Old Testament prophecies read at vespers on the eve of the Transfiguration:
First reading: Exodus 24:12–18
The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.” So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Second reading: a composite of verses from Exodus 33 & 34
The Lord spoke to Moses, as if one should speak to his friend; and he returned to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from the Tabernacle. And Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, thou didst command me to lead forth this people, but thou hast not showed me whom thou wilt send with me; but thou hast said to me, ‘I know you above all, and you have found favor with me.’ If, then, I have found grace in thy sight, reveal thyself to me, that I may see thee clearly, that I may find grace in thy sight, and that I may know that this great nation is thy people.” And the Lord said unto him, “I myself will go before you, and I will give you rest.” And Moses said to him, “If thou thyself dost not go with us, bring me not up from here. And how shall it be surely known that both I and thy people have found grace with thee, except thou go with us? So both I and thy people shall be glorified beyond all the nations, as many as are upon the earth.” And the Lord said to Moses, “This word also, which you have spoken, I will do; for you have found grace before me, and I know you above all.” And Moses said, “Show me thy glory.” And the Lord said to Moses, “I will go before you with my glory, and I will call out my name, ‘the Lord,’ before you; and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” And again he said, “You shall not be able to see my face, for man shall not see my face and live.” And again the Lord said, “Behold there is a place by me; you shall stand upon the rock. And when my glory shall pass by, then I will put you in a cleft on the rock; and I will cover you with my hand, until I pass by. And I will take away my hand, and then you shall see my backside; but my face shall not appear to you.” And having risen early in the morning, Moses went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had told him. And the Lord descended in a cloud, and Moses stood there before him and called out in the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before his face, and called out, “The Lord God, compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, greatly-merciful, and true.” And Moses, making haste, stooped down to the earth and worshipped the Lord.
Third reading: a composite of verses from 1 Kings 19
In those days, Elias went to Beersheba, in the land of Judah. And he left his servant there and went a days journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he lay down and slept under the tree. And behold, someone touched him and said to him, “Arise, eat and drink.” And Elias looked, and behold, at his head there was a cake of barley and a cruse of water. And he arose, and ate and drank, and lay down again and slept. And the angel of the Lord returned a second time, and touched him, and said to him, “Arise, eat and drink, for the journey will be too much for you.” And he arose, and ate and drank. And he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb. And he entered there into a cave, and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and the Lord said to him, “You shall go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountain, and broke in pieces the rock before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a voice of a gentle breeze, and the Lord was there. And it came to pass when Elias heard it, he covered his face with his mantle and went out and stood before the cave. And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way, and you shall come on the way of the wilderness of Damascus; and you shall anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat to be prophet in your place.”
