Joseph’s Success in Egypt

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him ^[a]from the ^(A)Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. ² And ^(B)the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a ^[b]successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. ³ Now his master ^(C)saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord ^(D)made all that he did prosper in his hand. ⁴ So Joseph ^(E)found favor in his sight and ^[c]became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and ^[d]put him in charge of ^(F)all that he owned. ⁵ It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord ^(G)blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; so ^(H)the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field. ⁶ So he left ^[e]Joseph in charge of everything that he owned; and with him there he did not ^[f]concern himself with anything except the ^[g]food which he ^[h]ate.

Now Joseph was ^(I)handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ And it came about after these events ^(J)that his master’s wife ^[i]had her eyes on Joseph, and she said, “^(K)Sleep with me.” ⁸ But ^(L)he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master ^[j]does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has ^[k]put me in charge of all that he owns. ^9 [l](M)There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and ^(N)sin against God?” ¹⁰ Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. ¹¹ Now it happened ^[m]one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the people of the household was there inside. ¹² So she grabbed him by his garment, saying, “Sleep with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. ^13 [n]When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a ^[o]Hebrew to us to make fun of us; he came in to me to sleep with me, and I ^[p]screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard that I raised my voice and ^[q]screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” ¹⁶ So she ^[r]left his garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she ^(O)spoke to him ^[s]with these ^[t]words: “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make fun of me; ¹⁸ but when I raised my voice and ^[u]screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

Joseph Imprisoned

¹⁹ Now when his master heard the words of his wife which she spoke to him, saying, “^[v]This is what your slave did to me,” ^(P)his anger burned. ²⁰ So Joseph’s master took him and ^(Q)put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the prison. ²¹ But ^(R)the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and ^(S)gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison. ²² And the warden of the prison ^[w](T)put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was ^[x]responsible for it. ^23 (U)The warden of the prison did not supervise anything ^[y]under Joseph’s authority, because ^(V)the Lord was with him; and, ^(W)the Lord made whatever he did prosper.

Parable of Ten Virgins

25 “Then ^(A)the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their ^(B)lamps and went out to meet the groom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were ^(C)prudent. ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take extra oil with them; ⁴ but the ^(D)prudent ones took oil in flasks with their lamps. ⁵ Now while the groom was delaying, they all became drowsy and began to sleep. ⁶ But at midnight ^[a]there finally was a shout: ‘Behold, the groom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ But the foolish virgins said to the prudent ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ However, the ^(E)prudent ones answered, ‘No, there most certainly would not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ But while they were ^[b]on their way to buy the oil, the groom came, and those who were ^(F)ready went in with him to ^(G)the wedding feast; and ^(H)the door was shut. ¹¹ Yet later, the other virgins also came, saying, ‘^(I)Lord, lord, open up for us.’ ¹² But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ ^13 (J)Be on the alert then, because you do not know the day nor the hour.

Parable of the Talents

¹⁴ “^(K)For it is just like a man ^(L)about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five ^[c](M)talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he ^(N)went on his journey. ¹⁶ The one who had received the five ^(O)talents immediately went and did business with them, and earned five more talents. ¹⁷ In the same way the one who had received the two talents earned two more. ¹⁸ But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his ^[d]master’s money.

¹⁹ “Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *^(P)settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The one who had received the five ^(Q)talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and ^(R)faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will ^(S)put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your ^[e]master.’

²² “Also the one who had received the two ^(T)talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talents.’ ²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and ^(U)faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’

²⁴ “Now the one who had received the one ^(V)talent also came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours.’

²⁶ “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You ^[f]worthless, lazy slave! Did you know that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have ^[g]put my money in the bank, and ^[h]on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. ²⁸ Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

²⁹ “^(W)For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. ³⁰ And throw the worthless slave into ^(X)the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Joseph Interprets Dreams

40 Then it came about after these things, that ^(A)the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. ² And Pharaoh was ^(B)furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. ³ So he put them in confinement in the house of the ^(C)captain of the bodyguard, in the prison, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. ⁴ And the captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he ^[a]took care of them; and they were in confinement for ^[b]some time. ⁵ Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. ^6 [c]When Joseph came to them in the morning and saw them, ^[d]behold, they were dejected. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “^[e](D)Why are your faces so sad today?” ⁸ And they said to him, “^(E)We have ^[f]had a dream, and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “^(F)Do interpretations not belong to God? Tell it to me, please.”

⁹ So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, ^[g]saying to him, “In my dream, ^[h]behold, there was a vine in front of me; ¹⁰ and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes. ¹¹ Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s ^[i]hand.” ¹² Then Joseph said to him, “This is the ^(G)interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; ¹³ within three more days Pharaoh will ^[j]lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand as in your former practice when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ Only ^[k]keep me in mind when it goes well for you, and please ^(H)do me a kindness ^[l]by mentioning me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this ^[m]prison. ¹⁵ For ^(I)I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the ^[n]dungeon.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head; ¹⁷ and in the top basket there were some of all ^[o]kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸ Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; ¹⁹ within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a wooden post, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”

²⁰ So it came about on the third day, which was ^(J)Pharaoh’s birthday, that he held a feast for all his servants; ^(K)and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer to his ^[p]office, and ^(L)he put the cup into Pharaoh’s ^[q]hand; ²² but ^(M)he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³ Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but ^(N)forgot him.

Self-denial in behalf of Others

15 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of ^(A)those without strength, and not just please ourselves. ² Each of us is to ^(B)please his neighbor ^[a]for his good, to his ^(C)edification. ³ For even ^(D)Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: “^(E)The taunts of those who taunt You have fallen on Me.” ⁴ For ^(F)whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ⁵ Now may the ^(G)God ^[b]who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you ^(H)to be of the same mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one purpose and one ^[c]voice you may glorify ^(I)the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Therefore, ^[d](J)accept one another, just as Christ also accepted ^[e]us, for the glory of God. ⁸ For I say that Christ has become a servant to ^(K)the circumcision in behalf of the truth of God, to confirm ^(L)the promises given to the fathers, ⁹ and for ^(M)the Gentiles to ^(N)glorify God for His mercy; as it is written:

¹⁰ Again he says,

¹¹ And again,

¹² Again Isaiah says,

¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all ^(U)joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope ^(V)by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴ And concerning you, my brothers and sisters, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of ^(W)goodness, filled with ^(X)all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. ¹⁵ But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of ^(Y)the grace that was given to me ^[g]from God, ¹⁶ to be ^(Z)a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the ^(AA)gospel of God, so that my ^(AB)offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found ^(AC)reason for boasting in ^(AD)things pertaining to God. ^18 (AE)For I will not presume to speak of anything ^[h]except what ^(AF)Christ has accomplished through me, ^[i]resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, ¹⁹ in the power of ^[j](AG)signs and wonders, ^(AH)in the power of the Spirit; so that ^(AI)from Jerusalem and all around as ^(AJ)far as Illyricum I have ^[k]fully preached the gospel of Christ. ²⁰ And in this way I aspired to ^(AK)preach the gospel, not where Christ was already known by name, ^(AL)so that I would not build on another person’s foundation; ²¹ but just as it is written:

²² For this reason ^(AN)I have often been prevented from coming to you; ²³ but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I ^(AO)have had for many years a longing to come to you ²⁴ whenever I ^(AP)go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be ^(AQ)helped on my way there by you, when I have first ^(AR)enjoyed your company ^[l]for a while— ²⁵ but now, ^(AS)I am going to Jerusalem, ^(AT)serving the ^[m]saints. ²⁶ For ^(AU)Macedonia and ^(AV)Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the ^[n]saints in Jerusalem. ²⁷ For they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For ^(AW)if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to do them a service also in material things. ²⁸ Therefore, when I have finished this, and ^(AX)have ^[o]put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will ^(AY)go on by way of you to Spain. ²⁹ I know that when ^(AZ)I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰ Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by ^(BA)the love of the Spirit, to ^(BB)strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, ³¹ that I may be ^(BC)rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my ^(BD)service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the ^[p](BE)saints; ³² so that ^(BF)I may come to you in joy by ^(BG)the will of God and relax in your company. ³³ Now ^(BH)the God of peace be with you all. Amen.