Formation Journal Reading Plan

Exodus 10

10:1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in their midst,
10:2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son’s son, what things I have done to Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am Yahweh.”
10:3 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.
10:4 Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country,
10:5 and they shall cover the surface of the earth, so that one won’t be able to see the earth. They shall eat the residue of that which has escaped, which remains to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field.
10:6 Your houses shall be filled, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; as neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’” He turned, and went out from Pharaoh.
10:7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh, their God. Don’t you yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”
10:8 Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve Yahweh your God; but who are those who will go?”
10:9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast to Yahweh.”
10:10 He said to them, “Yahweh be with you if I will let you go with your little ones! See, evil is clearly before your faces.
10:11 Not so! Go now you who are men, and serve Yahweh; for that is what you desire!” They were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
10:12 Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left.”
10:13 Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
10:14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt. They were very grievous. Before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.
10:15 For they covered the surface of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. There remained nothing green, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
10:16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God, and against you.
10:17 Now therefore please forgive my sin again, and pray to Yahweh your God, that he may also take away from me this death.”
10:18 He went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to Yahweh.
10:19 Yahweh turned an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt.
10:20 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t let the children of Israel go.
10:21 Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.”
10:22 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.
10:23 They didn’t see one another, neither did anyone rise from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
10:24 Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, “Go, serve Yahweh. Only let your flocks and your herds stay behind. Let your little ones also go with you.”
10:25 Moses said, “You must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God.
10:26 Our livestock also shall go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind, for of it we must take to serve Yahweh our God; and we don’t know with what we must serve Yahweh, until we come there.”
10:27 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let them go.
10:28 Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Be careful to see my face no more; for in the day you see my face you shall die!”
10:29 Moses said, “You have spoken well. I will see your face again no more.”

Psalm 49:1-9

49:1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world,
49:2 both low and high, rich and poor together.
49:3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart shall utter understanding.
49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will open my riddle on the harp.
49:5 Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
49:6 Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches—
49:7 none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him.
49:8 For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough,
49:9 That he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption.

Matthew 22:23-46

22:23 On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him,
22:24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed for his brother.’
22:25 Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no seed left his wife to his brother.
22:26 In the same way, the second also, and the third, to the seventh.
22:27 After them all, the woman died.
22:28 In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her.”
22:29 But Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.
22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven.
22:31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying,
22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
22:33 When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
22:34 But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together.
22:35 One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.
22:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
22:37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
22:39 A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
22:40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
22:41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,
22:42 saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.”
22:43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
22:44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’
22:45 “If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
22:46 No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forth.