Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and ^(A)Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, ^(B)had bought him from the ^(C)Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ^2 (D)The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord ^(E)caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. ⁴ So Joseph ^(F)found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house ^(G)and put him in charge of all that he had. ⁵ From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house ^(H)for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. ⁶ So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was ^(I)handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and ^(J)he has put everything that he has in my charge. ⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and ^(K)sin against God?” ¹⁰ And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he ^(L)would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

¹¹ But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, ^12 (M)she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. ¹³ And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵ And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” ¹⁶ Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, ¹⁷ and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

¹⁹ As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. ²⁰ And Joseph's master took him and ^(N)put him into the ^(O)prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. ²¹ But ^(P)the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love ^(Q)and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²² And the keeper of the prison ^(R)put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. ²³ The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because ^(S)the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home ^(A)to Ramah. ^(B)And the boy^[a] was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest.

Eli's Worthless Sons

¹² Now the sons of Eli were ^(C)worthless men. ^(D)They did not know the Lord. ¹³ The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, ¹⁴ and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. ¹⁵ Moreover, ^(E)before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.” ¹⁶ And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ Thus the sin of the young men was very great ^(F)in the sight of the Lord, ^(G)for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.

^18 (H)Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy ^(I)clothed with a linen ephod. ¹⁹ And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year ^(J)when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord give you children by this woman ^(K)for the petition she asked of the Lord.” So then they would return to their home.

^21 (L)Indeed the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. ^(M)And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord.

Eli Rebukes His Sons

²² Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who ^(N)were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. ²⁵ If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, ^(O)for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.

²⁶ Now the boy Samuel ^(P)continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man.

The Lord Rejects Eli's Household

²⁷ And there came ^(Q)a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(R)‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? ^28 (S)Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, ^(T)to wear an ephod before me? ^(U)I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. ²⁹ Why then do you ^(V)scorn^[b] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ ³⁰ Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ^(W)‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ ^(X)but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. ³¹ Behold, ^(Y)the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³² Then ^(Z)in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, ^(AA)and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. ³³ The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his^[c] eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants^[d] of your house shall die by the sword of men.^{[e] 34 (AB)}And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die ^(AC)on the same day. ^35 (AD)And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. ^(AE)And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before ^(AF)my anointed forever. ³⁶ And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests' places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

Salvation for Foreigners

Israel's Irresponsible Leaders

40 And the Lord ^(K)said to Job:

Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

²³ The same day ^(A)Sadducees came to him, ^(B)who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, ²⁴ saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ^(C)‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ So too the second and third, down to the seventh. ²⁷ After them all, the woman died. ²⁸ In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”

²⁹ But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, ^(D)because you know neither the Scriptures nor ^(E)the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither ^(F)marry nor ^(G)are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ³¹ And as for the resurrection of the dead, ^(H)have you not read what was said to you by God: ^32 (I)‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” ³³ And when the crowd heard it, ^(J)they were astonished at his teaching.

Paul Sent to Felix the Governor

²³ Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.^{[a] 24} Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to ^(A)Felix ^(B)the governor.” ²⁵ And he wrote a letter to this effect:

²⁶ “Claudius Lysias, to ^(C)his Excellency the governor Felix, ^(D)greetings. ^27 (E)This man was seized by the Jews and ^(F)was about to be killed by them ^(G)when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, ^(H)having learned that he was a Roman citizen. ²⁸ And ^(I)desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. ²⁹ I found that he was being accused ^(J)about questions of their law, but ^(K)charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. ^30 (L)And when it was disclosed to me ^(M)that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ^(N)ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

³¹ So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³² And on the next day they returned to ^(O)the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him. ³³ When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. ³⁴ On reading the letter, he asked what ^(P)province he was from. And when he learned ^(Q)that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I will give you a hearing ^(R)when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's ^(S)praetorium.