Book of Common Prayer

A psalm by the descendants of Korah. A song.

The Holy City for All People

BOOK IV (Psalms 90-106)

A prayer by Moses, the godly man

Life is Short

God’s Gracious Love

²⁷ Israel remained in Egypt’s Goshen territory, acquired land there, became prosperous, and his descendants^[a] grew very numerous. ²⁸ He lived for seventeen more years in Egypt, until he was 147 years old. ²⁹ As the time approached for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and addressed him. “Please,” he asked, “if you’re happy with me, make a solemn promise^[b] that you’ll treat me fairly and kindly by not burying me in Egypt. ³⁰ Instead, when I’ve died, as my ancestors have, you are to carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb.”^[c]

“I’ll do what you’ve asked,” Joseph^[d] replied.

³¹ “Promise me,” Israel^[e] insisted. So Joseph promised. Then Israel collapsed^[f] on his bed.

Joseph Visits His Ill Father

48 Some time later, somebody informed Joseph, “Your father is ill!” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him to visit Jacob.^[g]

² As soon as Jacob was informed, “Look! Your son Joseph has come to visit you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

³ Jacob reminded Joseph, “God Almighty revealed himself to me at Luz in Canaan and blessed me. ⁴ He told me, ‘Pay attention! I’m going to make you fruitful and numerous. I’m going to build you into a vast nation of people and then I’ll give this land to your descendants^[h] for an eternal possession.’ ⁵ You have two sons who were born to you in Egypt before I came to be with you, whom I now take as my own. Ephraim and Manasseh are mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶ Your descendants^[i] are to be reckoned as yours, but are to be referred to among the names of their brothers in their respective^[j] inheritances.

⁷ “Now as for me, Rachel died after I arrived in Canaan from Paddan, much to my sorrow. While I was on my journey to Ephrathah (also known as Bethlehem), I buried her there.”

Warnings about Idolatry

10 Now I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the fact that all of our ancestors who left Egypt^[a] were under the cloud. They all went through the sea, ² and they all were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was the Messiah.^{[b] 5} But God wasn’t pleased with most of those people,^[c] and so they were struck down in the wilderness.

⁶ Now their experiences serve as examples for us so that we won’t set our hearts on evil as they did. ⁷ Let’s stop being idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play.”^{[d] 8} Let’s stop sinning sexually, as some of them were doing, and on a single day 23,000 fell dead. ⁹ Let’s stop putting the Lord^[e] to the test, as some of them were doing, and were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ You must stop complaining, as some of them were doing, and were annihilated by the destroyer. ¹¹ These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down as a warning for us in whom the culmination of the ages has been attained. ¹² Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing securely should watch out so he doesn’t fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is unusual for human beings. But God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. Instead, along with the temptation he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to endure it.

Jesus Challenges the Tradition of the Elders^(A)

7 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.^{[a] 2} They noticed that some of his disciples were eating^[b] with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. ³ (The Pharisees—and indeed all the Jewish people—don’t eat unless they wash their hands properly,^[c] following the tradition of their elders. ⁴ They don’t eat anything from the marketplace unless they dip it in water. They also observe many other traditions, such as the proper washing of washing cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.)^{[d] 5} So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus,^[e] “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat^[f] with unclean hands.”

⁶ He told them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written,

⁸ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

⁹ Then he told them, “You have such a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition! ¹⁰ Because Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[h] and, ‘Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death.’^{[i] 11} But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother, “Whatever support you might have received from me is Corban,”’ (that is, an offering to God) ¹² ‘you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.’ ¹³ You are destroying the word of God through your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other things like that.”

¹⁴ Then he called to the crowd again and told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand! ¹⁵ Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It’s what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean. ¹⁶ If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen!”^[j]

¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and gone home, his disciples began asking him about the parable. ¹⁸ He asked them, “Are you so ignorant? Don’t you know that nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean? ¹⁹ Because it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then into the sewer,^[k] thereby expelling^[l] all foods.” ²⁰ Then he continued, “It’s what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean, ²¹ because it’s from within, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come, as well as sexual immorality, stealing, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, slander,^[m] arrogance, and foolishness. ²³ All these things come from inside and make a person unclean.”