The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday January 30, 2023 (NIV)

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, ² and ^(A)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, ^(B)that you may know that I am the Lord.”

³ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to ^(C)humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. ⁴ For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring ^(D)locusts into your country, ⁵ and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall ^(E)eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, ⁶ and they shall fill ^(F)your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷ Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” ⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, ^(G)“Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?” ⁹ 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 ^(H)we must hold a feast to the Lord.” ¹⁰ But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your ^(I)little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind.^{[a] 11} No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(J)“Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and ^(K)eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” ¹³ 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. ^14 (L)The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, ^(M)such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. ¹⁵ They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and ^(N)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. ¹⁶ Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, ^(O)“I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. ¹⁷ Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and ^(P)plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.” ¹⁸ So ^(Q)he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. ¹⁹ And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them ^(R)into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord ^(S)hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(T)“Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be ^(U)darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. ²³ They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but ^(V)all the people of Israel had light where they lived. ²⁴ Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, ^(W)“Go, serve the Lord; ^(X)your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” ²⁵ But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. ²⁶ 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.” ²⁷ But the Lord ^(Y)hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸ 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.” ²⁹ Moses said, “As you say! ^(Z)I will not see your face again.”

A Final Plague Threatened

11 The Lord said to Moses, “Yet ^(AA)one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. ^(AB)When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. ² Speak now in the hearing of the people, that ^(AC)they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” ^3 (AD)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, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.

⁴ So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ^(AE)‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, ⁵ 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 ^(AF)behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. ^6 (AG)There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. ⁷ But not a dog shall growl ^(AH)against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord ^(AI)makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ ⁸ And ^(AJ)all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(AK)“Pharaoh will not listen to you, that ^(AL)my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰ Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord ^(AM)hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

The Passover

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ^2 (AN)“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb ^(AO)according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be ^(AP)without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, ⁶ and you shall keep it until the ^(AQ)fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.^[b]

⁷ “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the ^(AR)two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with ^(AS)unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but ^(AT)roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰ And ^(AU)you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹ In this manner you shall eat it: with ^(AV)your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. ^(AW)It is the Lord's Passover. ¹² For ^(AX)I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on ^(AY)all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: ^(AZ)I am the Lord. ^13 (BA)The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius^[a] a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶ And ^(A)about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ⁸ And ^(B)when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his ^(C)foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ ⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and ^(D)the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ^(E)‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take ^(F)what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ^15 (G)Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or ^(H)do you begrudge my generosity?’^{[b] 16} So ^(I)the last will be first, and the first last.”

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

^17 (J)And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, ¹⁸ “See, ^(K)we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will ^(L)condemn him to death ¹⁹ and ^(M)deliver him over to the Gentiles ^(N)to be mocked and flogged and ^(O)crucified, and he will be raised on ^(P)the third day.”

A Mother's Request

^20 (Q)Then ^(R)the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and ^(S)kneeling before him she asked him for something. ²¹ And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine ^(T)are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, ^(U)in your kingdom.” ²² Jesus answered, ^(V)“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^(W)to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” ²³ He said to them, ^(X)“You will drink ^(Y)my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, ^(Z)but it is for those for whom it has been ^(AA)prepared by my Father.” ²⁴ And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. ²⁵ But Jesus called them to him and said, ^(AB)“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles ^(AC)lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ^26 (AD)It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,^{[c] 27} and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,^{[d] 28} even as the Son of Man came not to be served but ^(AE)to serve, and ^(AF)to give his life as a ransom for ^(AG)many.”

Teach Me Your Paths

^[a] Of David.