Command the people, saying, “You are about to cross the boundary of the land of your kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, who dwell on Mount Se’ir, and they will be afraid of you. Take great care that

5 you not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land—not even so much as a foot can tread on—because I have given Mount Se’ir to Esau as an inheritance.

6 You may buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you may also buy water from them with money, that you may drink,

7 in order to show that God, your God, has blessed you in whatever you do. He was aware of your needs during your trek through this great desert; you have lacked nothing throughout these forty years that God, your God, has been with you.”’

8 We left our kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, who dwelt on Mount Se’ir, the way of the plain, Eilat, and Etzyon Gever, and we turned, passing toward the Moab desert.

9 God said to me, ‘Do not distress the Moabites by provoking them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as an inheritance, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as an inheritance.

10 The Eimim formerly dwelt there. They were a people as great, numerous, and tall as the giants.

11 They were also considered Rephaim, just like the giants. The Moabites called them Eimim.

12 The Horites formerly dwelt on Mount Se’ir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them. They destroyed them and settled in their place, just as the Israelites did to the land of your inheritance that God gave you.

13 Now arise and cross the Zered Brook.’ So we crossed the Zered Brook.

14 The time we spent traveling from Kadesh Barne’a until we crossed the Zered Brook was 38 years—until the end of the entire generation of soldiers from the camp, just as God swore to them.

15 God intervened directly with them in order to wipe them out from the camp, until their end.

16 It was when all those soldiers finished dying out from the people

17 that God spoke to me, saying,

18 ‘Today you are crossing the boundary of Moab, Ar.

19 When you approach the area opposite the Ammonites, neither distress them, nor provoke them, for I will not give you any part of the land of the Ammonites as an inheritance, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as an inheritance.

20 It too is considered the land of the Rephaim. Rephaim formerly dwelt in it; the Ammonites call them Zamzumim.

21 They were a people as great, numerous, and tall as the giants, but God destroyed them for them, and they dispossessed them and settled in their stead,

22 just as He did for the descendants of Esau, who dwell on Mount Se’ir, when He destroyed the Horites for them and they dispossessed them and settled in their stead, living there to this day.

23 The Avim were the dwellers in the open cities until Gaza. The Kaftorites, who hail from Kaftor, destroyed them and dwelt in their stead.

24 Arise, journey, and cross the Arnon River. Behold, I have delivered Sichon the Amorite, king of Cheshbon, and his land into your hand. Begin to take possession of it, and provoke him to war.

25 Today I will begin to place the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the nations that dwell under the entire heaven, who will hear reports of you and tremble and be in trepidation because of you.’

26 Following the example God set in the Sinai desert, I sent messengers to King Sichon of Cheshbon with words of peace, saying,

27 ’Allow me to pass through your land. I will keep to the highway; I will turn neither to the right nor to the left.

28 You will sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink—I will only pass through on foot.

29 Sell me food and drink, just as the descendants of Esau (who dwell on Mount Se’ir) and the Moabites (who dwell in Ar) did for me, until I cross the Jordan River into the land that God, our God, is giving us.’

30 But King Sichon of Cheshbon did not wish to let us pass through his land, for God, your God, caused his spirit to be hardened and his heart to be obstinate, so that He could give him into your hand, as this day.

Psalm 50:7-15 

Call on the Lord

7 

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
    O Israel, I will testify against you.
    I am God, your God.

8 

Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
    your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9 

I will not accept a bull from your house
    or goats from your folds.

10 

For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
    the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 

I know all the birds of the air,
    and all that moves in the field is mine.

12 

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
    for the world and all that is in it is mine.

13 

Do I eat the flesh of bulls
    or drink the blood of goats?

14 

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
    and pay your vows to the Most High.

15 

Call on me in the day of trouble;
    I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 2

31 God said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to deliver Sichon and his land before you. Begin to take possession of it, so that you may possess his land.’

32 Then Sichon went forth toward us—he and all his people—for war at Yahatz.

33 But God, our God, delivered him to us, and we smote him, his sons, and his entire people.

34 We conquered all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed every city: men, women, and young children; we left no survivor.

35 We took only the cattle as pillage for ourselves, along with the spoils of the cities that we had taken.

36 From Aro’er, which is on the edge of the Arnon gorge, and the city that is in the gorge, until Gilead, there was not one communal city that was too strong for us: God, our God, gave all of it to us.

37 The only place you did not approach was the land of the Ammonites: all the area south of the Yabok River, the cities of the hill country, and wherever else God, our God, commanded us not to conquer.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 3

1 We then turned and went northward toward Bashan, and King Og of Bashan came forth toward us, he and all his people, going to war at Edre’i.

2 God said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him, his entire people, and his land into your hand, and you will do to him as you did to King Sichon of the Amorites, who dwelt in Cheshbon.’

3 Thus God, our God, also delivered King Og of Bashan and his entire people into our hands. We smote him until no remnant remained of him.

4 We conquered all his cities at that time. There was not one communal city that we did not seize from them—60 cities, all the territory of Og’s royal palace—the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

5 All these cities were fortified with high walls, double doors, and bolts. Besides these, we captured a great many unwalled cities.

6 We utterly destroyed them, as we did to King Sichon of Cheshbon, utterly destroying every city—the men, the women, and the young children.

7 We scorned all the cattle and the spoils of the cities.

8 We took at that time the land out of the rule of the two kings of the Amorites who were on the east side of the Jordan River, from the Arnon Brook to Mount Hermon.

9 The Sidonians called Mount Hermon ‘Mount Sirion,’ and the Amorites called it ‘Mount Senir.’

10 We took all the cities of the plain, all of Gilead, and all of Bashan until Salchah and Edre’i, royal cities of Og in Bashan.

11 For only King Og of Bashan was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It is nine cubits long and four cubits wide according to the cubit of the man Og himself.

12 Regarding this land, which we took possession of at that time, I gave the land from Aro’er, which is on the Arnon gorge, and half of Mount Gilead and its cities, to the tribes of Reuben and Gad.

13 I gave the rest of Mount Gilead and all of Bashan—the kingdom of Og—to the half-tribe of Manasseh: all the territory of Og’s royal palace with all of Bashan. This is called the land of the Rephaim.

14 Ya’ir great-grandson of Manasseh took all the territory of Og’s royal palace as far as the boundaries of the Geshurites and the Ma’achatites. He called Bashan after his own name, “the villages of Ya’ir,” as they are known to this day.

Deuteronomy 4:27-31 

Seek God with Heart and Soul

27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be left among the nations where the Lord will lead you. 

28 There you will serve gods made by human hands, objects of wood and stone that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 

29 From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul. 

30 In your distress, when all these things have happened to you in time to come, you will return to the Lord your God and heed him. 

31 Because the Lord your God is a merciful God, he will neither abandon you nor destroy you; he will not forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 3

15 I gave Gilead to Machir.

16 To the tribes of Reuben and Gad I gave the rest of Gilead until the Arnon gorge, down to the midst of the gorge and the borderland until the Yabok Brook, which is the boundary of the Ammonites,

17 and the plain, the Jordan River, the borderland from Lake Kineret to the sea of the plain—the Sea of Salt; and from the foot of the waterfalls descending from the peak of Mount Nebo to the eastern side of the Dead Sea.

18 I commanded you at that time saying, ‘God, your God, has given you this land to take possession of. All who are warriors must cross over, armed, before your brothers, the Israelites.

19 But your wives, your young children, and your livestock—I know that you have a lot of livestock—must dwell in your cities that I have given you

20 until God has given rest to your brothers, just as He did for you, and until they also take possession of the land that God, your God, is giving them on the west side of the Jordan River. Only then may every man return to his land inheritance, which I have given to you.’

21 I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘You have seen with your own eyes all that God, your God, has done to these two kings. So will God do to all the kingdoms through which you will pass.’

22 Do not fear them, for it is God, your God, who is fighting for you.”

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) Chapter 1

1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken; Children I have raised and exalted, yet they have rebelled against Me.

3 An ox knows his owner and a donkey his master's crib; Israel does not know, my people does not consider.

4 Woe to a sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, evildoing seed, corrupt children. They forsook the Lord; they provoked the Holy One of Israel; they drew backwards.

5 Why are you beaten when you still continue to rebel? Every head is [afflicted] with illness and every heart with malaise.

6 From the sole of the foot until the head there is no soundness-wounds and contusions and lacerated sores; they have not sprinkled, neither have they been bandaged, nor was it softened with oil.

7 Your land is desolate; your cities burnt with fire. Your land-in your presence, strangers devour it; and it is desolate as that turned over to strangers.

8 And the daughter of Zion shall be left like a hut in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.

9 "Had not the Lord of Hosts left us a remnant, we would soon be like Sodom; we would resemble Gomorrah."

10 Hear the word of the Lord, O rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, O people of Gomorrah!

11 Of what use are your many sacrifices to Me? says the Lord. I am sated with the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; and the blood of bulls and sheep and hegoats I do not want.

12 When you come to appear before Me, who requested this of you, to trample My courts?

13 You shall no longer bring vain meal-offerings, it is smoke of abomination to Me; New Moons and Sabbaths, calling convocations, I cannot [bear] iniquity with assembly.

14 Your New Moons and your appointed seasons My soul hates, they are a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing [them].

15 And when you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you, even when you pray at length, I do not hear; your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash, cleanse yourselves, remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes, cease to do evil.

17 Learn to do good, seek justice, strengthen the robbed, perform justice for the orphan, plead the case of the widow.

18 Come now, let us debate, says the Lord. If your sins prove to be like crimson, they will become white as snow; if they prove to be as red as crimson dye, they shall become as wool.

19 If you be willing and obey, you shall eat the best of the land.

20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord spoke.

21 How has she become a harlot, a faithful city; full of justice, in which righteousness would lodge, but now murderers.

22 Your silver has become dross; your wine is diluted with water.

23 Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes and runs after payments; the orphan they do not judge, and the quarrel of the widow does not come to them.

24 "Therefore," says the Master, the Lord of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, "Oh, I will console Myself from My adversaries, and I will avenge Myself of My foes.

25 And I will return My hand upon you and purge away your dross as with lye, and remove all your tin.

26 And I will restore your judges as at first and your counsellors as in the beginning; afterwards you shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City.

27 Zion shall be redeemed through justice and her penitent through righteousness.