Prayer for Protection from the Wicked.

For the music director; for ^[a]flute accompaniment. A Psalm of David.

Praise for Jerusalem’s Restoration and Prosperity.

¹⁸ Now Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for ^(A)I fear God: ¹⁹ if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in ^[a]your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households, ²⁰ and ^(B)bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so. ²¹ Then they said to one another, “^(C)Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; for that reason this distress has happened to us.” ²² Reuben answered them, saying, “^(D)Did I not tell ^[b]you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? ^[c](E)Now justice for his blood is required.” ²³ They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴ Then he turned away from them and ^(F)wept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he ^(G)took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. ^25 (H)Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, but also to return every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And that is what was done for them.

²⁶ So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there. ²⁷ But when one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the overnight campsite, he saw his ^(I)money; and behold, it was in the opening of his sack! ²⁸ So he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and look, it is right in my sack!” Then their hearts ^[d]sank, and they turned ^[e]trembling to one another, saying, “^(J)What is this that God has done to us?”

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter ^(A)not to associate with sexually immoral people; ¹⁰ I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with ^(B)idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ But ^[a]actually, I ^[b]wrote to you not to associate ^[c]with any so-called ^(C)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or ^(D)an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. ¹² For what business of mine is it to judge ^(E)outsiders? ^(F)Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God ^[d]judges. ^(G)Remove the evil person from among yourselves.

Lawsuits Discouraged

6 Does any one of you, when he has a ^[e]case against ^[f]his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and ^(H)not before the ^[g]saints? ² Or ^(I)do you not know that ^(J)the ^[h]saints will judge ^(K)the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to form the smallest ^[i]law courts? ^3 (L)Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? ⁴ So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, ^[j]do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? ^5 (M)I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you anyone wise who will be able to decide between his ^(N)brothers and sisters, ⁶ but brother goes to law with brother, and that before ^(O)unbelievers?

⁷ Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. ^(P)Why not rather suffer the wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ On the contrary, you yourselves do wrong and defraud. And this to your ^(Q)brothers and sisters!

⁹ Or ^(R)do you not know that the unrighteous will not ^(S)inherit the kingdom of God? ^(T)Do not be deceived; ^(U)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[k]homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will ^(V)inherit the kingdom of God. ^11 (W)Such were some of you; but you were ^(X)washed, but you were ^(Y)sanctified, but you were ^(Z)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ^[l]in the Spirit of our God.

Parable of the Sower and Soils

4 Again ^(A)He began to teach ^(B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^(C)He got into a boat on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ² And He was teaching them many things in ^(D)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.” ⁹ And He was saying, “^(E)He who has ears to hear, ^[a]let him hear.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, ^[b]His followers, along with the twelve disciples, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for ^(F)those who are outside, everything comes ^(G)in parables, ¹² so that ^(H)while seeing they may see, and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear, and not understand, otherwise they might return and it would be forgiven them.”

Explanation of the Parable

^13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately ^(J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ And in a similar way these are the ones sown with seed on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and yet they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately they ^[c]fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown with seed among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of ^(K)the ^[d]world, and the ^(L)deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it ^[e]becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and ^(M)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”