Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 87

A psalm of the Korahites. A song.

BOOK IV

(Psalms 90–106)

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Psalm 136

Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

²⁷ Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. They settled in it, had many children, and became numerous. ²⁸ After Jacob had lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years, and after he had lived a total of 147 years, ²⁹ Israel’s death approached. He summoned his son Joseph and said to him, “If you would be so kind, lay your hand under my thigh, and be loyal and true to me. Don’t bury me in Egypt. ³⁰ When I lie down with my fathers, carry me from Egypt and bury me in their grave.”

Joseph said, “I will do just as you say.”

³¹ Israel said, “Give me your word!” and Joseph gave his word. Then Israel slumped down at the head of the bed.

48 After this happened, Joseph was told,^[a] “Your father is getting weaker,” so he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ² When Jacob was informed,^[b] “Your son Joseph is here now,” he^[c] pulled himself together and sat up in bed. ³ Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty^[d] appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan. He blessed me ⁴ and said to me, ‘I am about to give you many children, to increase your numbers, and to make you a large group of peoples. I will give this land to your descendants following you as an enduring possession.’ ⁵ Now, your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt before I arrived in Egypt are my own. Ephraim and Manasseh are just like Reuben and Simeon to me. ⁶ Your family who is born to you after them are yours, but their inheritance will be determined under their brothers’ names. ⁷ When I came back from Paddan-aram,^[e] Rachel died, to my sorrow, on the road in the land of Canaan, with some distance yet to go to Ephrathah, so I buried her there near the road to Ephrathah,^[f] which is Bethlehem.”

Warning from the wilderness generation

10 Brothers and sisters, I want you to be sure of the fact that our ancestors were all under the cloud and they all went through the sea. ² All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ All ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. ⁵ However, God was unhappy with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. ⁶ These things were examples for us, so we won’t crave evil things like they did. ⁷ Don’t worship false gods like some of them did, as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and they got up to play.^{[a] 8} Let’s not practice sexual immorality, like some of them did, and twenty-three thousand died in one day. ⁹ Let’s not test Christ, like some of them did, and were killed by the snakes. ¹⁰ Let’s not grumble, like some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. ¹¹ These things happened to them as an example and were written as a warning for us to whom the end of time has come. ¹² So those who think they are standing need to watch out or else they may fall. ¹³ No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it.

What contaminates a life?

7 The Pharisees and some legal experts from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. ² They saw some of his disciples eating food with unclean hands. (They were eating without first ritually purifying their hands through washing. ³ The Pharisees and all the Jews don’t eat without first washing their hands carefully. This is a way of observing the rules handed down by the elders. ⁴ Upon returning from the marketplace, they don’t eat without first immersing themselves. They observe many other rules that have been handed down, such as the washing of cups, jugs, pans, and sleeping mats.) ⁵ So the Pharisees and legal experts asked Jesus, “Why are your disciples not living according to the rules handed down by the elders but instead eat food with ritually unclean hands?”

⁶ He replied, “Isaiah really knew what he was talking about when he prophesied about you hypocrites. He wrote,

⁸ You ignore God’s commandment while holding on to rules created by humans and handed down to you.” ⁹ Jesus continued, “Clearly, you are experts at rejecting God’s commandment in order to establish these rules. ¹⁰ Moses said, Honor your father and your mother,^[b] and The person who speaks against father or mother will certainly be put to death.^{[c] 11} But you say, ‘If you tell your father or mother, “Everything I’m expected to contribute to you is corban(that is, a gift I’m giving to God),” ¹² then you are no longer required to care for your father or mother.’ ¹³ In this way you do away with God’s word in favor of the rules handed down to you, which you pass on to others. And you do a lot of other things just like that.”

¹⁴ Then Jesus called the crowd again and said, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand. ¹⁵ Nothing outside of a person can enter and contaminate a person in God’s sight; rather, the things that come out of a person contaminate the person.”^[d]

¹⁷ After leaving the crowd, he entered a house where his disciples asked him about that riddle. ¹⁸ He said to them, “Don’t you understand either? Don’t you know that nothing from the outside that enters a person has the power to contaminate? ¹⁹ That’s because it doesn’t enter into the heart but into the stomach, and it goes out into the sewer.” By saying this, Jesus declared that no food could contaminate a person in God’s sight. ²⁰ “It’s what comes out of a person that contaminates someone in God’s sight,” he said. ²¹ “It’s from the inside, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come: sexual sins, thefts, murders, ²² adultery, greed, evil actions, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, insults, arrogance, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from the inside and contaminate a person in God’s sight.”