Book of Common Prayer

A song of praise from the Korah family.

Book 4

(Psalms 90-106)

The prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Don’t Bury Me in Egypt

²⁷ Israel stayed in Egypt. He lived in the land of Goshen. His family grew and became very large. They became landowners there and did very well.

²⁸ Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years, so he was 147 years old. ²⁹ The time came when Israel knew he would soon die, so he called his son Joseph to him. He said, “If you love me, put your hand under my leg and make a promise.^[a] Promise that you will do what I say and that you will be truthful with me. When I die, don’t bury me in Egypt. ³⁰ Bury me in the place where my ancestors are buried. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in our family grave.”

Joseph answered, “I promise that I will do what you say.”

³¹ Then Jacob said, “Make a vow to me.” And Joseph vowed to him that he would do this. Then Israel laid his head back down on the bed.^[b]

Blessings for Manasseh and Ephraim

48 Some time later Joseph learned that his father was very sick. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to his father. ² When Joseph arrived, someone told Israel, “Your son Joseph has come to see you.” Israel was very weak, but he tried hard and sat up in his bed.

³ Then Israel said to Joseph, “God All-Powerful appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan. God blessed me there. ⁴ He said to me, ‘I will make you a great family. I will give you many children and you will be a great people. Your family will own this land forever.’ ⁵ Now you have two sons. These two sons were born here in the country of Egypt before I came. Your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, will be like my own sons. They will be like Reuben and Simeon to me. ⁶ So these two boys will be my sons. They will share in everything I own. But if you have other sons, they will be your sons. But they will also be like sons to Ephraim and Manasseh—that is, in the future, they will share in everything that Ephraim and Manasseh own. ⁷ On the trip from Paddan Aram, Rachel died in the land of Canaan. This made me very sad. We were still traveling toward Ephrath. I buried her there on the road to Ephrath.” (Ephrath is Bethlehem.)

Warning From History

10 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know what happened to our ancestors who were with Moses. They were all under the cloud,^[a] and they all walked through the sea. ² They were all baptized^[b] into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and they all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from that spiritual rock that was with them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ But God was not pleased with most of those people, so they were killed in the desert.

⁶ And these things that happened are examples for us. These examples should stop us from wanting evil things like those people did. ⁷ Don’t worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to have a wild party.”^{[c] 8} We should not commit sexual sins as some of them did. In one day 23,000 of them died because of their sin. ⁹ We should not test Christ^[d] as some of them did. Because of that, they were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ And don’t complain as some of them did. Because they complained, they were killed by the angel that destroys.

¹¹ The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written to be warnings for us. We live in the time that all those past histories were pointing to. ¹² So anyone who thinks they are standing strong should be careful that they don’t fall. ¹³ The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it.

God’s Law and Human Traditions^(A)

7 Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. ² They saw that some of his followers ate food with hands that were not clean, meaning that they did not wash their hands in a special way. ³ The Pharisees and all the other Jews never eat before washing their hands in this special way. They do this to follow the traditions they have from their great leaders who lived long ago. ⁴ And when these Jews buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash it in a special way. They also follow other rules from their people who lived before them. They follow rules like the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.^[a]

⁵ The Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Your followers don’t follow the traditions we have from our great leaders who lived long ago. They eat their food with hands that are not clean. Why do they do this?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “You are all hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he wrote these words from God about you:

⁸ You have stopped following God’s commands, preferring instead the man-made rules you got from others.”

⁹ Then he said, “You show great skill in avoiding the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! ¹⁰ Moses said, ‘You must respect your father and mother.’^[b] He also said, ‘Whoever says anything bad to their father or mother must be killed.’^{[c] 11} But you teach that people can say to their father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but I will not use it for you. I will give it to God.’ ¹² You are telling people that they do not have to do anything for their father or mother. ¹³ So you are teaching that it is not important to do what God said. You think it is more important to follow those traditions you have, which you pass on to others. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴ Jesus called the people to him again. He said, “Everyone should listen to me and understand what I am saying. ¹⁵ There is nothing people can put in their mouth that will make them wrong.^[d] People are made wrong by what comes from inside them.” ^16 [e]

¹⁷ Then Jesus left the people and went into the house. The followers asked Jesus about what he had told the people. ¹⁸ He said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters the mouth from the outside can make people unacceptable to God. ¹⁹ Food does not go into a person’s mind. It goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant there is no food that is wrong for people to eat.)

²⁰ And Jesus said, “The things that make people wrong are the things that come from the inside. ²¹ All these bad things begin inside a person, in the mind: bad thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, ²² adultery, greed, doing bad things to people, lying, doing things that are morally wrong, jealousy, insulting people, proud talking, and foolish living. ²³ These evil things come from inside a person. And these are the things that make people unacceptable to God.”