A reading from the Book of Exodus. Then the Lord said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians, and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord. So Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh and said to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go that they may serve me, for if you refuse to let my people go behold tomorrow, I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land, and they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your servants, and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfather's have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day, then he turned and went out from Pharaoh, then Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let them in go that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined? So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, Go, serve the Lord your God, but which ones are to go? Moses said, We will go with our young and our old, we will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord, but he said to them, The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go, look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No, go them in among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking, and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence, and then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left. So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night, when it was morning the east wind had brought the locusts. The locust came up over all the land of Egypt, and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts, as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land, and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt, then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive my sin, please only this once, and plead with the Lord your God, only to remove this death from me. So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts, and drove them into the red sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt, with the Lord hard and Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was a pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, go, serve the Lord, your little ones also may go with you, only let your flocks and your herds remain behind. But Moses said, you must also let us have sacrifices and burn offerings that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us, not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, get away from me, take care never to see my face again. For on the day you see my face, you shall die. Moses said, as you say, I will not see your face again. The Lord said to Moses, yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. Speak now in the hearing of the people that they ask every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt and the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people. So Moses said, thus says the Lord, about midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down, saying, get out, you and all the people who follow you. And after that, I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh and hot anger. Then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to you that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land. A reading from the book of Psalms. A song of David, a song at the dedication of the temple. I will extoll you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord, my God, I cried to you for help and you have healed me. O Lord, you have brought up my soul from shield. You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit, sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name for his anger is but for a moment and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may Terry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved by your favor. O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong. You hid your face. I was dismayed to you, O Lord, I cry into the Lord I plead for mercy. What profit is there in my death? If I go down to the pit, will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Here, O Lord, and be merciful to me. O Lord, be my helper. You have turned from me my morning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. A reading of the gospel according to Mark. And he said to them, truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power. And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and let them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them and his clothes became radiant intensely white as no one on earth could bleach them. And they appeared to them Elijah with Moses and they were talking with Jesus and Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah for he did not know what to say for they were terrified and a cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud. This is my beloved son, listen to him. And suddenly looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them, but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased as it is written of him. And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd when they saw him were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, what are you arguing about with them? And someone from the crowd answered him, teacher, I brought my son to you for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it sees us him, it throws him down and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out and they were not able. And he answered them, oh, faithless generation, how long it might to be with you, how long it might to bear with you, bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him immediately, it convulsed the boy and he fell on the ground and rolled about foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said from childhood and it has often cast him into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, you have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe, help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw that the crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, you mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out. And the boy was like a corpse so that most of them said he is dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. They went on from there and passed through Galilee and he did not want anyone to know for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days, he will rise, but they did not understand the saying and were afraid to act him. And they came to Capernaum and when he was in the house, he asked them, what were you discussing on the way? But they kept silent. From the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest and he sat down and called the 12 and he said to them, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. And he took a child and put him in the midst of them and taking him in his arms. He said to them, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives not me but him who sent me. John said to him, teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he was not following us. But Jesus said, do not stop him. For no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us, for truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Whoever calls as one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it will be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand calls as you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot calls as you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye calls as you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good. But if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in your cells and be at peace with one another.
