Daily Lectionary

Exodus 18:5-27

⁵ Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God.
⁶ And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,”
⁷ Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.
⁸ Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.
⁹ And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.
¹⁰ Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
¹¹ Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.”
¹² And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
¹³ The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.
¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?”
¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God;
¹⁶ when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.”
¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.
¹⁸ You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.
¹⁹ Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God,
²⁰ and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.
²¹ Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
²² And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
²³ If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”
²⁴ So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
²⁵ Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
²⁶ And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.
²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country. (ESV)

Hebrews 12:1-24

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
³ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
⁵ And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
⁷ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
⁸ If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
⁹ Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
¹¹ For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
¹⁴ Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
¹⁵ See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
¹⁶ that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
¹⁸ For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest
¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.
²⁰ For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”
²¹ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”
²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (ESV)